George Muller and the
Secret of His Power in Prayer
(Extracts from a
work in four volumes: The Lord’s Dealings with George Muller.J. Nisbet & Co., London)
WHEN
God wishes anew to teach His Church a truth that is not being understood or
practised, He mostly does so by raising some man to be in word and deed a
living witness to its blessedness.And
so God has raised up in this nineteenth century, among others, George Muller to
be His witness that He is indeed the Hearer of prayer.I know of no way in which the principal
truths of God’s word in regard to
prayer can be more effectually illustrated and established than a short review
of his life and of what he tells of his prayer-experiences.
He was born in Prussia on 25th
September 1805, and is thus now eighty years of age.His early life, even after having entered the
University of Halle as a theological student, was
wicked in the extreme.Led by a friend
one evening, when just twenty years of age, to a prayer meeting, he was deeply
impressed, and soon after brought to know the Saviour.Not long after he began reading missionary
papers, and in course of time offered himself to the London Society for
promoting Christianity to the Jews.He
was accepted as a student, but soon found that he could not in all things
submit to the rules of the Society, as leaving too little liberty for the
leading of the Holy Spirit.The
connection was dissolved in 1830 by mutual consent, and he became the pastor of
a small congregation at Teignmouth.In
1832 he was led to Bristol,
and it was as pastor of Bethesda Chapel that he was led to the Orphan Home and
other work, in connection with which God has so remarkably led him to trust His
word and to experience how God fulfils that word.
A few extracts in
regard to his spiritual life will prepare the way for what we specially wish to
quote of his experiences in reference to prayer.
‘In connection with
this I would mention, that the Lord very graciously gave me, from the very
commencement of my divine life, a measure of simplicity and of childlike
disposition in spiritual things, so that whilst I was exceedingly ignorant of
the Scriptures, and was still from time to time overcome even by outward sins,
yet I was enabled to carry most minute matters to the Lord in prayer.And I have found "godliness profitable unto
all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to
come.”Though very weak and ignorant,
yet I had now, by the grace of God, some desire to benefit others, and he who
so faithfully had once served Satan, sought now to win souls for Christ.’
It was at Teignmouth
that he was led to know how to use God’s word , and to trust the Holy Spirit as
the Teacher given by God to make that word clear.He writes:--
‘God then began to
show me that the word of God alone is our standard of judgment in spiritual
things; that it can be explained only by the Holy Spirit; and that in our day,
as well as in former times.He is the
Teacher of His people.The office of the
Holy Spirit I had not experimentally understood before that time.
‘It was my beginning
to understand this latter point in particular, which had a great effect on me;
for the Lord enabled me to put it to the test of experience, by laying aside
commentaries, and almost every other book and simply reading the wordof God and studying it.
‘The result of this
was, that the first evening that I shut myself into my room, to give myself to
prayer and meditation over the Scriptures, I learned more in a few hours than I
had done during a period of several months previously.
‘But the
particular difference was that I received real strength for my soul in so doing.I now began to try by the test of the
Scriptures the things which I had learned and seen, and found that only those
principles which stood the test were of real value.’
Of obedience to the
word of God, he writes as follows, in connection with his being baptized:--
‘It had pleased God,
in His abundant mercy, to bring my mind into such a state, that I was willing
to carry out into my life whatever I should find in the Scriptures.I could say, "I will do His will,” and it was
on that account, I believe, that I saw which "doctrine is of God.”—And I
would observe here, by the way, that the passage to which I have just alluded
(John vii. 17) has been a most remarkable comment to me on many doctrines and
precepts of our most holy faith.For
instance:"Resist not evil; but
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.And if any man will sue thee at the law, and
take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
go with him twain.Give to him that
asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away.Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you,
and persecute you” (Matt. v. 39-44)."Sell
that ye have, and give alms”(Luke xii. 33)."Owe no man any thing, but to love one another”(Rom. xii. 8).It may be said, "Surely these passages cannot
be taken literally, for how then would the people of God be able to pass
through the world?”The state of mind
enjoined in John vii. 17 will cause such objections to vanish.WHOSOEVER IS WILLING TO ACT OUT these
commandments of the Lord LITERALLY, will, I believe, be led with me to see that
to take them LITERALLY is the will of God.—Those who do so take them
will doubtless often be brought into difficulties, hard to the flesh to bear,
but these will have a tendency to make them constantly feel that they are
strangers and pilgrims here, that this world is not their home, and thus to
throw them more upon God, who will assuredly help us through any difficulty
into which we may be brought by seeking to act in obedience to His word.'
This implicit
surrender to God’s word led him to certain views and conduct in regard to
money, which mightily influenced his future life.They had their root in the conviction that
money was a Divine stewardship, and that all money had therefore to be received
and dispensed in direct fellowship with God Himself.This led him to the adoption of the following
four great rules: 1.Not to receive any fixed salary, both
because in the collecting of it there was often much that was at variance with
the freewill offering with which God’s service is to be maintained, and in the
receiving of it a danger of placing more dependence on human sources of income
than in the living God Himself.2.Never to ask any human being for help,
however great the need might be, but to make his wants known to the God who has
promised to care for His servants and to hear their prayer.3.To
take this command (Luke xii. 33) literally, ‘Sell that thou hast and give
alms,’ and never to save up money, but to spend all God entrusted to him on
God’s poor, on the work of His kingdom.4.Also to take Rom. xiii. 8,
‘Owe no man anything,’ literally, and never to buy on credit, or be in debt for
anything, but to trust God to provide.
This mode of living
was not easy at first.But Muller
testifies it was most blessed in bringing the soul to rest in God, and drawing
it into closer union with Himself when inclined to backslide.‘For it will not do, it is not possible,
to live in sin, and at the same time, by communion with God, to draw down from
heaven everything one needs for the life that now is.’
Not long after his
settlement at Bristol, ‘THE SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE
INSTITUTION FOR HOME AND ABROAD’ was established for aiding in Day, Sunday
School, Mission
and Bible work.Of this Institution the
Orphan Home work, by which Mr. Muller is best known, became a branch.It was in 1834 that his heart was touched by
the case of an orphan brought to Christ in one of the schools, but who had to
go to a poorhouse where its spiritual wants would not be cared for.Meeting shortly after with a life of Franke,
he writes (Nov, 20, 1835):‘Today I have
had it very much laid on my heart no longer merely to think about the
establishment of an Orphan Home, but actually to set about it, and I have been
very much in prayer respecting it, in order to ascertain the Lord’s mind.May God make it plain.’And again, Nov. 25:‘I have been again much in prayer yesterday
and today about the Orphan Home, and am more and more convinced that it is of
God.May He in mercy guide me.The three chief reasons are—1.That God may be glorified, should He be
pleased to furnish me with the means, in its being seen that it is not a vain
thing to trust Him; and that thus the faith of His children may be
strengthened.2.The spiritual welfare of fatherless and
motherless children.3.Their temporal welfare.’
After some months of
prayer and waiting on God, a house was rented, with room for thirty children,
and in course of time three more, containing in all 120 children.The work was carried on it this way for ten
years, the supplies for the needs of the orphans being asked and received of
God alone.It was often a time of sore
need and much prayer, but a trial of faith more precious than of gold was found
unto praise and honour and glory of God.The Lord was preparing His servant for greater things.By His providence and His Holy Spirit, Mr.
Muller was led to desire, and to wait upon God till he received from Him, the
sure promise of £15,000 for a Home to contain 300 children.This first Home was opened in 1849.In 1858, a second and third Home, for 950
more orphans, was opened, costing £35,000. And in 1869 and 1870, a fourth and a fifth
Home, for 850 more, at an expense of £50,000, making the total number of the
orphans 2100.
In addition to this
work, God has given him almost as much as for the building of the Orphan Homes,
and the maintenance of the orphans, for other work, the support of schools and
missions, Bible and tract circulation.In all he has received from God, to be spent in His work, during these
fifty years, more than one million pounds sterling.How little he knew, let us carefully notice,
that when he gave up his little salary of £35 a year in obedience to the
leading of God’s word and the Holy Spirit, what God was preparing to give him
as the reward of obedience and faith; and how wonderfully the word was to be
fulfilled to him:‘Thou hast been
faithful over few things; I will set thee over many things.’
And these things have
happened for an ensample to us.God
calls us to be followers of George Muller, even as he is of Christ.His God is our God; the same promises are for
us; the same service of love and faith in which he laboured is calling for us
on every side.Let us in connection with
our lessons in the school of prayer study the way in which God gave George
Muller such power as a man of prayer:we
shall find in it the most remarkable illustration of some of the lessons which
we have been studying with the blessed Master in the word.We shall specially have impressed upon us His
first great lesson, that if we will come to Him in the way He has pointed out,
with definite petitions, made known to us by the Spirit through the word as
being according to the will of God, we may most confidently believe that
whatsoever we ask it shall be done.
PRAYER AND THE WORD OF
GOD.
We have more than
once seen that God’s listening to our voice depends upon our listening to His
voice.(See Lessons 22 and 23.)We must not only have a special promise to
plead, when we make a special request, but our whole life must be under the
supremacy of the word:the word must be
dwelling in us.The testimony of George
Muller on this point is most instructive.He tells us how the discovery of the true place of the word of God, and
the teaching of the Spirit with it, was the commencement of a new era in his
spiritual life.Of it he writes:--
‘Now the scriptural
way of reasoning would have been:God
Himself has condescended to become an author, and I am ignorant about that
precious book which His Holy Spirit has caused to be written through the
instrumentality of His servants, and it contains that which I ought to know,
and the knowledge of which will lead me to true happiness; therefore I ought to
read again and again this most precious book, this book of books, most
earnestly, most prayerfully, and with much meditation; and in this practice I
ought to continue all the days of my life.For I was aware, though I read it but little, that I knew scarcely
anything of it.But instead of acting
thus and being led by my ignorance of the word of God to study it more, my
difficulty in understanding it, and the little enjoyment I had in it, made me
careless of reading it (for much prayerful reading of the word gives not merely
more knowledge, but increases the delight we have in reading it); and thus,
like many believers, I practically preferred, for the first four years of my
divine life, the works of uninspired men to the oracles of the living God.The consequence was that I remained a babe,
both in knowledge and grace.In
knowledge, I say; for all true knowledge must be derived, by the Spirit,
from the word. And as I neglected the
word, I was for nearly four years so ignorant, that I did not clearly
know even the fundamental points of our holy faith.And this lack of knowledge most sadly kept me
back from walking steadily in the ways of God.For when it pleased the Lord in August 1829 to bring me really to the
Scriptures, my life and walk became very different.And though ever since that I have very much
fallen short of what I might and ought to be, yet by the grace of God I have
been enabled to live much nearer to Him than before.If any believers read this who practically
prefer other books to the Holy Scriptures, and who enjoy the writings of men
much more than the word of God, may they be warned by my loss.I shall consider this book to have been the means
of doing much good, should it please the Lord, through its instrumentality, to
lead some of His people no longer to neglect the Holy Scriptures, but to give
them that preference which they have hitherto bestowed on the writings of men.
‘Before I leave this
subject, I would only add:If the reader
understands very little of the word of God, he ought to read it very much; for
the Spirit explains the word by the word.And if he enjoys the reading of the word little, that is just the reason
why he should read it much; for the frequent reading of the Scriptures creates
a delight in them, so that the more we read them, the more we desire to do so.
‘Above all, he should
seek to have it settled in his own mind that God alone by His Spirit can teach
him, and that therefore, as God will be inquired of for blessings, it becomes
him to seek God’s blessing previous to reading, and also whilst reading.
‘He should have it,
moreover, settled in his mind that although the Holy Spirit is the best and
sufficient Teacher, yet that this Teacher does not always teach
immediately when we desire it, and that therefore we may have to entreat
Him again and again for the explanation of certain passages; but that He will
surely teach us at last, if indeed we are seeking for light prayerfully,
patiently, and with a view to the glory of God.’1
We find in his journal frequent mention made
of his spending two and three hours in prayer over the word for the feeding of
his spiritual life.As the fruit of
this, when he had need of strength and encouragement in prayer, the individual
promises were not to him so many arguments from a book to be used with God, but
living words which he had heard the Father’s living voice speak to him, and
which he could now bring to the Father in living faith.
PRAYER AND THE WILL OF
GOD.
One of the greatest
difficulties with young believers is to know how they can find out whether what
they desire is according to God’s will.I count it one of the most precious lessons God wants to teach through
the experience of George Muller, that He is willing to make know, of things of
which His word says nothing directly, that they are His will for us, and that
we may ask them.The teaching of the
Spirit, not without or against the word, but as something above and beyond it,
in addition to it, without which we cannot see God’s will, is the heritage of
every believer.It is through THE WORD,
AND THE WORD ALONE, that the Spirit teaches, applying the general principles or
promises to our special need.And it is
THE SPIRIT, AND THE SPIRIT ALONE, who can really make the word a light on our
path, whether the path of duty in our daily walk, or the path of faith in our
approach to God.Let us try and notice
in what childlike simplicity and teachableness it was that the discovery of
God’s will was so surely and so clearly made known to His servant.
With regard to the
building of the first Home and the assurance he had of its being God’s will, he
writes in May 1850, just after it had been opened, speaking of the great
difficulties there were, and how little likely it appeared to nature that they
would be removed:‘But while the
prospect before me would have been overwhelming had I looked at it naturally, I
was never even for once permitted to question how it would end.For as from the beginning I was sure it
was the will of God that I should go to the work of building for Him this
large Orphan Home, so also from the beginning I was as certain that the whole
would be finished as if the Home had been already filled.’
The way in which he
found out what was God’s will, comes out with special clearness in his account
of the building of the second Home; and I ask the reader to study with care the
lesson the narrative conveys:--
‘Dec. 5,
1850.—Under these circumstances I can only pray that the Lord in His tender
mercy would not allow Satan to gain an advantage over me.By the grace of God my heart says:Lord, if I could be sure that it is Thy will
that I should go forward in this matter, I would do so cheerfully; and, on the
other hand, if I could be sure that these are vain, foolish, proud thoughts,
that they are not from Thee, I would, by Thy grace, hate them, and entirely put
them aside.
‘My hope is in
God:He will help and teach me.Judging, however, from His former dealings
with me, it would not be a strange thing to me, nor surprising, if He called me
to labour yet still more largely in this way.
‘The thoughts about
enlarging the Orphan work have not yet arisen on account of an abundance of
money having lately come in; for I have had of late to wait for about seven
weeks upon God, whilst little, very little comparatively, came in, i.e.
about four times as much was going out as came in; and, had not the Lord
previously sent me large sums, we should have been distressed indeed.
‘Lord!how can Thy servant know Thy will in this
matter?Wilt Thou be pleased to teach
him!
December 11.—During the last six days, since
writing the above, I have been, day after day, waiting upon God concerning this
matter.It has generally been more or less
all the day on my heart.When I have
been awake at night, it has not been far from my thoughts.Yet all this without the least
excitement.I am perfectly calm and
quiet respecting it.My soul would be
rejoiced to go forward in this service, could I be sure that the Lord would
have me to do so; for then, notwithstanding the numberless difficulties, all
would be well; and His Name would be magnified.
‘On the other hand,
were I assured that the Lord would have me to be satisfied with my present
sphere of service, and that I should not pray about enlarging the work, by His
grace I could, without an effort, cheerfully yield to it; for He has
brought me into such a state of heart, that I only desire to please Him in this
matter.Moreover, hitherto I have not
spoken about this thing even to my beloved wife, the sharer of my joys,
sorrows, and labours for more than twenty years; nor is it likely that I shall
do so for some time to come:for I
prefer quietly to wait on the Lord, without conversing on this subject, in
order that thus I may be kept the more easily, by His blessing, from being
influenced by things from without.The
burden of my prayer concerning this matter is, that the Lord would not allow me
to make a mistake, and that He would teach me to do His will.
‘December
26.—Fifteen days have elapsed since I wrote the preceding paragraph.Every day since then I have continued to pray
about this matter, and that with a goodly measure of earnestness, by the help
of God.There has passed scarcely an
hour during these days, in which, whilst awake, this matter has not been more
or less before me.But all without even
a shadow of excitement.I converse with
no one about it.Hitherto have I not
even done so with my dear wife.For this
I refrain still, and deal with God alone about the matter, in order that no
outward influence and no outward excitement may keep me from attaining unto a
clear discovery of His will.I have the
fullest and most peaceful assurance that He will clearly show me His will.This evening I have had again an especial
solemn season for prayer, to seek to know the will of God.But whilst I continue to entreat and beseech
the Lord, that He would not allow me to be deluded in this business, I may say
I have scarcely any doubt remaining on my mind as to what will be the issue,
even that I should go forward in this matter.As this, however, is one of the most momentous steps that I have ever
taken, I judge that I cannot go about this matter with too much caution,
prayerfulness, and deliberation.I am in
no hurry about it.I could wait for
years, by God’s grace, were this His will, before even taking one single step
toward this thing, or even speaking to anyone about it; and, on the other hand,
I would set to work tomorrow, were the Lord to bid me do so.This calmness of mind, this having no will of
my own in the matter, this only wishing to please my Heavenly Father in it,
this only seeking His and not my honour in it; this state of heart, I say, is
the fullest assurance to me that my heart is not under a fleshly excitement,
and that, if I am helped thus to go on, I shall know the will of God to the
full.But, while I write this, I
cannot but add at the same time, that I do crave the honour and the glorious
privilege to be more and more used by the Lord.
‘I desire to be
allowed to provide scriptural instruction for a thousand orphans, instead of
doing so for 300.I desire to expound
the Holy Scriptures regularly to a thousand orphans, instead of doing so to
300.I desire that it may be yet more
abundantly manifest that God is still the Hearer and Answerer of prayer, and
that He is the living God now as He ever was and ever will be, when He shall
simply, in answer to prayer, have condescended to provide me with a house for
700 orphans and with means to support them.This last consideration is the most important point in my mind.The Lord’s honour is the principal point with
me in this whole matter; and just because this is the case, if He would be more
glorified by not going forward in this business, I should by His grace be
perfectly content to give up all thoughts about another Orphan House.Surely in such a state of mind, obtained by
the Holy Spirit, Thou, O my Heavenly Father, wilt not suffer Thy child to be
mistaken, much less deluded.By the
help of God I shall continue further day by day to wait upon Him in prayer,
concerning this thing, till He shall bid me act.
‘Jan. 2,
1851.—A week ago I wrote the preceding paragraph.During this week I have still been helped day
by day, and more than once every day, to seek the guidance of the Lord about
another Orphan House.The burden of my
prayer has still been, that He in His great mercy would keep me from making a
mistake.During the last week the book
of Proverbs has come in the course of my Scripture reading, and my heart has
been refreshed in reference to this subject by the following passages:"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and
lean not unto thine own understanding.In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths”(Prov. iii. 5, 6).By the grace of God I do acknowledge the Lord
in all my ways, and in this thing in particular; I have therefore the
comfortable assurance that He will direct my paths concerning this part of my
service, as to whether I shall be occupied in it our not.Further:"The integrity of the upright shall preserve them”(Prov. xi. 3).By the grace of God I am upright in this
business.My honest purpose is to get
glory to God.Therefore I expect to be
guided aright.Further:"Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy
thoughts shall be established”(Prov.
xvi. 3).I do commit my works unto the
Lord, and therefore expect that my thoughts will be established.My heart is more and more coming to a calm,
quiet, and settled assurance, that the Lord will condescend to use me still
further in the orphan work.Here Lord is
Thy servant.’
When later he decided
to build two additional houses, Nos. 4 and 5, he writes thus again:-
‘Twelve days have passed away since I wrote
the last paragraph.I have still day by
day been enabled to wait upon the Lord with reference to enlarging the Orphan
work, and have been during the whole of this period also in perfect peace,
which is the result of seeking in this thing only the Lord’s honour and the
temporal and spiritual benefit of my fellow-men.Without an effort could I by His grace put
aside all thoughts about this whole affair, if only assured that it is the will
of God that I should do so; and, on the other hand, would at once go forward,
if He would have it be so.I have still
kept this matter entirely to myself.Though it be now about seven weeks, since day by day, more or less, my
mind has been exercised about it, and since I have been daily praying about it,
yet not one human being knows of it.As
yet I have not even mentioned it to my dear wife in order that thus, by quietly
waiting upon God, I might not be influenced by what might be said to me on the
subject.This evening has been
particularly set apart for prayer, beseeching the Lord once more not to allow
me to be mistaken in this thing, and much less to be deluded by the devil.I have also sought to let all the reasons against
building another Orphan House, and all the reasons for doing so pass
before my mind:and now for the
clearness and definiteness, write them down. . . .
‘Much, however, as
the nine previous reasons weigh with me, yet they would not decide me were
there not one more.It is this.After having for months pondered the matter,
and having looked at it in all its bearings and with all its difficulties, and
then having been finally led, after much prayer, to decide on this enlargement,
my mind is at peace.The child who has
again and again besought His Heavenly Father not to allow him to be deluded,
nor even to make a mistake, is at peace, perfectly at peace concerning this
decision; and has thus the assurance that the decision come to, after much
prayer during weeks and months, is the leading of the Holy Spirit; and
therefore purposes to go forward, assuredly believing that he will not be
confounded, for he trusts in God.Many
and great may be his difficulties; thousands and ten thousands of prayers may
have ascended to God, before the full answer may be obtained; much exercise of faith
and patience may be required; but in the end it will again be seen, that His
servant, who trusts in Him, has not been confounded.’
PRAYER AND THE GLORY OF
GOD.
We have sought more
than once to enforce the truth, that while we ordinarily seek the reasons of
our prayers not being heard in the thing we ask not being according to the will
of God, Scripture warns us to find the cause in ourselves, in our not being in
the right state or not asking in the right spirit.The thing may be in full accordance with His
will, but the asking, the spirit of the supplicant, not; then we are not
heard.As the great root of all sin is
self and self-seeking, so there is nothing that even in our more spiritual
desires so effectually hinders God in answering as this:we pray for our own pleasure or glory.Prayer to have power and prevail must ask for
the glory of God; and he can only do this as he is living for God’s glory.
In George Muller we
have one of the most remarkable instances on record of God’s Holy Spirit
leading a man deliberately and systematically, at the outset of a course of
prayer, to make the glorifying of God his first and only object.Let us ponder well what he says, and learn
the lesson God would teach us through him:--
‘I had constantly
cases brought before me, which proved that one of the especial things which the
children of God needed in our day, was to have their faith strengthened.
‘I longed, therefore,
to have something to point my brethren to, as a visible proof that our God and
Father is the same faithful God as ever He was; as willing as ever to PROVE
Himself to be the LIVING GOD in our day as formerly, to all who put their
trust in Him.
‘My spirit longed to be instrumental in
strengthening their faith, by giving them not only instances from the word of
God, of His willingness and ability to help all who rely upon Him, but to show
them by proofs that He is the same in our day.I knew that the word of God ought to be
enough, and it was by grace enough for me; but still I considered I ought to
lend a helping hand to my brethren.
‘I therefore judged
myself bound to be the servant of the Church of Christ, in the particular point
in which I had obtained mercy; namely, in being able to take God at His word
and rely upon it.The first object of
the work was, and is still:that God
might be magnified by the fact that the orphans under my care are provided
with all they need, only by prayer and faith, without any one being
asked; thereby it may be seen that God is FAITHFUL STILL, AND HEARS PRAYER
STILL.
‘I have again these
last days prayed much about the Orphan House, and have frequently examined my
heart; that if it were at all my desire to establish it for the sake of
gratifying myself, I might find it out.For as I desire only the Lord’s glory, I shall be glad to be instructed
by the instrumentality of my brother, if the matter be not of Him.
‘When I began the
Orphan work in 1835, my chief object was the glory of God, by giving a
practical demonstration as to what could be accomplished simply through the
instrumentality of prayer and faith, in order thus to benefit the Church at
large, and to lead a careless world to see the reality of the things of God, by
showing them in this work, that the living God is still, as 4000 years ago, the
living God.This my aim has been
abundantly honoured.Multitudes of
sinners have been thus converted, multitudes of the children of God in all
parts of the world have been benefited by this work, even as I had
anticipated.But the larger the work as
grown, the greater has been the blessing, bestowed in the very way in which I
looked for blessing:for the attention
of hundreds of thousands has been drawn to the work; and many tens of thousands
have come to see it.All this leads me
to desire further and further to labour on in this way, in order to bring yet
greater glory to the Name of the Lord.That
He may be looked at, magnified, admired, trusted in, relied on at all
times, is my aim in this service; and so particularly in this intended
enlargement.That it may be seen how
much one poor man, simply by trusting in God, can bring about by prayer; and
that thus other children of God may be led to carry on the work of God in
dependence upon Him; and that children of God may be led increasingly to trust
in Him in their individual positions and circumstances, therefore I am led to
this further enlargement.’
PRAYER AND TRUST IN
GOD.
There are other
points on which I would be glad to point out what is to be found in Mr.
Muller’s narrative, but one more must suffice.It is the lesson of firm and unwavering trust in God’s promise as the
secret of persevering prayer.If once we
have, in submission to the teaching of the Spirit in the word, taken hold of
God’s promise, and believed that the Father has heard us, we must not allow
ourselves by any delay or unfavourable appearances be shaken in our faith.
‘The full answer to
my daily prayers was far from being realized; yet there was abundant
encouragement granted by the Lord, to continue in prayer.But suppose, even, that far less had come in
than was received, still, after having come to the conclusion, upon scriptural
grounds, after much prayer and self-examination, I ought to have gone on
without wavering, in the exercise of faith and patience concerning this object;
and thus all the children of God, when once satisfied that anything which they
bring before God in prayer, is according to His will, ought to continue in
believing, expecting, persevering prayer until the blessing is granted.Thus am I myself now waiting upon God for
certain blessings, for which I have daily besought Him for ten years and six
months without one day’s intermission.Still the fullanswer is not yet
given concerning the conversion of certain individuals, though in the meantime
I have received many thousands of answers to prayer.I have also prayed daily without intermission
for the conversion of other individuals about ten years, for others six or
seven years, for others from three or two years; and still the answer is not
yet granted concerning those persons, while in the meantime many thousands of
my prayers have been answered, and also souls converted, for whom I had been
praying.I lay particular stress on this
for the benefit of those who may suppose that I need only to ask of God, and
receive at once; or that I might pray concerning anything, and the answer would
surely come.One can only expect to
obtain answers to prayers which are according to the mind of God; and even
then, patience and faith may be exercised for many years, even as mine are
exercised, in the matter to which I have referred; and yet am I daily
continuing in prayer, and expecting the answer, and so surely expecting the
answer, that I have often thanked God that He will surely give it, though now
for nineteen years faith and patience have thus been exercised.Be encouraged, dear Christians, with fresh
earnestness to give yourselves to prayer, if you can only be sure that you ask
things which are for the glory of God.
‘But the most
remarkable point is this, that£6, 6s.
6d. from Scotland
supplied me, as far as can be known now, with all the means necessary for
fitting up and promoting the New Orphan Houses.Six years and eight months I have been day by day, and generally several
times daily, asking the Lord to give me the needed means for this enlargement
of the Orphan work, which, according to calculations made in the spring of
1861, appeared to be about fifty thousand pounds:the total of this amount I had now
received.I praise and magnify the Lord
for putting this enlargement of the work into my heart, and for giving me
courage and faith for it; and above all, for sustaining my faith day by day
without wavering.When the last portion
of the money was received, I was no more assured concerning the whole, that I
was at the time I had not received one single donation towards this large
sum.I was at the beginning, after once
having ascertained His mind, through most patient and heart-searching waiting
upon God, as fully assured that He would bring it about, as if the two houses,
with their hundreds of orphans occupying them, had been already before me.I make a few remarks here for the sake of
young believers in connection with this subject:1.Be
slow to take new steps in the Lord’s service, or in your business, or in your
families:weigh everything well; weigh
all in the light of the Holy Scriptures and in the fear of God.2.Seek to have no will of your own, in order to ascertain the mind of God,
regarding any steps you propose taking, so that you can honestly say you are
willing to do the will of God, if He will only please to instruct you.3.But
when you have found out what the will of God is, seek for His help, and seek it
earnestly, perseveringly, patiently, believingly, expectantly; and you will
surely in His own time and way obtain it.
‘To suppose that we
have difficulty about money only would be a mistake:there occur hundreds of other wants and of
other difficulties.It is a rare thing
that a day occurs without some difficulty or some want; but often there are
many difficulties and many wants to be met and overcome the same day.All these are met by prayer and faith, our
universal remedy; and we have never been confounded.Patient, persevering, believing prayer, offered
up to God, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, has always, sooner or later, brought
the blessing.I do not despair, by God’s
grace, of obtaining any blessing, provided I can be sure it would be for any
real good, and for the glory of God.