In my lifetime I do not think I have ever met anyone even close to George Mueller when it comes to the topic of living by faith, and yet I do not think he should be exceptional. By the end of his ministry he was pastoring a couple of large churches, he was running three orphanages and schools, and every bit of their care was provided without a bit of fundraising. It was all provided solely by prayer. Hi, church. In today’s video I want to review two booklets from our booklet rack by a man I consider a friend, even though he has been dead for a long time, George Mueller. These videos are for everybody, but they are addressed to our church, so if you are new here, my name is Ryan Rench. I am a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Temecula, California. Today I want to review these booklets we have in our book rack. They are excerpts from George Mueller’s autobiography, and his autobiography is a bunch of journal entries through the 1800s, and I just wanted you to hear some of what he had to say.
Living by Faith in Bristol
At first the booklet talks about his moving to Bristol, England, and starting a ministry there as a sort of co-pastor of a church, and by the next year entries in his journal started pouring in like this, and I quote: “Most of the Lord’s people whom we know in Bristol are poor, and if the Lord were to give us grace to live more as this dear man of God did, we might draw much more than we have as yet done out of our heavenly Father’s bank for our poor brethren and sisters.” “March 2nd. A man in the street ran up to Brother Craik and put a paper containing ten shillings into his hand, saying, ‘That is for you and Mr. Mueller,’ and went hastily away.” “May 28th. This morning, while sitting in my room, the distress of several brethren and sisters was brought to my mind, and I said to myself, ‘Oh, that it might please the Lord to give me means to help them.’ About an hour afterwards I received sixty pounds from a brother whom up to this day I never saw, and who then lived, as he does still, at a distance of several thousand miles.” It is entries like this all the time. Then he would write annual summaries every year, sometimes at the end of the year, sometimes at an anniversary, and he said things like this: after eighteen months, 260 face-to-face meetings with people, 153 church members, 152 pounds given, as well as gifts brought to help him found this institution; 25 presents were recorded in his journals, 20 gifts of clothes, and other gifts mailed in for his sustenance. It is wonderful. After living four years by faith alone, refusing to ask anyone but God to provide for him, he said, “The following points require particular notice. During the last three years and three months I have never asked anyone for anything, but by the help of the Lord I have been enabled at all times to bring my wants to Him, and He graciously has supplied them all. At the close of each of these four years, though my income has been comparatively great, I have had only a few shillings or nothing at all left, and thus it is also today, by the help of God. During the last year a considerable part of my income has come from a distance of several thousand miles, from a brother whom I never saw.” Number four: “Since we have been obliged to discontinue the giving away of bread to about fifty poor people every day, on account of our neighbours, our income has not been, during the second part of this year, nearly so great, scarcely one half as much, as during the first part of it.”
The Orphanages
Now you fast forward two years to 1836, and his ministry is continuing to grow and staff has been added. Although they had to go down from monthly to weekly salaries, he just saw remarkable miracles come in for the teachers’ salaries, stories of provision at just the right time. As the ministry grew, so did his faith to just keep on adding staff to help with the growing needs. There were miscellaneous entries like this that would show up every few months: “October 5th. This evening twenty-five pounds was given to me for the Scriptural Knowledge Institution. Thus the Lord has already given the means of defraying the expenses of the new boys’ school for some months to come.” There were day schools in operation, as well as boys’ orphanages and girls’ orphanages, and God placed on his heart a great need for an infant orphanage. So in October he hired a lady to run the infant orphanage and found space for it, and by November 5th God provided another fifty pounds. He said, “There was given by a brother one hundred pounds, fifty of which was previously promised, to ensure the rent for the premises. It is a remarkable fact concerning this donation that I had in December of last year repeatedly asked the Lord to incline the heart of this brother to give this one hundred pounds, and I made a memorandum of this prayer in my journal of December 12th, 1835. Well, on January 25th, 1836, fifty pounds was promised by him, and on November 5th fifty pounds besides that sum was given. But it was not till some days after that I remembered that the very sum for which I had asked the Lord had been given. When it came to my mind that this prayer had been noted down in my journal, I showed it to the donor, and we rejoiced together, he to have been the instrument in giving, and I to have had the request granted.” Man! By November 28th of that year they were opening their infant orphanage, just like he had prayed. In 1837, the next year, the journal entries stacked up. There was a great need for shelter and food for the growing needs of the orphanages, and then God provided through a donor. In May of that year he started to pray for a thousand pounds. He said, “In my own mind the thing is as good as done, so much so that I have repeatedly been able to thank God that He will surely give me every shilling of that sum.” By June 15th the remaining sum had trickled in. At the end of eighteen months and ten days of prayer, God provided for their needs. But in the very same entry of thanking God for providing, he said, “I consider it one of the particular talents which He has entrusted to me, to exercise faith upon His promises,” and then proceeded to ask God to help him start another orphanage, not just for boys under seven, but an orphanage for forty boys older than seven. He began praying for it right then, and in July someone he had never met sent him 460 pounds, to God’s glory. Year after year the schools are growing, the orphanages are growing, the churches are growing, and you will read entry after entry after entry in his journal showing he was not at all trying to brag about what a great Christian he was. Not at all. It was just truly a complete faith in God, for everything, for absolutely everything. I just love this booklet. This is just a couple of chapters pulled out as an excerpt; you need to read his entire autobiography.
Treasures in Heaven
The other booklet is about work and some of the teachings on money and work: how God richly blesses us with the ability to work and the funds that come from that, and that we are simply to trust the Lord with everything. He did a Bible study in here on Matthew 6:19-21, about not laying up for yourselves treasures on earth: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” He makes these points. First, the Lord Jesus is wise enough to know what to ask of us. He knows what will really make us fulfilled. Second, Mueller says, as pilgrims on earth we are told not to store up treasures that will just be left here. Third, he says we are told to view our treasures for what they will be: trash, “where moth and rust doth corrupt.” That is the quote from the Scriptures. There is no real substance to them at all, no eternal profit to them. Fourth, instead of laying up treasures here, a Christian is to lay up treasures in heaven, which can never be lost. There is no worry about losing them like we worry about our treasures here, and there are no statements like, “Wow, that person was worth millions of dollars when he died.” So Mueller calls the Christian to realize this life is so short, and this life must be lived for God instead of for self. The fifth thing he says is that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, so that by giving to the Lord’s work, our hearts naturally follow. Boy, it is a powerful look at how temporary this life is. Then he follows with Matthew 6:33. You probably know this verse: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” He asks this question: “Do you make it your primary business, your first great concern, to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness? Are the things of God, the honour of His name, the welfare of His church, the conversion of sinners, and the profit of your own soul your chief aim? Or does your business, or your family, or your temporal concerns, in some shape or other, primarily occupy your attention?”
Convicting Questions About Our Calling
The next whole section of the book is a series of convicting questions he asks. Am I in a calling in which I can abide with God? The nature of some people’s jobs is against God, so that just by going to work it brings shame, and we ought to labour, working with our hands the thing which is good. Another question he asks is, why do I carry on this business, or why am I engaged in this trade or profession? Meaning, if someone is in a bad profession, why? We ought to see our jobs as a stewardship from God and work for God’s glory, not our own. So the very restriction of those funds might in itself be a sign that we are using them for our purposes rather than for God’s glory, Mueller says. In the closing section of the book, after the first three points loosely quoted from before, Mueller details several more faith-filled thoughts on money, and I will just give a few of the highlights. You can read all ten if you get the booklet. He says, “Money is really worth no more than as it is used according to the mind of the Lord, and life is worth no more than as it is spent in the service of the Lord.” I love that. Number four, he says, “The next point is that a believer in the Lord Jesus should do nothing in his calling which is purely for the sake of attracting the world, such as, for instance, fitting up his shop or rooms of business in the most costly manner. I do not in the least mean to say that his shop or rooms of business should not be clean, orderly, or of such a character as might be no positive hindrance to persons going there. All the needful conveniences that are expected may be there and ought to be there. But if any child of God seek to have the front of his shop, or the interior of his shop or place of business, fitted up in a most expensive way, simply for the sake of attracting attention, then let him be aware that, just in so far as he is trusting in these things, he is not likely to succeed in his calling, because he puts the manner of fitting up the shop in the room of trust in the Lord.” Number five is about advertising without bragging, as it is immodest and unbecoming for a Christian to brag about being the best at everything. The next hindrance, he says, number six, is seeking the very best, and therefore the most expensive, situations which can be had in a town or city, and being house poor because a Christian greedily sought a larger house when God would provide. Mueller says this: “But if the fifty pounds more is paid for rent, and yet the living God, in the very love of His heart, should be obliged to withhold prosperity from His child in his calling, because He sees that he is laying undue stress upon the situation of the house, then not only the fifty pounds extra rent per year is lost, but also that which the Lord is obliged to withhold from His child besides, in order to teach him the lesson. And thus, year after year, by our own fault, we may have scarcely anything to give for the work of God.” Number seven: “The next obstacle to prosperity in our calling which I would now mention is that children of God often use such expressions as these with reference to their calling: ‘This is our busy time,’ or, ‘This is our dead time,’ which implies that they do not day after day deal with God about their calling, but that they ascribe their having much or little to do to circumstances, or to the times and seasons.” Instead, Mueller says, those statements ought to be made as statements of faith and prayer to God to provide. Number eight: “A further reason why God may be obliged to resist children of God in their business may be this, that they with the greatest carefulness seek to obtain persons for their shop who are considered good salesmen, that is, persons who have such persuasive ways that they can gain an advantage over customers and induce them not only to buy articles for which they ask, whether suitable or not, but that they also induce them to buy articles which they did not at all intend to buy when they came to the shop. Concerning this, I notice, in the first place, that if the child of God puts his dependence upon the good salesman, let him not be surprised if his heavenly Father should be obliged to disappoint him, because He sees His child lean upon the arm of flesh instead of trusting in the living God, and therefore the business does not succeed.” Number nine: “Another evil with reference to business, and why children of God do not get on in their calling, is that they enter upon business often without any capital at all, or with too little. If a believer has no capital at all, or only a very small capital in comparison with what his business requires, then ought he not to say this to himself: ‘If it were my heavenly Father’s will that I should enter upon business on my own account, then would He not somehow or other have entrusted me with the needful means? And since He has not, is it not a plain indication that for the present I should remain a journeyman, or shopman, or clerk, as the case may be?’ In a variety of ways the means may come. But if in some such way the Lord did not remove the hindrance, and the brother would still go into business, he would, through the bill system and other things connected with the want of capital, not only bring great distress upon his mind and subject himself to the possibility of at last being unable to pay his creditors, whereby dishonour would be brought upon the name of the Lord, but he likewise could not be surprised, as he went into business contrary to the will of God, since He pointed out to him that he was not to do it for want of means, if he should find that he cannot get on and that the blessing of God manifestly is wanting.” Number ten: “But suppose all those nine previous points were attended to, and we neglected to seek God’s blessing upon our calling, we need still not be surprised if we met with difficulty upon difficulty and could not get on at all. It is not enough that we seek God’s help for that which manifestly is of a spiritual character, but we should seek His help and blessing, by prayer and supplication, for all our ordinary concerns in life. And if we neglect doing so, we shall surely suffer for the neglect.” Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Closing
This was written in 1845, and man, it speaks to the immense trust Mueller had in the Lord. I am so thankful even for some of the archaic wording he uses. In today’s language we do not often word things exactly like he does, but I just appreciate that he took the time to express his faith without, I guess, worrying about whether he would be misunderstood as bragging. I do not believe he is bragging at all, and this has been such an encouragement to me to work hard for the Lord and trust Him and just live by faith. So I encourage you to pick up some of these booklets and read through them for the fuller understanding of what Mueller said. I even encourage you to read the entire autobiography of George Mueller. What a challenge to our faith, and that would be a strengthening thing for you. So God bless you. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We will see you in the next video. Thank you for watching the video. I really pray that it can be a blessing to you and really help bring the Bible home. If it was a blessing and a help to you, would you consider liking the video and subscribing to our channel? We look forward to seeing you in the next video.
