Charles Inglis, the well-known evangelist, relates the following remarkable incident:
"When I first came to America thirty-one years ago, I crossed the Atlantic with the captain of a steamer who was one of the most devoted men I ever knew; and when we were off the banks of Newfoundland he said to me: 'Mr. Inglis, the last time' I crossed here, five weeks ago, one of the most extraordinary things happened that has completely revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. Up to that time I was one of your ordinary Christians. We had a man of God on board, George Mueller, of Bristol. I had been on that bridge for twenty-two hours and never left it. I was startled by someone tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Mueller. Captain,' said he, 'I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.' This was Wednesday. It is impossible,' I said. Very well, if your ship can't take me God will find some other means of locomotion to take me. I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years.' I would willingly help you, but how can I? I am helpless.' Let us go down to the chart room and pray,' he said. "I looked at this man and I thought to myself, 'What lunatic asylum could the man have come from? I never heard of such a thing.' "'Mr. Mueller,' I said, 'do you know how dense this fog is?' No,' he replied, 'my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.' "He went down on his knees, and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. I thought to myself, 'That would suit a children's class, where the children were not more than eight or nine years of age.' The burden of his prayer was something like this: 'O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in five minutes. You know the engagement You made for me in Quebec for Saturday. I believe it is Your will.' "When he had finished, I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. First,' he said, 'you do not believe God will do it; and, second, I believe He has done it. And there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.' I looked at him, and George Mueller said this: 'Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone.' I got up, and the fog was gone. On Saturday afternoon George Mueller was in Quebec."
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Scripture Texts That Moulded George Muller CERTAIN marked Scripture precepts and promises had such a singular influence upon this man of God, and so often proved the guides to his course, that they illustrate Psalm cxix.105: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path." Those texts which, at the parting of the way, became to him God's sign-boards, showing him the true direction, are here given, as nearly as may be in the order in which they became so helpful to him. The study of them will prove a kind of spiritual biography, outlining his career. Some texts, known to have been very conspicuous in their influence, we put in capitals. The italics are his own. "GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE." (John iii.16.) "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm." (Jeremiah xvii.5.) "O, fear the Lord, ye His saints; for there is no want to them that fear Him." (Psa. xxxiv.9.) "Owe no man anything, but to love one another." (Rom. xiii.8.) "SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS; AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU." (Matt. vi.33.) "The holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." (2 Tim. iii.15.) "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matt. vii.7,8.) "WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK IN MY NAME, THAT WILL I DO, THAT THE FATHER MAY BE GLORIFIED IN THE SON: IF YE SHALL ASK ANYTHING IN MY NAME I WILL DO IT." (John xiv.13,14.) "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on... Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow." (Matt. vi. 25-34.) "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." (John vii.17.) "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John viii.31,32.) "And the eunuch said, See, here is water: what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." (Acts viii.36-38.) "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death." (Rom. vi.3, 4.) "Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread." (Acts xx.7.) "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a man in vile raiment; and ye have respect unto him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" (James ii.1-6.) "Having, then, gifts differing according to the grace that is given us." (Rom. xii.6.) "All these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." (1 Cor. xii.11.) "Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account." (Philip. iv.17.) "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on"... "Behold the fowls of the air... Consider the lilies of the field... For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things." (Matt. vi.25-32.) "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." (Matt. vi.19.) "SELL THAT YE HAVE AND GIVE ALMS." (Luke xii.33.) "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." (John iii.27.) "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name." (Acts xv.14. Comp. Matt. xiii.24-30, 36-43.) "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come... Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Tim. iii.1,13.) "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." (2 Cor. vi.14-18.) "Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." (Zech. iv.6.) "MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE." (2 COR. xii.9.) "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God." (1 Cor. vii.20, 24.) "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." (2 Tim. iii.16.) "OPEN THY MOUTH WIDE, AND I WILL FILL IT." (Psa. lxxxi.10.) "Mine hour is not yet come." (John ii.4.) "He took a child, and set him in the midst of them and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name, receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me." (Mark ix.36, 37.) "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." (Rom. xii.18.) "For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Heb.xii.10,11.) "WHAT THINGS S0EVER YE DESIRE, WHEN YE PRAY, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE THEM, AND YE SHALL HAVE THEM." (Mark xi.24.) "He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded." (1 Pet. ii.6.) "O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come." (Psa. lxv.2.) "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul." (Psa. Ixvi.16.) "A FATHER OF THE FATHERLESS." (Psa. lxviii.5.) "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction." (Prov iii.11.) "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." (Psa. ciii.13.) "JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY, AND TO-DAY, AND FOR EVER." (Heb.xiii.8.) " To-morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matt. vi.34.) "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." (1 Sam. vii.12.) "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good:" "Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. (Psalm xxxiv.8.) "All the fat is the Lord's." (Lev. iii.16.) "I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me." (Psa. xl.17.) "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." (Psa. xxxvii.4.) "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psa. Ixvi.18.) "Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: The Lord will hear when I call unto Him." (Psa. iv.3.) "JEHOVAH JIREH." (The Lord will provide.) (Gen. xxii.14.) "HE HATH SAID, I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE, NOR FORSAKE THEE; SO THAT WE MAY BOLDLY SAY, THE LORD IS MY HELPER." (Heb. xiii.5, 6.) "Be thou not one of them that strike hands, or of those that are sureties for debts." (Prov. xxii.26.) "He that hateth suretyship is sure." (Prov. xi.15.) "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." (2 Cor. xii.15.) "Ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." (Gal. iii.26.) "CASTING ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU." (1 Pet. v.7.) "Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Phil. iv.6.) "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God?" (John xi.40.) "WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD." (Rom. viii.28.) "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. xviii.25.) "Of such (little children) is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xix.14.) "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii.32.) "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." (James i.17.) "The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." (Psa. xxxiv.1O.) "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." (Prov. xi.24, 25.) "Give and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." (Luke vi.38.) "The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand." (Isa. xxxii.8.) "For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good. (Mark xiv.7.) "Let not then your good be evil spoken of." (Rom. xiv.16.) "Let your moderation (yieldingness) be known unto all men." (Phil. iv.5.) "MY BRETHREN, COUNT IT ALL JOY WHEN YE FALL INTO DIVERS TEMPTATIONS (i.e. TRIALS); KNOWING THIS, THAT THE TRYING OF YOUR FAITH WORKETH PATIENCE, BUT LET PATIENCE HAVE HER PERFECT WORK, THAT YE MAY BE PERFECT AND ENTIRE, WANTING NOTHING." (James i.2-4.) "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." (Prov. iii.5, 6.) "The integrity of the upright shall guide them; but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them." (Prov. xi.3.) "Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established." (Prov. xvi.3.) "For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure faith." (Rom. xii.3.) "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord." (Psa. xxvii.14.) "After he had patiently endured he obtained the promise." (Heb. vi.15.) " VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK THE FATHER IN MY NAME, HE WILL GIVE IT YOU." (John xvi.23.) "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparing; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." (2 Cor. ix.6.) "Ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. vi.20.) "THEY THAT KNOW THY NAME WILL PUT THEIR TRUST IN THEE: FOR THOU, LORD, HAST NOT FORSAKEN THEM THAT TRUST THEE." (Psa. ix.10.) "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." (Isa. xxvi.3, 4.) "If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not." (2 Cor viii.12.) "BE YE STEADFAST, UNMOVABLE, ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD, FOR AS MUCH AS YE KNOW THAT YOUR LABOUR IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD." (1 Cor. xv.58.) "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." (Gal. vi.9.) "Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men! (Psa. xxxi.19.) "THOU ART GOOD AND DOEST GOOD." (Psa. cxix. 68.) "I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." (Psa. cxix.75.) "My times are in Thy hand." (Psa. xxxi.15.) "The LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." (Psa. Ixxxiv.11.) "Hold Thou me up and I shall be safe." (Psa. cxix.117.) "Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be." (Rev. xxii.12.) "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts xx.35.) "Give us this day our daily bread." (Matt. vi.11.) "Able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." (Eph. iii.2O.) "Them that honour Me I will honour." (1 Sam. ii.30.) "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter i.7.) The Great Need of Being Saved By Faith in Christ Jesus “Should this, however, be read by any who are not believers in the Lord Jesus, but who are going on in the carelessness or self-righteousness of their unrenewed hearts, then I would affectionately and solemnly beseech such, first of all to be reconciled to God by faith in the Lord Jesus. You are sinners. You deserve punishment. If you do not see this, ask God to show it unto you. Let this now be your first and especial prayer. Ask God also to enlighten you not merely concerning your state by nature, but especially to reveal the Lord Jesus to your heart. God sent Him, that He might bear the punishment, due to us guilty sinners. God accepts the obedience and sufferings of the Lord Jesus, in the room of those who depend upon Him for the salvation of their souls; and the moment a sinner believes in the Lord Jesus, he obtains the forgiveness of all his sins. When thus he is reconciled to God, by faith in the Lord Jesus, and has obtained the forgiveness of his sins, he has boldness to enter into the presence of God, to make known his requests unto Him; and the more he is enabled to realize that his sins are forgiven, and that God, for Christ’s sake, is well pleased with those who believe on Him, the more ready he will be to come with all his wants, both temporal and spiritual, to his Heavenly Father, that He may supply them. But as long as the consciousness of unpardoned guilt remains, so long shall we be kept at a distance from God, especially as it regards prayer. Therefore, dear reader, if you are an unforgiven sinner, let your first and especial prayer be, that God would be pleased to reveal to your heart the Lord Jesus, His beloved Son.” - George Muller (Taken from George Muller’s Narratives) Five Conditions of Prevailing Prayer |
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