I am going to share
with you today several portions of writings on the life of George Muller,
some from his diary, and some from his autobiography. Why do I want to
do this? Because his life is a record of God's faithfulness to him, and
a great encouragement to us to live a life of faith like his own. He was
a German Christian, and a preacher who answered God's call to help the
poor orphan children of Bristol, England. But most of all, George Muller
was a giver....
The sum total of Mr. George Muller’s life was giving. He gave himself
in prayer that in return God might give the necessary supplies, not only
for his own family, but also for the large family of orphans. Basing his
life upon receiving from God, in return he practiced the art of liberality.
Since God gave to him through faith he must also be among those who were
faithful givers. Even the texts that influenced him most were those on
giving and receiving. Throughout his "Narrative" you will find these passages
boldly across the pages. Early he and his wife were led to that scripture,
“Sell that ye have and give alms” (Luke 12:33). This was to be the course
of their lives... They were to be sellers and givers. The Lord, speaking
through His Word, said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will
I do...”
(John 14:13). And Mr. Muller based his work upon this promise, asking
largely that the Father might be glorified. Since God had told him to
open his mouth, Mr. Muller never feared to ask for whatever his work must
have. To him this promise was the foundation of all spiritual and temporal
success. Like a bird, he opened his mouth and the Lord filled it with
the supply of all financial needs. In Genesis he loved the name Jehovah
Jirah, for it meant the Lord will provide (Genesis 22:14). Grandly did
God give the necessary provisions for the Institution and his Orphan Houses.
George Muller looked upon himself as the Lord’s steward. What money he
received he believed should be given rather than hoarded. A crippled woman,
who through the years was a constant though a small giver to the orphanage
work, expressed Mr. Muller’s philosophy of living and giving. She began
giving a penny a week out of her earnings toward the care of the orphans,
and the Lord blessed her so much that she was able to raise her weekly
gift to six shillings, or a dollar and a half. One gift she wrapped in
a piece of paper, on which she had written: “Give; give; give - be ever
giving. If you are living, you will be giving. Those who are not giving
are not living.”
The total amount Mr. Muller gave away out of his private funds amounted
to approximately $180,000 from the year 1831 to November,1877. This it
must be recalled came out of a poor trustful man’s penury. He had only
what he prayed in from day to day. (Can we say the same thing??) The Fifty-ninth
Report of the Institution, issued May 26, 1898, immediately after Mr.
Muller’s death, reveals a very interesting item concerning this servant’s
method of giving. Year by year in the annual Reports there were frequent
entries of gifts “from a servant of the Lord Jesus, who, constrained by
the love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasure in heaven.” Mr. Wright, who
succeeded Mr. Muller as head of the Institution, checked those entries,
and found that this servant had given up to March 1, 1898, the aggregate
sum of eighty-one thousand four hundred and ninety pounds, eighteen shillings
and eight pence. “That servant was none other than Mr. Muller himself,
who gave out of his own money more than sixty-four thousand five hundred
pounds to the Scriptural Knowledge Institution alone, and to other individuals
and organizations seventeen thousand more. It seems inconceivable that
a poor man should thus give more than $407,450 to the work of God. There
is no other case on record of such magnificent gifts coming from a humbled
servant of the Lord.
When Mr. Muller died his entire personal estate amounted to £169 9s. 4d.,
approximately $850, of which his household effects, books, furniture,
etc., amounted to well over $500. The only money in his possession was
actually about $350. He died a poor man, though the Lord had entrusted
to his hands well over a half-million dollars! You see, George Muller
looked upon himself as God’s steward. One of the texts which influenced
him was, “Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure pressed down,
shaken together and running over shall men give unto your bosom.” He believed
and saw this promise bountifully verified. “I had given,” he testified,
“and God caused to be given to me again and bountifully.” He affirms that
he believed what he read in the Bible, and acted accordingly. Though acting
on God’s promises, and rejecting the offer of a stated salary of £55 a
year, God literally gave him a fortune...a fortune which he shared with
those in need.
Are you and I faithfully sharing what God has given us?? Out of this overflow
of experience in giving, Mr. Muller had very definite thoughts on giving.
Giving to him was the heart of the Christian life...give self in full
surrender to God, and out of what God gives, return to Him liberal gifts.
This was his giving philosophy. Let us read and heed some of his advice
on this subject....
“Many of the children of God,” he affirms, “lose in a great measure the
privilege, and also the blessing to their own souls, of communicating
to the Lord's work to the necessities of the poor, for want of a regular
habit of giving.” When asked, “How shall I give?” Mr. Muller responded:
1. Seek to keep before you that the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us,
and that...we are not our own, because we are bought with a price...All
then that we have belongs to Him, and we have to look on our possessions
as a faithful steward...
2. The habitual using of our means, the regularly communicating as the
Lord prospers us, is next to be attended to. As far as practicable, we
should seek to do this weekly, according to the word - ‘Upon the first
day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered
him’ (1 Corinthians 16:2)...
3. Everyone should do so....
4. With regard to the amount to be given, no rule can be laid down, because
what we ought to do should not be done in a legal spirit, but from love
and gratitude to the Blessed One Who died for us.”
On the score of the method of giving, Mr. Muller was often asked, “How
shall I put aside my gifts? Must I actually separate this money from my
other money?” “That is the simplest,” he answered, “and in many respects
the best way...A memorandum book may be kept, in which on one side is
entered what is put aside for the Lord, to be expended on the poor, or
for other benevolent and religious purposes, and on the other side may
be put down what has been expended, and from time to time a balance may
be struck. The amount thus put aside for the Lord is of course faithfully
to be used for Him, else it would be mocking God; and therefore, instead
of obtaining a blessing, it would rather be a curse.”
“Am I to give with the idea of being repaid by the Lord?” a friend asked
this man of prayer. "Though we should never give," he responded, “for
the sake of being repaid by the Lord, still, this will be the case, if
we give from right motives. It is God’s own declaration that it will be
so. This is plainly to be gathered from the following passages...‘Give,
and it shall be given unto you.’... ‘He that hath pity on the poor, lendeth
unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will He pay him again.’ “This
giving, Mr. Muller was careful to explain, must be to the Lord and not
unto man. Man may be the recipient, but with a humble heart gifts must
be scattered abroad, not for the praise of man, but for the blessings
of God upon the giver’s body and soul. From his own experience and through
the many letters he received, he was well able to give testimony as to
the blessing which comes from systematic giving.
“Mr. Muller was a stickler for obtaining gifts in God’s way. “It is not
enough,’ he says, “to obtain means for the work of God, but that these
means should be obtained in God’s way. To ask unbelievers for means is
not God’s way, to press even believers to give is not God’s way; but the
duty and the privilege of being allowed to contribute to the work of God
should be pointed out, and this should be followed up with earnest prayer,
believing prayer, and will result in the desired end.” This is a plan
which he practiced throughout his life. Not once, even when asked to do
so, did he ever tell anyone how pressing or how great were the needs.
(There was no Visa to rely upon either!) He always told this to the Lord,
and expected God to move upon someone to supply those needs. He often
thought that giving in adversity would prove a greater blessing than giving
in prosperity. Giving in adversity, when needs were pressing, shows that
one truly trusts in God for supplying his daily needs, while giving in
prosperity places upon the giver no particular hardship. When do you give??
When needs were pressing, Mr. Muller would call the staff together for
prayer, and often on getting off their knees, dray wagons would be seen
backing up to the kitchen door, loaded with buns, bread, apples, cakes,
potatoes, boxes of soap, sacks of peas, haunches of venison, rabbits and
pheasants, and every other conceivable edible article. I wonder ladies,
if when our needs were pressing we tried this prayerful approach in our
homes, how much OUR children would then be able to see God do for us!
How much we are missing out on when we don't look to the Lord and ask
Him.... What we're missing out on is our faith growing!
A faith like George Muller's...
Psalm 81:10, " I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land
of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."
God Bless, Pam Isaiah 60:1&2 Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello Back to Top
