George Muller – A great man of faith tha in my experience has been overlooked by many in the Christian community. Here we have a man from Germany who was driven by the Spirit of God to serve the poor in Bristol, England. And by walking solely in faith established a ministry that I believe is still in operation. Intellectually gifted he was completely fluent in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, French, and English, in addition to knowing Dutch and a few Oriental languages as well.
What strikes me most about this man though is his life of faith. Asking only God for support he opened a string of orphanages serving all age groups, and started schools for the poor street kids who had to work to help their families. He also sharply contrasted with the whole of English clergy-dom by asking his congregation for a voluntary offering and basing his salary on that. And yes, he was a full time pastor before and during all the rest of his works.
Muller was the son of a tax-collector, and by his own admission was stealing from his father’s collections by the age of 10. Speaking of a later time in his life in a few entries from his autobiography, he refers to himself as being “guilty of gross immorality” while pursuing his education in seminary. But a little later “Despite my sinful lifestyle and cold heart, God had mercy on me.” Take heart my friends, I am sure that we all know comeone who seems to be way beyond the reach of the Gospel, but this life I have been reading about is one more example of the great and mighty things God can and does do once He takes control of someones life.
Muller’s autobiography has been soooooo very encouraging. I started this book last summer and managed to misplace it for a while and then to stay busy enough to not get through the rest of it. Now that I have a little more time I am taking it a chunk at a time and enjoying it immensely. Time and time again he proves God’s provision. An entry dated November 23 reads “The Lord, in answer to prayer, has given me about 50 pounds. I had asked only for 40.” It strongly brings to mind the Scripture where it says that “He is able to provide abundantly beyond all your needs.” So often it is extremely easy for my mind to ignore this fact and start running all these ‘what-if’ scenarios, all of them to no avail!
The ‘key’ to Muller’s success was hours and hours before the throne of God on his knees in prayer. Throughout the whole book he repeats over and over “I prayed” or “much prayer was given” or “I have been praying.” He explains his reason for this focus thus “Often the work of the Lord itself may tempt us away from communication with Him. A full schedule . . . can erode the strength of the mightiest servant of the Lord. Public prayer will never make up for closet communication.”
Over time Muller’s Scriptural Knowledge Institute moved from a few rented houses to a complex of custom built orphanages, from a few dozen initial students to housing over a thousand at a time. This whole enterprise supported by God through prayer! They never asked any person for support but waited for God to burden the heart of a giver. Even in the tightest of situations when they didnt have food for the next meal, they hit the floor and God always provided.
Throughout his whole career, George never stopped preaching the truth, never stopped pastoring his church. He lived each and every day dependent on the Savior to provide his needs. And not just their financial needs, but also spiritually. He would also spend hours a day searching Scripture for truth he could apply to the challenges facing him every day.
I consider him one of the great hero’s of our faith, and I would highly recommend finding your own copy of this collection of journal excerpts and reading it for yourself. One cannot help but to be encouraged by “The Autobiography of George Muller.”