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I've started a series on the formation of faithful men through Christian history.
First up is George Müller (1805-1898).
I remember reading the story of George Müller when I was around 24, jotting down quote after quote in my little pocket journal. He was a great man of faith, a man who believed in a Living God who still hears and answers prayers.
The danger of a biographical story is that we idolise good men and their accomplishments. My interest in this series, however, is less on what men like George Müller did, but what they discovered about God. I'm interested in the truths and desires and burdens that filled their souls and animated their lives.
George Müller is remembered as a great man of prayer. But he wasn't always like that. So, how did he become so full of faith in the Lord?
Here are seven quotes from George Müller's formational years, to give you a flavour...
1. "I could not pray as well, although I have more education than this man."
2. "For the next several days, I went regularly to this brother's house, and we read the Scriptures together. The Lord and the Word were so exciting to me that I could not wait until Saturday came again. Now my life became very different, although I did not give up every sin at once. I did give up my wicked companions, going to taverns, and habitual lying. I read the Scriptures, prayed often, loved the brethren, went to church with the right motives, and openly professed Christ although my fellow students laughed at me."
3. "I was growing in the faith and knowledge of Jesus, but I still preferred reading religious books instead of the Scriptures. I read tracts, missionary newsletters, sermons, and biographies of Christian people. God is the author of the Bible, and only the truth it contains will lead people to true happiness.A Christian should read this precious Book every day with earnest prayer and meditation. But like many believers, I preferred to read the works of uninspired men rather than the oracles of the living God. Consequently, I remained a spiritual baby both in knowledge and grace."
4. "The last and most important means of growing in the Lord, prayer, was also something I greatly neglected. I prayed often and generally with - sincerity. But if I had prayed more earnestly, I would have made much more rapid progress in my faith."
5. "The Lord enabled me to put this last aspect of the Holy Spirit to the test 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 meditate over the Scriptures, I learned more in a few hours than during the last several months."
6. "We considered that the Word of God ought to be the standard of judgment in spiritual things, and that to depend on God alone, in the exercise of faith, was the right path for a servant of Christ."
7. "I longed to have something to point to as a visible proof that our God and Father is the same faithful God as He ever was. It needed to be something which could be seen, even by the natural eye. Now, if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained, without asking any individual, the means for establishing and carrying on an orphan house, there would be something which, with the Lord's blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the consciences of the unconverted of the reality of the things of God."
