May 26, 1855. Although I did not have all the money necessary to begin to build the new Orphan House, I began to look for land. For the past four years I never had a doubt that it was the will of God that I build accommodations for seven hundred more orphans. Yet I could see the advantages of having two houses instead of one. I checked to see whether another house could be built on each side of the present Orphan House.
After I measured the ground and found it could be done, I called in the architects to survey the area and to make a rough plan of two houses, one on each side. We would not only save money by this plan, but the direction and inspection of the whole establishment would be much easier because the buildings would be close together. We would still have plenty of land to grow our own vegetables. Once I saw what could be accomplished on the ground we owned already, I decided to build, without any further delay at the south side of the new Orphan House. The plans are now ready; and as soon as all the necessary preliminary arrangements can be made, the work will begin.
This house is intended to accommodate four hundred female orphans. With regard to the other house to be built at the north side of the new Orphan House, nothing definite can be stated at present. Enough money is available to build and furnish the house for four hundred orphans, and we expect that something will be left over. But there is not sufficient money to begin to build both.
A strong call is on my life for caring for destitute orphans. Seven hundred and fifteen orphans are now waiting for admission to this Orphan House. Only thirty-nine orphan homes provide care for three thousand seven hundred and sixty-four orphans. When the new Orphan House was being built, nearly six thousand young orphans were living in the prisons of England because there was no other place for them to go. To prevent them from going to prison and being brought up in sin, and to win their souls for God, I desire to enlarge the present establishment so that we are able to receive one thousand orphans. Individuals who have chosen not to live for the present time but for eternity will have the opportunity to help me care for these children. It is a great honor to be allowed to do anything for the Lord. When the day of recompense comes, our only regret will be that we have done so little for Him, not that we have done too much.
If anyone desires to live a life of faith and trust in God he must: Not merely say that he trusts in God but must really do so. Often individuals profess to trust in God, but they embrace every opportunity where they may directly or indirectly tell someone about their need. I do not say it is wrong to make known our financial situation, but it hardly displays trust in God to expose our needs for the sake of getting other people to help us. God will take us at our word. If we do trust in Him, we must be satisfied to stand with Him alone.
The individual who desires to live this way must be content whether he is rich or poor. He must be willing to live in abundance or in poverty. He must be willing to leave this world without any possessions.
He must be willing to take the money in God's way, not merely in large sums, but in small. Many times I have had a single shilling given to me. To have refused such tokens of Christian love would have been ungracious.
He must be willing to live as the Lord's steward. If anyone does not give out of the blessings which the Lord gives to him, then the Lord, who influences the hearts of His children to give, would soon cause those channels to be dried up. My good income increased even more when I determined that, by God's help, His poor and His work would be helped by my money. From that time on, the Lord was pleased to entrust me with more.
May 26, 1856. Yesterday evening it was twenty-four years since I came to labor in Bristol. In looking back on the Lord's goodness to my family and myself, the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and the saints among whom I seek to serve Him, 11 exclaim, "What has God wrought!" I marvel at His kindness, and yet I do not. If I remain longer on earth, I would expect even more manifestations of His love.
The Lord continues to allow us to see fruit in connection with the orphan work. He is working in the hearts and lives of those who are now under our care. We often hear that those who were formerly under our care have become Christians and are living for the Lord. The kindness and grace of God is drawing many children to Him at the Orphan House.
November 12, 1857. The long looked-for and long prayed-for day has now arrived, and the desire of my heart was granted to me. I opened the house for four hundred more orphans today. How precious this was to me after praying every day for seven years. This blessing did not come unexpectedly to me but had been looked for and had been expected in the full assurance of faith, in God's own time.
November 20. The boiler at the new Orphan House No. 1 leaked considerably. We thought that it would last through the winter, although we suspected it was nearly worn out. For me to do nothing and say, "I will trust in God" would be careless presumption, not faith in God.
The condition of the boiler could not be known without taking down the brickwork surrounding it. What then was to be done? For the children, especially the younger infants, I was deeply concerned that they would suffer for lack of warmth. But how were we to obtain heat? The installation of a new boiler would probably take many weeks. Repairing the boiler was a questionable matter because of the size of the leak. Nothing could be decided until the brick-chamber was at least partially removed. That would take days, and what was to be done in the meantime to find warm rooms for three hundred children?
At last I decided to open the brick chamber and see the extent of the damage. The day was set when the workmen were to come, and all the necessary arrangements were made. The heat, of course, had to be shut off while the repairs were going on.
After the day was set for the repairs, a bleak north wind set in, bringing the first really cold weather of the winter. The repairs could not be put off, so I asked the Lord for two things-that He would change the north wind into a south wind, and that He would give to the workmen a desire to work. I remembered how much Nehemiah accomplished in fifty-two days while building the walls of Jerusalem because "the people had a mind to work" (Neh. 4:6).
The memorable day came. The evening before, the bleak north wind still blew, but on Wednesday, the south wind blew, exactly as I had prayed. The weather was so mild that no heat was needed. The brickwork was removed, the leak was soon found, and the repairmen set to work.
About half-past eight in the evening, when I was going to leave for my home, I was informed that the manager of the repair firm had arrived to see how the work was going on. I went to the cellar to see him and the men. The manager said, "The men will work late this evening and come very early again tomorrow."
"We would rather, sir," said the foreman, "work all night:"
Then I remembered the second part of my prayer-that God would give the men "a mind to work." By the next morning, the repair of the boiler was accomplished. Within thirty hours the brickwork was up again, and the fire was in the boiler. All the time, the south wind blew so mildly that there was not the least need for any heat.
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George Mueller (1805 - 1898)
A Christian evangelist and Director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England, cared for 10,024 orphans in his life.[2] He was well known for providing an education to the children under his care, to the point where he was accused of raising the poor above their natural station in life. He also established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over 120,000 children, many of them being orphans. Through all this, Müller never made requests for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even though the five homes cost over £100,000 to build. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God. For example, on one well-documented occasion, they gave thanks for breakfast when all the children were sitting at the table, even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone, and the milkman gave them plenty of fresh milk because his cart broke down in front of the orphanage.On 26 March 1875, at the age of 70 and after the death of his first wife in 1870 and his marriage to Susannah Grace Sanger in 1871, Müller and Susannah began a 17-year period of missionary travel. Müller always expected to pay for their fares and accommodation from the unsolicited gifts given for his own use. However, if someone offered to pay his hotel bill en route, Müller recorded this amount in his accounts. He travelled over 200,000 miles, an incredible achievement for pre-aviation times. His language abilities allowed him to preach in English, French, and German, and his sermons were translated into the host languages when he was unable to use English, French or German. In 1892, he returned to England, where he died on 10 March 1898 in New Orphan House No 3.
Among the greatest monuments of what can be accomplished through simple faith in God are the great orphanages covering thirteen acres of ground on Ashley Downs, Bristol, England. When God put it into the heart of George Muller to build these orphanages, he had only two shillings (50 cents) in his pocket. Without making his wants known to any man, but to God alone, over a million, four hundred thousand pounds ($7,000,000) were sent to him for the building and maintaining of these orphan homes. Near the time of Mr. Muller's death, there were five immense buildings of solid granite, capable of accommodating two thousand orphans. In all the years since the first orphans arrived the Lord had sent food in due time, so that they had never missed a meal for want of food.
At the age of seventy, George Muller began to make great evangelistic tours. He traveled 200,000 miles, going around the world and preaching in many lands and in several different languages. He frequently spoke to as many as 4,500 or 5,000 persons. Three times he preached throughout the length and breadth of the United States. He continued his missionary or evangelistic tours until he was ninety years of age. He estimated that during these seventeen years of evangelistic work he addressed three million people. All his expenses were sent in answer to the prayer of faith.
Johann Georg Ferdinand Müller (sometimes spelled Mueller or Muller) was simply another Elijah! ... God meant that George Mueller, wherever his work was witnessed or his story is read, should be a standing rebuke, to the practical impotence of the average disciple. While men are asking whether prayer can accomplish similar wonders as of old, here is a man who answers the question by the indisputable logic of facts. Powerlessness always means prayerlessness. It is not necessary for us to be sinlessly perfect, or to be raised to a special dignity of privilege and endowment, in order to wield this wondrous weapon of power with God; but it is necessary that we be men and women of prayer-habitual, believing, importunate prayer.
George Mueller considered nothing too small to be a subject of prayer, because nothing is too small to be the subject of God's care. If He numbers our hairs, and notes a sparrow's fall, and clothes the grass in the field, nothing about His children is beneath His tender thought. In every emergency, his one resort was to carry his want to his Father. When, in 1858, a legacy of five hundred pounds was, after fourteen months in chancery, still unpaid, the Lord was besought to cause this money soon to be placed in his hands; and he prayed that legacy out of the bonds of chancery as prayer, long before, brought Peter out of prison. The money was paid contrary to all human likelihood, and with interest at four per cent. When large gifts were proffered, prayer was offered for grace to know whether to accept or decline, that no money might be greedily grasped at for its own sake; and he prayed that, if it could not be accepted without submitting to conditions which were dishonoring to God, it might be declined so graciously, lovingly, humbly, and yet firmly, that the manner of its refusal and return might show that he was acting, not in his own behalf, but as a servant under the authority of a higher Master.