Tag Archives: George Muller

Here’s a short, sweet true story (and a related Scripture passage) to encourage us to be generous in our giving to the Lord’s work and in helping to meet the needs of others. Such Christlike giving is commendable for all Christians, whether we possess much or little financially speaking.

George Muller is well known to many Christians as the faith-filled individual who raised the equivalent of millions of dollars in the 1800s to provide the material, spiritual, educational, and occupational-training needs of thousands of orphans in England. Ultimately, of course, God gets the glory for (1) the strong, unshakable faith He gave Muller in the promises of God’s Word and (2) the amazing manner in which He abundantly blessed Muller’s faith in carrying out the ministries into which the Lord led him.

Another indispensable factor in Muller’s remarkable accomplishments were the untold thousands of Christians who generously, even sacrificially, supported his ministries financially and in other practical ways. Some did so out of their material abundance, while others gave who had little or nothing to spare.

While raising funds for the establishment of his initial orphan ministry in December 1835, Muller was surprised to receive a donation of 100 pounds (equaling $500) from a seamstress who could not earn that much money in ten years’ time.  Going to visit the woman, he discovered she had recently received an inheritance of 480 pounds at her father’s death.  She had paid off some outstanding family debts with a large portion of the money, had given her mother 100 pounds, and had donated the same amount to Muller’s orphan ministry.

He spoke with her at length, actually trying to persuade her to reconsider whether or not she should make such a sizeable donation.  She replied earnestly: “The Lord Jesus has given His last drop of blood for me, and should I not give all the money I have?  Rather than that the orphan house should not be established, I will give all the money I have.”

Muller left her house with the original donation plus an additional five pounds that she insisted he take for the poorer members of the church he pastored.  He afterward commented: “During her lifetime, I suppose not six brethren and sisters among us knew that she had ever possessed 480 pounds, or that she had given 100 pounds towards the orphan house.”

We’re reminded of the biblical example of the Macedonian Christians in contributing to a freewill offering for needy saints in Judea: “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints” (2 Corinthians 8:1-4).

Jesus Himself provides Christians with the ultimate model of generous, sacrificial giving for the good of others: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

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Many more inspiring, instructive examples of selfless giving and faith-filled service can be found in my book Timeless Stories: God’s Incredible Work in the Lives of Inspiring Christians. If you’ve enjoyed and benefited from this blog, thanks for sharing it with others. 

Copyright 2026 by Vance E. Christie

Might you be growing weary or discouraged in some earnest prayer request you’ve been lifting up to the Lord for quite some time, perhaps even a very long time? If so, here’s some timely encouragement from the remarkable example of George Muller, a man mighty in faith and prayer.

Muller is best known for the large faith-based orphan ministry he carried out in Bristol, England, in the nineteenth century. He was also a diligent, disciplined man of prayer. He kept an ongoing prayer notebook in which he recorded his requests on one page and the answer to each of those petitions on the facing page. By this means he persevered in praying till he received answers to thousands of specific requests.

Once while ministering in Dusseldorf, Germany, Muller was approached by a missionary to that city who was distressed because his six sons remained unconverted, though he had been praying for them many years.  To the father’s query about what he should do Muller responded, “Continue to pray for your sons, and expect an answer to your prayer, and you will have to praise God.”

Six years later, in August of 1882, Muller again returned to minister in Dusseldorf.  This time he was delighted to be greeted by the same missionary who testified that he had resolved to follow Muller’s advice and had given himself more earnestly to prayer for the spiritual well-being of his sons.  The happy results were that two months after Muller had left in 1876, five of the man’s sons had come to faith in Christ and the sixth was now also thinking seriously about making that commitment.

Muller himself interceded for more than half a century for the salvation of a small group of men. He once wrote: “In November, 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land or on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be.  Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted.  I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted.  I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted.  I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two.

“These two remain unconverted.  The man to whom God in the riches of His grace has given tens of thousands of answers to prayer in the self-same hour or day in which they were offered has been praying day by day for nearly thirty-six years for the conversion of these individuals, and yet they remain unconverted.  But I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be.”

Those two men, sons of a friend of Muller’s youth, were still unconverted when he died in 1897, after having prayed daily for their salvation for fifty-two years.  His prayers were answered, however, when both those men came to faith in Christ a few years after the great intercessor’s death.

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You will find many other examples of George Muller’s outstanding faith and prayer in my book Timeless Stories: God’s Incredible Work in the Lives of Inspiring Christians (Christian Focus, 2010). Roger Steer has written an excellent full-length biography on Muller entitled George Muller: Delighted in God! (Christian Focus, 2015). Copyright 2020 by Vance E. Christie