GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 6:41
Prayer
Prayer
Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) spent 54 years as an English missionary in China in the latter half of the 19th century and founded the China Inland Mission. He made eleven trips between England and China. One of Taylor’s biographers reported that Taylor wore grooves in the floor in front of the altar where he prayed. He adopted Chinese culture and wore Chinese dress. He could preach in several Chinese dialects. He died of malaria in China in 1905.
Along with his evangelistic work and establishing an orphanage in Bristol, England, George Müller’s (1805-1898) biographers describe him as a man devoted to prayer. On one occasion, it was time for dinner at an orphanage, but the pantry was empty—there was no food in the house. Müller called everyone to the table and offered a simple prayer of thanks. At the instant he concluded, a local grocer knocked on the door with a supply of food.
Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), in her book “The Hiding Place,” describes her reliance on prayer as she helped Jews escape the Holocaust during the Nazi regime in the Netherlands.
In Mark’s Gospel, Mark wrote about Jesus feeding the large crowd to whom he had ministered and taught: “And they sat down in groups of hundreds and in groups of fifties. And after taking the five loaves and two fish, and after looking up to heaven, he gave thanks, and he broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples, so that they might set before them, and he divided the two fish among them all.” (6:40-41)
All the gospel writers describe Jesus as one who was devoted to prayer. On one occasion, he prayed, “Father, I thank you that you hear me. I know that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here.” (John 11:41-42)
esus’ followers may pray with the same confidence.
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