George Müller on Prayer and Faith: How He Trusted God Alone
George Müller fed and housed thousands of orphans for more than sixty years, and he never asked a single person for money. He did not hold fundraising dinners, send appeal letters or take collections at his meetings. He prayed, he told his needs to God alone, and he kept careful records of what came in and when. He believed this was not a special calling for one man but an example of what any Christian may do: take God at His word.
This article lets Müller explain it in his own words, from his journal, which you can read in full in the Autobiography of George Müller and in the shorter American edition, The Life of Trust.
Why he refused to ask
Müller started the orphan work in 1835 for a reason most people would not guess. He was a pastor in Bristol, and he kept meeting believers who were worn down and afraid. One man worked sixteen hours a day and had no time for God. Others dreaded old age and the poorhouse. Businessmen bent their consciences because they did not think honesty could pay. Müller wanted to show them something they could see:
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.
The Life of Trust, chapter 5
He cared deeply for the children. But he was clear about the main purpose:
But still, the first and primary object of the work was, and still is, that God might be magnified by the fact that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith, without any one being asked by me or my fellow-laborers, whereby it may be seen that God is FAITHFUL STILL, and HEARS PRAYER STILL.
The Life of Trust, chapter 5
So the refusal to ask was the point. If he had begged for money, the gifts would prove nothing about God.
How he started: one verse
On December 5, 1835, Müller was reading the Psalms and was struck by a single line:
Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
Psalm 81:10
He applied it to the orphan house. In his own record:
I fell on my knees, and asked the Lord for premises, for £1,000, and for suitable individuals to take care of the children. December 7th. To-day I received the first shilling for the Orphan-House.
Autobiography of George Müller, chapter V
Over the next weeks came a wardrobe, plates and basins, yards of cloth, a few shillings, and offers from men and women willing to work without salary. At his first public meeting about the plan, he would not take a collection. He wanted to be sure the response came from God and not from stirred-up feelings.
Prayer fed by the Bible
Müller's prayer life rested on his Bible reading. In 1841 he changed his morning habit, and he called it one of the most important lessons of his life:
I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.
The Life of Trust, chapter 6
Before this he had started each day trying to pray, and often spent a long time on his knees with a wandering mind. Now he began with the Scriptures and let them lead him into prayer:
The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that, though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer.
The Life of Trust, chapter 6
This is the habit behind everything else. Pierson notes that Müller read the whole Bible through nearly two hundred times. His faith for the orphans' bread grew out of daily time in the Word.
When the money ran out
The hardest years began in the summer of 1838. Müller had no reserves, and the houses often had nothing for the next meal. He kept praying and wrote down the strain honestly:
Whence it is to come, need not be my care. But I believe God will, in due time, send help. His hour is not yet come.
The Life of Trust, chapter 6
A few lines later:
This is the most trying hour that as yet I have had in the work, as it regards means; but I know that I shall yet praise the Lord for his help.
The Life of Trust, chapter 6
Help did come, often by the hour. A woman who had set aside her trinkets to be sold for the orphans brought five pounds instead. A worker gave her savings. A man met Müller on the street and handed him money for the orphans. Müller refused to buy on credit or borrow. Pierson collects his reasoning:
As regards borrowing money, I have considered that there is no ground to go away from the door of the Lord to that of a believer, so long as He is willing to supply our need.
George Müller of Bristol, Appendix N
He also refused to talk about the needs in public. He told the needs to God and to his few fellow workers, and that was all.
Five conditions of prevailing prayer
Müller did not think God answers every request automatically. Pierson lists the five conditions that "were ever before his mind":
1. Entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only ground of any claim for blessing.
George Müller of Bristol, chapter XII
2. Separation from all known sin. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us, for it would be sanctioning sin.
George Müller of Bristol, chapter XII
The other three are faith in God's promise, asking according to His will, and "importunity in supplication," which means keeping on. Read them in full in Pierson's chapter XII.
Praying for years
Müller prayed for some things a very long time. He kept a list of people he prayed for by name every day. Some came to Christ after a few years, others after decades. Late in life he wrote:
I myself have for twenty-nine years been waiting for an answer to prayer concerning a certain spiritual blessing. Day by day have I been enabled to continue in prayer for this blessing.
George Müller of Bristol, Appendix N
He was not worn out by this. He took the long wait itself as a sign that God meant to answer.
Expecting the answer
When the time came to build the first large orphan house on Ashley Down, Müller prayed daily for thirty-five days with nothing given. On the thirty-sixth day a gift of £1,000 arrived, the largest he had yet received. His response:
But when I received it I was as calm, as quiet, as if I had only received one shilling. For my heart was looking out for answers. Day by day I was expecting to receive answers to my prayers.
Autobiography of George Müller, chapter XI
That is the heart of Müller's faith. He prayed, and then he watched for the answer like a man waiting for a letter he knew had been mailed.
Not anxious
People often asked him how he could carry such a load. His answer was simple:
The children I have years ago cast upon the Lord. The whole work is His, and it becomes me to be without carefulness.
George Müller of Bristol, Appendix N
He did not want readers to think trust like this was only for orphanage directors. Every believer, he said, may cast all his care on the Lord.
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1 Peter 5:7
Read it for yourself
The best way to learn from Müller is to read his journal slowly, a few entries at a time. The Autobiography of George Müller carries the record from his conversion to his death; chapter VI covers the trials of 1838 to 1843. The Life of Trust is shorter and easier to start with.
For the rest of the story, see who George Müller was, the story of the George Müller orphanage, a collection of George Müller quotes, and our guide to George Müller's books. More on the subject is on the Prayer topic page.