George Muller
Author:  Mike Walters, February 2003

It was a dark time in the land of Israel.  Ahab and Jezebel were ruling in Samaria.  They were allowing and encouraging the worship of Baal and the Asherah.  The prophets of the Lord were on the run, either killed by Jezebel or in hiding.

It was at this time God raised up Elijah, the Tishbite.  A man, like us.  But a man who would pray and the skies would be shut for three years, showing God’s judgment on Israel.  A man who would confront 450 prophets of Baal and call down fire from heaven, proving that God is the ruler of heaven and earth, the only one worthy of worship.

The Church throughout the ages has experienced crisis of faith.  The commands and promises of God are neglected, ignored or forgotten in favor of pragmatism and practicality.  Men and women rely on their stock portfolios instead of prayer. 

The Church continually needs its Elijah’s the men who will give visible proof that God lives and cares for His children.

George Muller was one of God’s Elijahs.  He was a man just like us.  He was born on September 27, 1805 in Kroppenstaedat Prussia.  he was an ungodly scoundrel--stealing from his father, the clergy and friends.  By the age of 16 he was in prison for staying at two different luxury hotels, despite not having the money to pay his bills.

But, in November 1825, God saved him.  Muller was not searching for God.  He simply went with a friend, named Beta, to a home Bible study.  The simple faith he saw there transformed him.  He became God’s child and servant.

He soon expressed interest in becoming a missionary, and eventually in 1829 was able to get to London as a probationary Missionary candidate with the London Society. 

In less than a year he separated from this group and was pastoring a congregation at Teignmouth until 1832, when the Lord moved Him to a ministry in Bristol.  While at Teignmouth Muller came to the conviction that it was unscriptural for him to receive a salary.  Acting on principle he told the church he would no longer accept a salary but reminded them of the scriptural obligation to support those who labored among them.  He set up a box in the back of the church where anyone who wanted to give him support could.  He also resolved never to mention his needs to any man, trusting the Lord to move their hearts. 

This decision to give up his salary is strange enough that it might require a little explanation.  Salaries at the time were based on pew rents.  Families would essentially rent out a pew, with those who paid more getting the better seats.  Muller believed (rightly) that this contradicted James 2:1-6.  Furthermore, he believed that it prevented the Christian from giving cheerfully.  It also could lead to compromise because the minister would not want to offend those who paid his salary.

The resolution not to tell men his needs was based in his desire to be completely dependent on the Lord.  These two principles would heavily influence the course of his ministry in Bristol.

It was in Bristol that Muller found his life-long calling.  First, he and Henry Carik,  founded the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad in 1834.  An institution that would distribute Bibles, pamphlets and tracks throughout the world;^[1]  Send over 259,776 pounds to missionaries and assist schools that would serve over 121,683 students with tens of thousands of these converted to Christ.^[2]

But, what Muller is really known for is Orphanages.  In 1835 Muller recognized two needs.  The first was the Orphans.  They were generally abandoned and desperately in need of aid.  Second, was the lack of faith in the living God both inside and outside the Church.  So, Muller decided to begin running Orphanage houses.  Ultimately, he would build five on Ashley Down outside of Bristol that would house over 2,000 orphans.  But the unique thing about this achievement is that he never asked any man for aid, he did everything by prayer.

In listing his reasons for starting the orphanages, Muller stated:

“If I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith obtained, without asking any individual, the finances for establishing and carrying on an orphan house, this might strengthen the faith of the children of God.

This is the primary reason for establishing the orphan house.  I certainly desire to be used by God to help the poor children and train them in the ways of God.  But the primary object of the work is that God would be magnified because the orphans under my care will be provided with all they need through prayer and faith.  Everyone will see that God is faithful and hears prayer.”^[3]

And that is exactly what happened.  It is estimated that in the course of his life he handled 1,424,646 pounds.  At today’s exchange rate, although not factoring in the inflation from the 1800’s to 2003 these would equal $2,322,172.^[4]  This money was acquired solely by prayer that God would provide.

Muller’s life is a living testament to the fact that there is reality in the things of God.  God is living, He can be trusted.  In fact the institution he founded continues today.  You can find out about it at www.Mullers.org 

 Unfortunately, we can not dive into every aspect of this man’s remarkable life and faith.  There is much, much more to this man.  He was a preacher, a leader, a giver, and a husband and father.^[5] But, the center of his life, his legacy to the Church, is the visible proof of the power of prayer.  So, lets take some time to examine some of the things that made Muller’s prayer life so powerful.  Because, he was a man like us.

Muller Prayed Scripturally.
This is probably the most important key to Muller’s prayer life.  He based his prayer on Scripture.  One of Muller’s fundamental principles of prevailing prayer was that it had to be based on God’s will.^[6]

Now this presents a tremendous difficulty, because frequently in life we are not sure what God’s exact will is in a certain circumstance.  So how do we pray?  The key is the Scriptures.  We must know the intimately, meditate on them and allow them to shape our desires.  This means that we must have a regular, consistent, systematic pattern of repeatedly reading through the entire Bible.

I believe this is evident in Muller’s life.  Muller confesses that for the first 4 years of his Christian life he neglected the Scriptures.  He preferred the writings of men.  However, in August 1829 God brought him to the Scriptures and he began to grow in the ways of God.^[7]  As he put it, The Lord enabled me to put to the test the Holy Spirit’s ability to explain the Scriptures to us by “laying aside my commentaries and almost every other book and simply reading the Word of God.  That first evening when I shut myself in my room to pray and mediate over the Scriptures, I learned more in a few hours than during the last several months.”^[8]

Muller’s commitment to the Scriptures would grow throughout his life.  On May 7, 1841 Muller recorded the following observation about the importance of Scripture in his journal. 

“The primary business I must attend to every day is to fellowship with the Lord.  The first concern is not how much I might serve the Lord, but how my inner man might be nourished. I may share the truth with the unconverted; I may try to encourage believers; I may relieve the distressed; or I may, in other ways, seek to behave as a child of God; yet, not being happy in the Lord and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, may result in this work being done in a wrong spirit.

The most important thing I had to do was to read the Word of God and to meditate on it.  Thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, and instructed.

Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible.  But I often spent a quarter of an hour to an hour on my knees struggling to pray while my mind wandered.  Now I rarely have this problem.  As my heart is nourished by the truth of the Word I am brought into true fellowship with God.”^[9]

This commitment to the Scriptures stayed with him throughout his life.  A.T. Pierson, a friend of Muller’s and one of his biographers made the observation that in the last 20 years of his life, Muller carefully read through the Bible 4-5 times a year.  He also made it a habit to read at least ten pages of the Bible for every page he read outside the Bible..^[10]

It is this type of exposure to God’s Word that enabled Muller to know instinctively the heartbeat of God.  He could ask things of God, even if they were not specifically mentioned in the Bible, because he had taken in God’s Word and the desires of Muller’s heart matched the desires of God’s heart.   

This type of regular Bible reading also enabled Muller to discover, know and apply specific promises in God’s word to his needs and concerns.   One of the most important to Muller was Psalm 68:5 where God calls Himself “A Father to the Fatherless.”     As Muller put it, “By the help of God, this shall be my argument before Him, respecting the orphans, in the hour of need.  He is their Father, and therefore has pledged Himself, as it were to provide for them; and I have only to remind Him of the need of these poor children in order to have it supplied.”^[11]

Another verse that was pivotal in Muller’s prayers was Psalm 81:10, “Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.”  He seized upon this as he was prayerfully discerning God’s will concerning whether or not to attempt opening an orphan house.  He applied the verse to his situation and immediately prayed for a house, 1,000 pounds, and suitable individuals to care for the children.^[12]   On May 18 1836 Muller noted that all of these requests had been answered.^[13]

It was the Scriptures that fuelled Muller’s prayer life.  He read them and saw a God who had promised to support His children as they sought His kingdom (Matthew 6:33).  He saw a God who invites His children to ask, promising to give (Matthew 7:7-8).  He saw a God who commands us to pray exercising faith in the power and willingness of God to answer our prayers.  As Muller put it “In Mark 11:24 we read ‘Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’^[14]   Muller read this, believed it and consequently prayed expectantly.

Muller Prayed Expectantly.
This is a second aspect of Muller’s success that we must not ignore.  When he prayed, he expected God to answer.    It is not that Muller did not know disappointment in prayer.  He did.  In fact one of his most fervent prayer requests--for the salvation of His Father apparently went unanswered.  As he put it:

“This evening I received information that my dear father died on March 30.  During no period did I pray more frequently or more earnestly for his conversion than during the last year of his life.  But I did not see the answer to my prayers.”^[15]

Muller also knew long periods of delay in receiving an answer to prayer.  In a sermon towards the end of his life he tells his audience:

“In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without one single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land or on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be.  Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted.  I thanked God, and prayed on for the others.  Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted.  I thanked God, and prayed on for the other three.  Day by day I continued to pray for them, and six years more passed before the third was converted.  I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two.  These two remain unconverted.”

Muller goes on to note he has been praying for these men for 36 years and that “I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer.”

His application to the audience was “go on waiting upon God, go on praying; only be sure you ask for things that are according to the mind of God. . . .  Go on, therefore, praying; expect an answer, look for it, and in the end you will have to praise God for it.”^[16]

By the way, one of the remaining individuals became a Christian shortly before Muller’s death and the other a few years after his death.

When Muller began to build the first orphan house, he prayed for 447 days before the necessary funds were in hand.^[17]

Yes, there were delays, but Muller persisted.  He continued to storm Heaven’s courts time and time again.  The reason for his persistence was his expectancy.  He believed God heard and He believed God would answer.  He refused to be surprised when God did answer.

 In one journal entry Muller states:

“On the thirty-sixth day after I began to pray, I received one thousand pounds for the building of the Orphan House.  It was the largest single donation I had ever received.  But I was as calm and quiet as if I had only received one shilling because I was expecting to receive an answer to my prayers.  Even if five thousand pounds or ten thousand pounds had been given to me, it would not have surprised me.”^[18]

There is another incident later in Muller’s life when he was traveling to Quebec and on to the United States.  Fog had set in and the ship was unable to make progress.  Muller approached the Captain and simply stated that he needed to be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon.  The Captain responded that this was impossible.  Muller then pointed out that He had never broken an engagement in fifty-two years and suggested they go and pray.  The Captain thought Muller was crazy, so Muller simply knelt and prayed.  When the Captain started to pray, Muller stopped him.  He said,

“Do not pray.  First, you don’t believe He will answer; and second I believe He has and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.  Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-two years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the King.  Get up Captain and open the door, and you will find the fog lifted.”^[19]

Sure enough, the fog was gone and Muller made his engagement. 

Notice that Muller expected results, the Captain did not.  Notice also that Muller prayed boldly.

Muller Prayed Boldly
Muller was heavily influenced by Psalm 81:10 “Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.”  The record of his life shows that from the first time he applied this to his desire to start an orphanage, he continued throughout his life to pray bold, audacious prayers.

The fog was one example.  Another famous one occurred in November 1857.  There was a leak in the boiler of house No. 1.  Repairs would consume time and leave 300 children without heat.  Muller scheduled the repairs, and a premature north wind came days before the repairs.  Muller prayed, “Lord, these are Thy orphans: be pleased to change this north wind into a south wind, and give the workmen a mind to work that the job may be speedily done.”  The response: on the day the repairs were begun a south wind blew and the weather was so mild the boilers were unneeded and the workers requested to work through the night, completing the work in about 30 hours.^[20]   It was a simple, bold prayer based on God’s claim to be a Father to the Fatherless (psalm 68:5; and God answered.

But even more dramatic than the ability to have God change the weather through prayer, was the simple fact that Muller was able to seek God and to provide for 2,000 orphans each day at a cost of approximately 35,000 pounds (or, $57,050) a year without asking anyone but God for help.^[21]

Muller’s God was big.  And, Muller believed that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, forever (Hebrews 13:8).  He believed that God was powerful, and that He was willing.  As he put it one sermon regarding prayer,

“I would especially lay this on your heart that you exercise faith in the power and willingness of God to answer your requests.  We must believe that God is able and willing.  To see that He is able, you have only to look at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; for having raised Him from the dead, He must have almighty power.  As to the love of God, you have only to look to the cross of Christ, and see His love in not sparing His Son, in not withholding His only begotten Son from death.  With these proofs of the power and love of God, assuredly, if we believe, we shall receive--we shall obtain.”^[22]

Perhaps the reason we fail to see God move powerfully in our lives is that our God is too small.  Muller’s wasn’t.

One caution is necessary at this point.  We should not walk away with the impression that Muller was regularly praying for the weather to change or for people to be healed.  He did on occasion, but not always.  He seemed to make a critical distinction between the gift of faith and the grace of faith.

“He (Muller) says that the gift of faith is exercised, whenever we ‘do or believe a thing where the not doing or not believing would not be sin’; but the grace of faith, ‘where we do or believe what not to do or believe would be sin’, in one case we have no unequivocal command or promise to guide us, and in the other we have.  The gift of faith is not always in exercise, but the grace must be, since it has the definite word of God to rest on, and the absence or even weakness of faith in such circumstances implies sin.”^[23]

When Muller saw a promise in the Word of God that clearly and literally applied to his situation, he would obey, pray and expect an answer from God.

On occasion, like the fog incident, God would grant an extra measure of faith--not directly tied to a promise and Muller would pray.

Muller Prayed Totally.
Muller also prayed for everything.  Nothing was too big and nothing was too small to bring to His Father’s throne.  As Muller put it,

“Trusting in God means more than obtaining money by prayer and faith.  By  the grace of God, I desire that my faith extend toward everything--the smallest of my own temporal and spiritual concerns, my family, the saints among whom I labor, the Church at large, and everything that has to do with the temporal and spiritual prosperity of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution.  I thank God for the faith He has given me and I ask Him to uphold and increase it.  Do not let Satan deceive you into thinking that you could not have the same faith.  When I lose something like a key, I ask the Lord to direct me to it; and I look for an answer to my prayer.  When a person with whom I have made an appointment is late, and I am inconvenienced, I ask the Lord to hasten him to me.  When I do not understand a passage of the Word of God, I lift up my heart to the Lord that He would, by His Holy Spirit, instruct me.  I expect to be taught, although I do not fix the time and the manner it should be. . .You may do the same, dear believing reader!”^[24]

The roots of this lesson may stretch back to February of 1836.  In one of the more amusing incidents in Muller’s life, he opened his first orphanage house; but there were no orphans!  He realized he had prayed for the building, furniture, money for expenses and helpers; but not orphans.  He quickly got on his knees, asked for orphans and the first application came in the next day.

Muller did not make distinctions between praying for spiritual needs like the conversion of sinners and guidance on preaching, financial needs such as money for rent, and temporal needs like clothing and jobs for the orphans.  He prayed for them all.  And the record of his life shows that God answered.

Another caution is necessary at this point.  Muller did believe that there were certain conditions to prayer and that we could pray for things incorrectly.   In one sermon Muller laid out two themes regarding prayer.  Asking amiss and asking aright.  Asking amiss was asking from selfish motives.  Asking aright had three elements:  1 Desiring God’s glory.  2 Confessing our unworthiness and pleading the merits of Jesus.  3 Believing that we do receive the things for which we ask.^[25]

The key seems to be whether the request will satisfy our pleasures and lusts, or is to further God’s purposes and glory.  Before you pray ask yourself, “Why am I praying for this?”

In an appendix to his book, Answers to Prayer.  Muller lays out the following principles for prevailing prayer.^[26]

1  Entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only ground any claim for blessing. (See John xiv. 13, 14; xv. 16, etc.)

2  Separation from all known sin.  If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us, for it would be sanctioning sin. (Psalm lxvi. 18.)

3  Faith in God’s word of promise as confirmed by his oath.  Not to believe Him is to make Him both a liar and a perjurer. (Hebrews xi. 6; vi. 13-20.)

4  Asking in accordance with His will.  Our motives must be godly; we must not seek any gift of God to consume it upon our lusts. (1 John v. 14; James iv. 3.)

5  Importunity in supplication.  There must be waiting on God and waiting for God, as the husbandman has long patience to wait for the harvest. (James v.7; Luke xviii. 1-8.)

Muller Prayed Thankfully.
This brings us to an aspect of Muller’s prayer life that is so obvious it is easy to overlook.  Muller prayed thankfully.  By that I mean that he made a conscious effort to give God the glory for the answers he received.  I don’t mean simply thanking God in his prayers.  Muller made it his life’s ambition to proclaim far and wide, to anyone who cared to listen, what God had done for him.

This shows up in many ways in Muller’s life.   First and foremost, he determined to publish volumes of, Narratives of the Lord’s Dealings with George Muller.  This was a journal record of prayers and answers that Muller received.

The second is the Annual Reports of the Scripture Knowledge Institution.  Muller made sure that anyone interested knew how God had worked in the previous year.

The third is in the meticulous nature of the records he kept.  Muller strove to record in very precise and exact detail the way God worked.  He seemed to know the truth that Pierson relates in his biography, “Many a falsehood is not an intentional lie, but an undesigned inaccuracy.  Three of our human faculties powerfully affect our veracity: one is memory, another is imagination, and another is conscience.  Memory takes note of facts, imagination colors facts with fancies, and conscience brings the moral sense to bear in sifting the real from the unreal.  Where conscience is not sensitive and dominant, memory and imagination will become so confused that facts and fancies will fail to be separated.”^[27]

Muller took great care to record his requests and the exact way they were answered so that God would not be robbed of His glory.   There is a lesson here for us.  Our memories are so faulty.  We need to keep records of God’s work in our lives.  Not only so that He gets the glory, but so that we can look back and be strengthened in seasons of doubt and despair.

Muller Was a Man Like Us
You may be thinking, I could never pray the way Muller prayed.  Please don’t make that mistake.  Muller insisted, on many occasions,  “My faith is the same faith which is found in every believer.”^[28]  Like, Elijah, he was “a man with a nature like ours.” (James 5:17).  That tells me that we can experience the same blessing, the same power in our prayers as Muller did, if we will simply pray.

But how?   How can we develop the type of faith that boldly and expectantly approaches God and gets results.  Muller offered a four step prescription for those who were interested.^[29]

1.  Carefully read and meditate on the Word.  This acquaints you with the character and nature of God.  As well as the promises.

2.  Maintain an upright heart and a good conscience not knowingly and habitually indulging in things contrary to the mind of God.  This parallels the idea he so frequently taught that “If I regard wickedness in my heart the Lord will not hear.” (Psalm 66:18)

3.  Don’t shrink from opportunities where your faith may be tried.

Muller stuck by this faithfully. At one point in 1840 Muller’s funds were very low.   A frequent contributor asked, “Have you any present need for the Institution under your care?  I know you do not ask, except indeed of Him whose work you are doing; but to answer when asked seems another thing, and a right thing.  I have a reason for desiring to know the present state of your means towards the objects you are laboring to serve:  viz., should you not have need, other departments of the Lord’s work, or other people of the Lord, may have need.  Kindly then inform me, and to what amount, i.e. what amount you at this present time need or can profitably lay out.” 

Muller’s answer was two-fold.  To the gentlemen, “Whilst I thank you for your love, and whilst I agree with you that, in general, there is a difference between asking for money and answering when asked, nevertheless, in our case, I feel not at liberty to speak about the state of our funds, as the primary object of the work in my hands is to lead those who are weak in faith to see that there is reality in dealing with God alone.’ To God he prayed, “Lord, thou knowest that, for Thy sake, I did not tell this brother about our need.  Now, Lord, show afresh that there is reality in speaking to Thee only, about our need, and speak therefore to this brother so that he may help us.”  God’s answer was prompting the gentleman to send 100 pounds when Muller did not have a penny in hand.^[30]

4.  Let God work for you and don’t work a deliverance of your own.

This is probably the hardest of the four.  Muller made it a practice to not seek his own solution to a problem, but to trust God in prayer.  Let me close with one final illustration from his life.

At one point in 1838, the orphanage was facing a shortage of funds.  The daily needs were being met, but barely.  Muller had 220 pounds on hand that had been given for other purposes.  Most men would simply redirect the money and replace it.  Or, they would ask the donor for permission to redirect.  Muller refused to do either, believing that it would be creating his own solution.  Instead, he prayed.  He believed that whenever we work our own deliverance, our faith is weakened.  The next time we face a trial we will be tempted to fix it ourselves and will be that much further from God.Muller made it his life’s work to live in radical dependence on God.  It wasn’t always easy.  He knew times of doubt and struggle.  And there were many times he received help at the last possible moment.  But, his life stands as a monument to the power of prayer.  And, he was a man just like us.