God Finishes What He Starts! (Philippians 1)
**Please welcome the beautiful Cathy Swan as she guest writes today's s2s post.Philippians 1.6 Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (NIV)
He quickly told her: - It was about missionaries who had come to N'dolera long ago...the birth of a white baby...the death of the young mother...the one little African boy who had been led to Christ...and how, after the whites had all left, the boy had grown up and finally persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village. The article said that gradually he won all his students to Christ...the children led their parents to Christ...even the chief had become a Christian. Today there were six hundred Christian believers in that one village... All because of the sacrifice of David and Svea Flood!
She later found her father, a broken, bitter man who was very ill and still fell into a rage at the mention of ‘God’. As she talked to him, and told him of her life and the testimony of the African village, he slowly began to soften. By the end of that day he had come back to God and felt peace after so many years.
A few years later, the Hurst's were attending a high-level evangelism conference in England, where a report was given from the nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo). The superintendent of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently of the gospel's spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterward if he had ever heard of David and Svea Flood.
"Yes, madam," the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. "It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother's grave and her memory are honored by all of us.
In 1921 a young missionary couple from Sweden felt the call of God to go to Africa. David and Svea Flood met up with a couple called the Ericksons from Scandinavia, who also felt the call of God. After praying for direction they all felt to leave the main mission in the Belgian Congo and go to a remote village and take the Gospel there.
The chief of the village refused to let them enter the town for fear they would convert the locals and anger their gods. So they went a half mile up the hill and built their own mud huts.
They prayed hard for a breakthrough into the village, but nothing happened. The only contact they were allowed was with a young boy who could come and sell them chickens and eggs twice a week. Svea Flood was a small woman of only 4 feet, and she decided that if this young boy was the only African she could have contact with, then she would try to lead him to Christ. She succeeded!
Meanwhile, malaria continued to strike each of the families down, and in time the Scandinavian couple decided they had had enough and went back down to the main mission. Shortly after, Svea found she was pregnant in the middle of this primitive wilderness. The chief at least allowed the local midwife to help her deliver, and a little girl was born. However the labour was exhausting and because of her many bouts of malaria Svea was too weak and lasted only another seventeen days.
That was the last blow for David Flood. He dug a grave, buried her, and took his newborn daughter down the mountain to the mission station. There he gave his newborn daughter to the Ericksons saying, “I’ve lost my wife, I obviously can’t take care of this baby, God has ruined my life!” He then left for Sweden, turning his back on his calling, and on God.
Within eight months the Ericksons were struck down with an illness and died also. The little baby girl 'Aina' was given to some American missionaries who changed her name to Aggie and brought her back to the States. They loved her and gave her a wonderful upbringing.
She later married a young man named Dewey Hurst and had her own family. After many years Dewey became president of a Christian college that had strong roots in Scandinavia. One day a Swedish magazine was sent to her and as she couldn't read the language she flipped through it. As she turned the pages she saw a picture of a primitive grave with a white cross and the name of Svea Flood on it. She ran to one of the lecturers who could speak the language and asked him to read it to her.
The chief of the village refused to let them enter the town for fear they would convert the locals and anger their gods. So they went a half mile up the hill and built their own mud huts.
They prayed hard for a breakthrough into the village, but nothing happened. The only contact they were allowed was with a young boy who could come and sell them chickens and eggs twice a week. Svea Flood was a small woman of only 4 feet, and she decided that if this young boy was the only African she could have contact with, then she would try to lead him to Christ. She succeeded!
Meanwhile, malaria continued to strike each of the families down, and in time the Scandinavian couple decided they had had enough and went back down to the main mission. Shortly after, Svea found she was pregnant in the middle of this primitive wilderness. The chief at least allowed the local midwife to help her deliver, and a little girl was born. However the labour was exhausting and because of her many bouts of malaria Svea was too weak and lasted only another seventeen days.
That was the last blow for David Flood. He dug a grave, buried her, and took his newborn daughter down the mountain to the mission station. There he gave his newborn daughter to the Ericksons saying, “I’ve lost my wife, I obviously can’t take care of this baby, God has ruined my life!” He then left for Sweden, turning his back on his calling, and on God.
Within eight months the Ericksons were struck down with an illness and died also. The little baby girl 'Aina' was given to some American missionaries who changed her name to Aggie and brought her back to the States. They loved her and gave her a wonderful upbringing.
She later married a young man named Dewey Hurst and had her own family. After many years Dewey became president of a Christian college that had strong roots in Scandinavia. One day a Swedish magazine was sent to her and as she couldn't read the language she flipped through it. As she turned the pages she saw a picture of a primitive grave with a white cross and the name of Svea Flood on it. She ran to one of the lecturers who could speak the language and asked him to read it to her.
He quickly told her: - It was about missionaries who had come to N'dolera long ago...the birth of a white baby...the death of the young mother...the one little African boy who had been led to Christ...and how, after the whites had all left, the boy had grown up and finally persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village. The article said that gradually he won all his students to Christ...the children led their parents to Christ...even the chief had become a Christian. Today there were six hundred Christian believers in that one village... All because of the sacrifice of David and Svea Flood!
She later found her father, a broken, bitter man who was very ill and still fell into a rage at the mention of ‘God’. As she talked to him, and told him of her life and the testimony of the African village, he slowly began to soften. By the end of that day he had come back to God and felt peace after so many years.
A few years later, the Hurst's were attending a high-level evangelism conference in England, where a report was given from the nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo). The superintendent of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently of the gospel's spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterward if he had ever heard of David and Svea Flood.
"Yes, madam," the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. "It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother's grave and her memory are honored by all of us.
God in all His brilliance will begin a great work in us, and even if circumstances derail us He will be faithful to see that work finished in us. Even though David Flood lived with bitterness for most of his life, God still used the testimony of David’s sacrifice to ultimately win him back to the Fathers heart. God finishes what He starts!
4 comments:
Thats a cool story, Cathy!
21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
How good a deal is it being saved?!!! - As Paul says, its a winning situation no matter what happens!
I often think about life and the amazing privilege that we have.. Sure one day I'll die and get to party in the presence of my heavenly Father, rejoicing in his glory in a place free of all pain, suffering, temptation and sin.
But rather than wishing away this life in eagerness for eternity, think about this...
How special an opportunity is our time BEFORE we die??? - never again will I have the chance to demonstrate my desire to be holy and obedient to Him, resisting sinful pressures around me.
Don't get me wrong - my finest gifts to him are rags and pebbles and Heaven will be fantastic (certainly better than this life).
Our life here is a mere speck on the timeline of eternity - but it is the one time that we can prove our desire is to love Christ by living for Him!
Philippians 1:28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.
This is one of the hardest things to do. It is easy if the opposition is a stranger who speaks and does evil things but what about a friend or family. We don't want to offend those we hold dear and yet we jnow when their thoughts and actions are opposed to God's Will. But we must address them, not through confrontation, but through the gentle reinforcement of God's Word.
Don't underestimate how hard it is to have the courage to challenge our loved ones but also how wrong it would be not to do so.
We must remember that our fellow man is not our enemy but rather it is the devil. If we show patience and strength in the authority of God we can overcome opposition.
God will do the work in our friends and family but we must be strong to guide them to Him. When those who oppose God are given the opportunity to meet Him they will not turn from Him. We must be strong and be prepared to meet those who oppose God and show them a better life through Jesus.
Philippians 9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.
Move over Joseph!!
Phil 1:21 "For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better." (NLT)
Believers recognise that everything of value is found in Christ. Things of the world that once seemed important have lost their attraction - nothing compares to the infinite value of knowing Christ.
Its a win-win for us. If living means Christ to us, death will only gain us more of Him!
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