During a time in England when most orphans lived in miserable workhouses or on the streets, there was a man named George Mueller who established homes for as many as two thousand orphans at a time, and more than ten thousand in his lifetime. Yet he never made the needs he had to care for these children known to anyone except to God in prayer. Only through his annual reports were people informed of how God had provided.
Mueller knew how to pray, and had over fifty thousand specific and documented answers to prayer written down in his journals. Thirty thousand of which he said were answered the same day or the same hour that he prayed. That’s five hundred answers each year, more than one per day, every day for sixty years! Plus God also provided the equivalent of $7,200,000.00 in response to Mueller’s prayers.
So what made George Mueller’s prayer life so fruitful? One key was his practice of searching the Bible to find a promise that covered his need and what he required before he prayed. Sometimes he would spend days reading and meditating on the scriptures before he presented his petition. When he found the promise, he would, with an open bible and his finger on that promise, ask God for what he required. In doing so, he got answers, but He always prayed with an open Bible in front of him.
Mueller discovered that spending time searching God’s promises and asking according to what God had spoken was a key to experiencing a powerful prayer life.
How often do you rush your requests to God, failing to build any real faith for what you ask? We ask, but not with an assurance based in God’s word. Mueller’s example highlights the importance of taking the time to find and take hold of God’s promises to have an effective prayer life.
Today, I encourage you to have a life full of answered prayer like George Mueller. Write down your requests to God, and then go to His word and find out what He has to say. What are His promises regarding your situation? As you discover them determine to ask according to His Word, and then expect him to answer.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him”. (1 John 5:14-16)
Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your promises, and that you are faithful to keep them. I bring my requests to you today knowing that you will answer according to your promises. In Jesus Name Amen.