George MüllerCritiques

: Being A Narrative of the Lord's Dealings with George Muller

Great little whopper of encouragement

What a great testimony of "waiting ON God and waiting FOR God"! To see a man trust in the Lords faithfulness and to see him point us to faithfulness as we wait and trust stirs up my desire to pray and convicts me of times when I don't. Lord, grow my faith in You that I may persevere in faith as those who have gone before me

Here in this book are the documented results of thousands of answer to earnest prayer.
When George Mueller could not get it out of his mind to open a house for orphans in late 1835, he purposed to do so "that God might be magnified by the fact that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith. For over sixty years George Mueller wrote down the details of the Lord's provision. Thousands of orphans depended solely on Mueller, and Mueller, in turn, depended solely on the Lord. Prayer is an urgent matter that always yields crucial results.

George Müller was the worst of sinners––a thief and a liar. But after turning to Christ, he provided for over 10,000 orphans––without ever asking anyone but God to supply his needs! He testified that he knew of at least 50,000 specific answers to his prayers. Here are his reports of a few of the most spectacular ones.

Answers to Prayer by George Müller is part of the Read & Reflect With the Classics Series (I am reviewing the hardcover version) which provides thought provoking questions and also prayers at the end of each chapter. Müller's book details various accounts of God's all sufficient grace in the works that God had prepared for him to do.

The way that Mueller approached the ministries that God graciously gave him is very unique compared to most present day Christian ministries (and perhaps most ministries in Müller's day as well). Ministries today are very focused and reliant upon, money. They hold fundraising drives, have commercials on the radio asking for people's support, and some will send tons of letters and emails begging for monetary help. I think of one ministry in particular, which, although its founders believe in God's absolute sovereignty, they contradict their belief by implying that their ministry cannot continue without the help of people, that "your support makes ministry happen".

Many ministries act as if they are the most important ministry in God's Kingdom and that if you do not give money and they expire, that God's Word will not be given out any more. Muller did not act like that. He knew that God did not need human beings in order to get His work done.

Müller took a more faith-based approach, relying upon God rather than upon people for help. He would not ask people for help with ministries, he asked God, period. And God provided. "Never since the Orphan work has been in existence have I asked one single human being for any help for this work; and yet, unasked for, simply in answer to prayer, from so many parts of the world, as has been stated, the donations have come in, and that very frequently at a time of the greatest need."

He also came to the conclusion that one should not rely on people's promises to give money and that one should not even think about those promises: "Now this morning it came to my mind, that such promises ought to be valued, in a certain sense, as nothing, i.e., that the mind ought never for a moment to be directed to them, but to the living God, and to the living God only. I saw that such promises ought not to be of the value of one farthing, so far as it regards to thinking about them for help." This is quite a contrast to ministries who beg for pledges of money, and put large or regular donors names up on plaques. They make more of the people, more of the tools, that God uses than the Supplier Himself! God is the One who supplies all our need, and though he may use people to do it, they are but channels (think "Channels Only"). God doesn't need people, or their money, AT ALL in order to supply our needs!

As Müller puts it, "Earthly friends may lose their ability to help us, however much they desire so to do; but He remains throughout eternity the Infinitely Rich One. Earthly friends may have their minds after a time diverted to other objects, and, as they cannot help everywhere, much as they may desire it, they may, though reluctantly, have to discontinue to help us; but He is able, in all directions, though the requirements were multiplied a million times, to supply all that can possibly be needed, and does it with delight, where His work is carried on, and where He is confided in. Earthly friends may be removed by death, and thus we may lose their help, but He lives forever, He cannot die. In this latter point of view, I have especially, during the past 40 years, in connection with this Institution, seen the blessedness of trusting in the Living God alone. Not one nor two, nor even five nor ten, but many more, who once helped me much with their means, have been removed by death; but have the operations of the Institution been stopped on that account? No. And how came this? Because I trusted in God, and in God alone."

Müller would at times give updates on God's provision for the ministries in times of great need, but this was to encourage Christians in the faith, not to work on their emotions to make them feel compelled to give supplies. At least one time Muller and his fellow workers put off giving an update because at the time they were, from a human perspective, in desperate straits, and they did not want other people to know it, wanting to rely solely on God for help.

Many ministries want God to give them a yearly supply rather than just their daily bread. The ministries that God gave Müller charge over lived day by day in reliance upon God's supply, many times literally being given the means for their daily needs DAILY on the day they were needed, rather than in advance.

I really liked this book. The only thing that I didn't quite like were the prayers that were added at the end of each chapter. I would rather that they have been commentary rather than prewritten ways that we can use to talk to God. Yes, we do not know how to pray as we ought, but neither does the person who wrote those prayers. Though I don't think that using other people's prayers is necessarily wrong, Christians ought not to rely upon other Christians to write their prayers for them, we have the best Helper of all in the Holy Spirit who is our Interceder in our prayers (Romans 8:26-27). There are good concepts in them though, "You provide what I need, and if I don't have it, I can absolutely trust that I don't need it. "

Before I end, and I really need to end because this is quite long, at the end of the book there is an appendix containing an article by Muller on "The Careful and Consecutive Reading of the Holy Scriptures". It is an excellent read, and describes Muller's goal in writing this book. He advocates the consistent daily reading of the Scriptures, over and above any other book. He describes how he once slacked in that area and how he had gotten into the habit of reading other books, including Christian ones, instead of the Scripture. "…thus, like many believers, I practically preferred, for the first four years of my divine life, the works of uninspired men to the oracles of the living God." As he put it, "God himself has condescended to become an author" and this is the "book of books" containing all that we ought to know! We should not value Christian books (including this one) above the Scriptures, the Scriptures themselves should be our delight.

Many thanks to the folks at B&H Publishers for sending me a free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable).

George Muller's autobiography is composed of portions of his diary. George Muller was converted in his early 20's and later went on to pastor a congregation, start an orphanage which held 1150 orphans, as well as many missionary trips. Most notably, though, he never received a salary nor solicited funds but rather prayed for his daily needs. This autobiography is both inspiring and motivating. I would recommend it to anyone.

Tremendous stories of faith. George was a strong advocate that the only way to increase your faith was to exercise it. Lots of excellent principles to build your prayer and Bible study life. He truly wanted folk to be transformed and pointed to Christ by reading this book.

Also great stories of God repeatedly gave the orphans monies just when it was need, literally not a minute before.

The only thing I struggled with is the old school British currency system and trying to figure out what a late nineteenth century pound or shilling was worth in modern currency.

The autobiography of George Muller. Readers will find their faith strengthened, their prayer life enriched, and their ministry expanded by the life of this man of God.

This is essentially the diary of George Mueller up to 1860, with some autobiographical notes at the start and a few digressions in the text. Mueller was a most remarkable man, who started a number of orphanages in the west of England in the 19th century whilst refusing to take any salary, and living each day by faith that God would provide his financial needs. Remarkably time and again, this is exactly what happens, and his work grows - but all the time with him refusing to benefit personally in any way.

Mueller's story is remarkable and uplifting. However, this book would be hard going for many readers because - being a diary format - it goes over and over the same issues: Short of money - spent the day in earnest prayer - money arrived just in time. Many people will prefer the shorter biographical works which pick a few of these occasions, and make the point that it happened time and time again.

In the other hand, reading the full diary just shows how often this happened.

The text also contains some poignant moments. The loss of his son, the woman who gave all she had but never wanted when she was herself in need, the orphan who gave sixpence towards the building of a new orphanage.

It was also good to see the book reach its climax in converging on the 1859 revivals in Ireland, Wales and elsewhere, and to read of their own revival amongst the orphans.

All in all a worthwhile book to read, but shorter biographies would suit many readers.

This book has been very influential in my life. George Muller is an amazing picture of faith and trust in Jehovah-Jireh (The Lord Our Provider). There is no better way to learn about this man of God than to read excerpts from his journals all throughout his ministry. This is a must-read for all who are in the ministry and is of great encouragement to everyone.

This book is great for increasing your faith in God's mercy and love for His people. It is very encouraging to see our Lord answering prayers the way He did in the life of George Muller....Great Book!

Muller's life truly personifies the Scripture: "For we walk by faith, not by sight." Never seeking donations, he trusted God to provide for the orphanages which he founded. He prayed--God answered--he wrote it in his journals. Those were the source of this book.

Reading his autobiography can be the singular most life-changing event of ones life. Muller was a iconic man of faith in God, his heavenly Father.
Muller determines ealy in his ministry to ask only God to satisfy his needs. And he remains steadfast to that pledge until he leaves this earth at 91.
His life can be replicated today...if we but have the faith as small as a grain of mustard seed.

This is a must read for...anyone. This is a man that had God's attention regulary. It is an encouraging book full of specific answers to prayer. This is a demonstration of expectant faith in Jesus Christ.

Inspiring to say the least. George Mueller lived a life of dependance on prayer that most men don't even dream about.

3 v. Contains: (in vol. 1) First part (7th ed.) -- Second part (6th ed.) -- Third part (5th ed.) -- (in vol. 2) Fourth part (3rd ed.) -- (in vol. 3) Fifth part

Autobiography of George Muller by George Muller (?)