George Mueller

Saved by Grace


Somewhere in time, September 27, 1805, George Mueller was born. George Mueller was not the type of child we would have expected much from. When his mother lay dying, he was out drinking. He was arrested and put in prison when he was sixteen. In prison he made friends with others who were worse than him, but his father did get him out of prison and sent him to school in a different city. Maybe a change of scenery would do him good. It didn’t. He continued on, only to get into more trouble.

The change for George Mueller came in steps. The first step was attending college to become a minister. That may seem an unusual choice for someone who had no spiritual aspirations, but I believe Mueller’s family thought it might give him a good living and maybe even a desire to live differently. It worked in a weird way. The school was extremely secular and many of the students studying for the ministry were not called by God, but a few of them were. These students invited George Mueller to a bible study that began his transformation. He know knew that faith was real and God was the one he needed to serve and his life began to change.

He left for England, perhaps there they would not remember this little liar and thief and his faith would have a chance to take off. He went to England to begin his ministry, but he got sick. While he was sick he was cared for by a man of faith who's faith really rattled George’s idea faith.

This man’s faith was so real to George. I read once that when George would watch him pray, it changed him. Prayers were formal and uttered with design and decorum. Not so with this man. He would fall on his knees and cry out to God with his whole heart. George was introduced to a new doctrine, one not taught in Seminary, the doctrine of Grace. This changed his life.

Romans 3:24 (NIV) “and we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

We can do the best we can, but nothing we can do will earn us a place in heaven. We are saved by grace. It is a free gift from God. For George Mueller, this concept revolutionized his life. He was able to serve God with his whole heart. God paid the price for his salvation, he just needed to love his God and serve Him.
 
I was looking for some information about George Mueller and I found a great amount of information on this website – www.desiringgod.org
From there I pulled this synopsis of the things founded by George Mueller. It surprised me, I had really only heard about the orphan homes, but there was more than that.

“In 1834 (when he was 28) he founded The Scripture Knowledge Institute for Home and Abroad, because he was disillusioned with the post-millennialism, the liberalism, and the worldly strategies (like going into debt) of existing mission organizations. Five branches of this Institute developed: 1) Schools for children and adults to teach Bible knowledge, 2) Bible distribution, 3) missionary support, 4) tract and book distribution, and 5) “to board, clothe and Scripturally educate destitute children who have lost both parents by death.”

In addition to pastoring his church, he founded and worked in all these other things. His work with the orphans gained him the most attention on his life and the strength of this faith.

There is one story where the orphans and had no food for the next day. He told everyone to go to bed, the Lord would provide. He went to bed and slept soundly, he was not worried, he knew the Lord would provide.

The story goes that a milk cart broke down in the morning and the milk was donated. A baker was awakened in the night by God and told to bake bread because the orphans were hungry. When the children woke up, the Lord had provided food just like George Mueller told them he would.
 
Mueller never asked for money for any of his ministries. He and the orphans never went hungry. That takes a tremendous amount of faith.

George knew that if God could save sinners by His Grace, He could take care of them also.  He totally relied on that.

George Mueller died on March 10, 1898 at the age of 92. In his life time, he took care of 10,024 children. When he died, tens of thousands attended his funeral.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we all put our faith into action so fully?

Change

A love hate relationship.

Somewhere in time is right now.  Things change, they always do.  If you asked me if I like change, I will tell you yes, I do.  This week it came to me I don’t like all change.  I like change that adds to life.  A new job, a new adventure, a new car, a new friendship, a new family member, the things that add to life I like. Adding things is fun. 

This week I have been faced with the thought of losing things and I realized that is not the type of change I enjoy.  I lost a job a few years back and that was very stressful.  God does promise to supply all of our needs, but someone I tend to think that promise is dependent upon my ability to work.  My faith should not be limited in that way.  This week we again faced the loss of one income.  There is nothing you can do in this economy to stop that from happening, but when it does you have to adjust.

What can we eliminate? What is really important?  Should we move from our home into a smaller apartment? Should we move to another state in hopes the job market is better there? We haven’t completely figured it all out yet and maybe we won’t need to.  God may want us to downsize and economize or He may just bring another job and drastic change will not be necessary. 

I wish I knew the future.  I wish God would take a pen and write on the sky – Carrie, this is what I need you to do, but He doesn’t do that.  There is a song by Third Day and the chorus goes like this: Give me a revelation, show me what to do.  I’ve been trying to find my way and I haven’t got a clue. Tell me should I stay here, or do I need to move.  Give me a revelation because I am nothing without you. 

That has been my song this week.   Lord give me a revelation, show me what to do.  The message from God is simply to trust.   God in his word has promised to supply all our needs from his riches and glory.  He says he has a plan for us, a plan to prosper us and not to harm us, to give a future and a hope. If that is what God says, then why do I find it so hard to trust? 

I thought about this.  Does God change?  Does he have to adjust his promises for this generation? Does he apply his promises to some and not others?

Malachi 3:6(a) (NIV) “I the Lord do not change.”

James 1:17 (NIV) “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights: who does not change like shifting shadows.”

God does not change like shifting shadows.  Every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

My love hate relationship with change seems to be tied to trust.  When I am the catalyst for change, I like it.  When change comes unexpectedly and I have to trust God to have a purpose and a plan, I find that much harder. 

My somewhere in time is today, right now.  I am going to love all change and trust that God has a purpose for it all and when the good and perfect gifts come, I will know they come from God and I had nothing to do with it.  Maybe that is my revelation.

Third Day - Revelation [Official Music Video] from providentlabelgroup on GodTube.com.

God is God

Ecclesiastes

Somewhere in time, approximately 935 B.C., Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.  Solomon could ask God for anything, yet he asked for wisdom.  I wonder if God told me I could ask for anything, if that is what I would ask for.  With me, I think it depends on when he asks.  I think my perceived needs are dependent on my circumstances.  Honestly, if I was more concerned about eternal things, I would be asking for the ability to show love or grace, or even have wisdom. 

I was looking for something in the Bible about joy and laughter.  These emotions are necessary to life, just as much as any other emotion.  That is when I came across a passage in Ecclesiastes.  For some reason it really resonated with me this week, so I thought I would share it with all my readers.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die,

A time to plant and a time to uproot

A time to kill and a time to heal,

A time to tear down and a time to build

A time to weep and a time to laugh

A time to mourn and a time to dance

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them

A time to embrace and a time to refrain

A time to search and a time to give up

A time to keep and a time to throw away

A time to tear down and a time to mend

A time to be silent and a time to speak

A time to love and a time to hate

A time for war and a time for peace

There is always a flip side to everything.  There is a time for laughter, but also a time for weeping.  There is a time to be silent and a time to speak.  I find, in my own life, that when I am on the upside.  You know, a time to heal, a time to laugh, a time to love and a time to mend.  That is when I really feel that God loves me.  He must love me when things are going well.

On the flip side, the ideas of a time to weep, a time to give up, a time to tear down, are events that cause the opposite reaction.  I wonder what I’m doing wrong to cause God to remove his blessings from me.   Part of my reaction is due to the fact that I am a spoiled American.  We sometimes expect everything to be sunshine and roses.

God is God regardless of the circumstances in our lives.  He is always holy and always righteous and He is always in control.  Trust knows that God loves us and cares for use when things are good and when things are bad.