All but three of the following books are biographies rather than devotional studies. Faith is often better modeled than described. This is particularly true within the persecuted church. A number of the books deal with believers who suffered--and died--for their faith in Christ. The more pertinent books are identified with a bullet () and the most highly recommended with a double bullet ().

    There are three women mentioned in the following books who merit special attention. Each made a great contribution to her husband's ministry, and was in her own right a woman of great faith and ability. They are Mary Müller, Maria Taylor, and Biddy (Gertrude) Chambers.

George Müller of Bristol, His Life of Prayer and Faith, A.T. Pierson, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids MI, 1999 (reprint of the 1899 edition), 375 pages. As the sub-title suggests, this is an excellent book describing Müller's faith and prayer life.

George Müller, Delighted in God! Roger Steer, Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton IL, 1981, 320 pages. This book is primarily concerned with the events of the Müllers' lives, though it also gives adequate insight into George Müller's prayer life and faith.

George Müller on Faith, a 30-day Devotional Treasury, Lance Wubbels, editor, Emerald Books, Lynnwood WA, 1998, 62 pages. This is a short book of devotional readings collected from Müller's writings.

J. Hudson Taylor, God's Man in China, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Moody Press, Chicago IL, 1977, 366 pages. This book is out of print, but is worth searching for. Of the books in this bibliography, it best describes Taylor's life of faith. It also gives the best account of Taylor's wife, Maria, as a woman of faith.

Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Moody Press, Chicago IL, 1989, 256 pages. This book describes Hudson Taylor's experience of finding resting faith. It is an interesting study of a man who had long practiced acting faith, and then came to understand resting faith.

J. Hudson Taylor, A Man in Christ, Roger Steer, OMF Books, Littleton CO, 1990 and 1993, 300 pages. This book gives good insight into Taylor's life. Taylor's faith is portrayed through his action.

Hudson Taylor & China's Open Century, A.J. Broomhall, Hodder & Stoughton and The Overseas Missionary Fellowship. This seven volume set is a definitive work on J. Hudson Taylor and the founding of the China Inland Mission. With over 3,000 pages, it is a major undertaking. It is, nonetheless, a powerful description of faith.

    Barbarians at the Gates, Book One, 1981, 432 pages.
    Over the Treaty Wall, Book Two, 1982, 461 pages.
    A Thousand Lives, Book Three, 1982, 528 pages.
    Survivors' Pact, Book Four, 1984, 474 pages.
    Refiner's Fire, Book Five, 1985, 512 pages.
    Assault on the Nine, Book Six, 1988, 539 pages.
    It is not Death to Die!, Book Seven, 1989, 718 pages.

Hudson Taylor and Maria, John Pollock, Christian Focus Publications, 2001, 206 pages. Maria Taylor was as much responsible for the establishment of the China Inland Mission as was her husband. She was also a woman of deep and practical faith.

 John Hyde, Man of Faith, (formerly titled, Praying Hyde) Francis McGaw, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis MN, 68 pages. This short book will leave a deep impression of the cost and effectiveness of total commitment to prayer. It may be out of print but is well worth reading.

Praying Hyde, Edited by Captain E. G. Carre, Bridge Publishing, Inc., undated, 183 pages. Includes three books: Praying Hyde by Francis A. M'Gaw, A Vessel Unto Honour, by J. Pengwern Jones, and A Master Fisher for Souls, by R. M'Cheyne. oMountain Rain, A Biography of James O. Fraser, Eileen Fraser Crossman, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1994, 246 pages. This book written by J.O. Fraser's daughter very adequately describes his life of prayer and faith.

Behind the Ranges, The Life-Changing Story of J.O. Fraser, Geraldine Taylor, OMF Books, Littleton CO, 1944 and 1998, 300 pages. In the early 1900s, J.O. Fraser went to a remote area of China to work with an illiterate tribe untouched by the Gospel. This is an excellent book recounting Fraser's prayer and faith as he sought to win these people for Christ.

The Prayer of Faith, J.O. Fraser, OMF Books, Littleton CO, 1995, 29 pages. The material in this book is excerpted from Behind the Ranges. It is an interesting study on the prayer of faith.

Oswald Chambers, Abandoned to God, David McCasland, Discovery House Publishers, Grand Rapids MI, 1993, 336 pages. This book gives good insight into the internal struggle involved in full commitment to Christ. The story of Chambers' wife, Biddy, is as compelling as that of Oswald Chambers himself.

Rees Howells, Intercessor, Norman Grubb, Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington PA, 1952 and 1997, 263 pages. This book will certainly make the non-charismatic reader uncomfortable. However, it is an excellent book in its portrayal of the high cost of intercessory prayer.

C.T. Studd, Norman Grubb, Christian Literature Crusade, 1985, 241 pages. C.T. Studd first went to China and then started the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC) in Africa. Studd's personal life and the mission he founded were strongly based on living by faith.

God Crucified, Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament, Richard Bauckham, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids MI, 1998, 79 pages. This is an excellent book, giving important insights into the deity of Christ.

William Carey, The Father of Modern Missions, Basil Miller, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis MN, 1980, 152 pages.

    The following books deal specifically with the persecuted church:

By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the 20th Century, James and Marti Hefley, Mott Media, Milford, MI, 1979, 636 pages. This is an excellent overview of Christian persecution throughout the world from 1900 to 1980. The story of the persecution of the church is a story of believers living by extreme faith.

God's Smuggler, Brother Andrew, New American Library, 1967, 224 pages. This book recounts the development of Open Doors with Brother Andrew (www.opendoorsusa.org) which is committed to strengthening the persecuted church. Their initial work was behind the Iron Curtin. Among other efforts, that included taking Bibles to churches which had none. There is an interesting link between this book and a number of others on this list. George Meuller's life of faith was a great encouragement to J Hudson Taylor. Many of Meuller's principles of faith were applied in the China Inland Mission founded by Taylor. C.I. Studd initially went to China under the China Inland Mission and gave his considerable wealth away to live by faith. Later, Studd went to Africa and began his own faith mission called Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC). WEC established a Bible training school in Scotland in which the instructors lived by faith (without salaries) and strongly emphasized a life of faith to their students. Soon after coming to know Christ, Brother Andrew attended this WEC school and began applying faith principles in his own life. After graduation, Brother Andrew began his Open Doors ministry which not only depended entirely on faith as a means of support, but he literally lived by faith each time Bibles were transported across international boarders. Finally, the work of taking Bibles into China was patterned after Brother Andrew's ministry and became an affiliate of the Open Doors ministries.

God's Smuggler to China, Brother David, Hodder & Staughton, London, 1981, 323 pages. A description of daring faith in taking Bibles into china in the 1970s.

The Heavenly Man, Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway, Monarch Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 2002, 348 pages. This is a moving and inspirational story of a young Chinese convert who suffered two imprisonments in China for his leadership role in the house church movement. It is all here: daring faith, brutal physical torture, deep discouragement, and God's powerful intervention.

Tortured for Christ, Richard Wurmbrand, Living Sacrifice Books, Middlebury, IN, 1990, 139 pages. Wurmbrand was a Lutheran pastor living in Communist Romania under Nicolae Ceausescu's ruthless rule in the late 1940s through mid 1960s. He spent 14 years in harsh prison life; his wife spent three years in a slave labor camp. His description of the cost of faith is frightening.

In God's Underground, Richard Wurmbrand, Bantam Books, 1968, 277 pages. This book fills in more detail of Wurmbrand's imprisonment years. It includes interesting descriptions of both the religious and atheist cellmates who shared his prison confinement. It is out of print but worth locating as a used book.

If I Perish, Esther Ahn Kim, Moody Press, 2001, 256 pages. Esther was a young Korean school teacher who had been trained in Japan. During the Japanese occupation of Korea, she refused to bow in a Shinto shrine. As a result, she spent six years (1939-1945) in Japanese prisons in Korea. She not only survived by faith, but was instrumental in leading many of her cell mates to Christ.