THE GEORGE MULLER STORY
Many years ago, there was a man who lived in Bristol, England by the name of George Mueller. To give you some insight to what kind of man Mueller was, he was a mentor to the great preacher Charles Spurgeon who would call upon to come and preach in his church.
Mueller is known for many things. He established several orphanages and it’s estimated that he ministered to over 10,000 children during his lifetime. He pastored the same church for 66 years and at age 70 he became a missionary. He finally retired at age 87. He died at 92. He cared for 10,024 orphans during his lifetime and provided educational opportunities for the orphans to the point that he was even accused by some rich politicians of raising the poor above their natural station in British life. He established 117 schools which offered Christian education to more than 120,000. In addition, he is known as being a man of prayer and faith. It is estimated that Mueller raised millions of dollars (in today’s currency) to support his orphanages, and never directly asked anyone for a dime. He did it all by prayer.
Through all this, Müller never made requests for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even though the five homes cost more than £100,000 to build. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God. Müller was in constant prayer that God touch the hearts of donors to make provisions for the orphans. For example, on one well-documented occasion, thanks was given for breakfast when all the children were sitting at the table even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone, and the milkman gave them plenty of fresh milk because his cart broke down in front of the orphanage.
He is also known as someone who strived to be in the very center of God’s will. Several years ago, I read a biography about Mueller and I remember it saying that he often read the Bible while on his knees. By the way, he read through the entire Bible over 200 times. Rather than dreaming a dream and then asking God to bless it, Mueller went to God’s Word in order to seek God’s will and then he prayed for the strength to do it. One day he read that God desired to be a father to the fatherless and from that Mueller concluded that it was God’s will for someone to take care of orphaned children and on that principle, he by faith, built his orphanages.
At one time Mueller wrote out several principles for seeking God’s will. His number one Principle was – “Surrender your own will to God’s will! He said: “When I pray for something, I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to that given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is. Then God answers the request speedily!”
George Müller prayed about everything and expected each prayer to be answered. We all have needs! May his faith in God inspire all of us! In Jesus’ name! Amen!
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families; He leads out the prisoners with singing” (Ps 68:5,6)
