George Mueller

George Mueller was a rare individual who trusted God to the fullest.

Listen to George Mueller’s own words, “We have had a vivid vision of the divine Potter sitting at His wheel, taking the clay in His hands, softening its hardness, subduing it to His own will; then gradually and skillfully shaping from it the earthen vessel; then baking it in His oven of discipline till it attained the requisite solidity and firmness, then filling it with the rich treasures of His word and Spirit, and finally setting it down where He would have it serve His special uses in conveying to others the excellency of His power!”

 

To lose sight of this sovereign shaping Hand is to miss one of the main lessons God means to teach us by George Mueller’s whole career. He himself saw and felt that he was only an earthen vessel; that God had both chosen and filled him for the work he was to do; and, while this conviction made him happy in his work, it made him humble, and the older he grew the humbler he became. He felt more and more his own utter insufficiency. It grieved him that human eyes should ever turn away from the Master to the servant, and he perpetually sought to avert their gaze from himself to God alone. “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

Mueller believed in prayer. The following are his key prayer principles: “Five grand conditions of prevailing prayer were ever before his mind:

 

    1. Entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only ground of 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 Ixvi.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 own lusts. (1 John v.13; 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.1-10.)

 

The importance of firmly fixing in mind principles such as these cannot be overstated.

 

•     The first lays the basis of all prayer, in our oneness with the great High Priest.
•     The second states a condition of prayer, found in abandonment of sin. 
•     The third reminds us of the need honouring God by faith that He is, and is the Rewarder of the diligent seeker.
•     The fourth reveals the sympathy with God that helps us to ask what is for our good and His glory.
•     The last teaches us that, having laid hold of God in prayer, we are to keep hold until His arm is outstretched in blessing.”

 

The Church of Jesus Christ needs some George Mueller’s now more than ever.  Dare to be a Mueller!