Two Reasons for Unbelief

I listened to this as I was cleaning the Post Office this morning and really was impacted by this quote.

In September, 1882, another donor describes himself as “simply astounded at the blessed results of prayer and faith,” and many others have found this brief narrative “the most wonderful and complete refutation of skepticism it had ever been their lot to meet with”—an array of facts constituting the most undeniable “evidences of Christianity.” There are abundant instances of the power exerted by Mr. Müller’s testimony, as when a woman who had been an infidel, writes him that he was “the first person by whose example she learned that there are some men who live by faith,” and that for this reason she had willed to him all that she possessed.

Another reader found these Reports “more faith-strengthening and soul-refreshing than many a sermon,” particularly so after just wading through the mire of a speech of a French infidel who boldly affirmed that of all of the millions of prayers uttered every day, not one is answered. We should like to have any candid skeptic confronted with Mr. Müller’s unvarnished story of a life of faith, and see how he would on any principle of ‘compound probability’ and ‘accidental coincidences,’ account for the tens of thousands of answers to believing prayer! The fact is that one half of the infidelity in the world is dishonest, and the other half is ignorant of the daily proofs that God is, and is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

From almost the first publication of his Narrative, Mr. Müller had felt a conviction that it wag thus to be greatly owned of God as a witness to His faithfulness; and, as early as 1842, it was laid on his heart to send a copy of his Annual Report gratuitously to every Christian minister of the land, which the Lord helped him to do, his aim being not to get money or even awaken interest in the work, but rather to stimulate faith and quicken prayer.*


Arthur T. Pierson, George Müller of Bristol (London: James Nisbet & Co., Limited, 1899), 357–358.

Do you know the power of prayer

“Do you know the power of prayer, my beloved children? I have been praying forty years. One proof of the power of it is that I see you here before me. But every one of you might know a little of the power of prayer. And we know not to what an extent we may know of the power of prayer. Try it, try it, beloved children; you must begin in the right way. If on the ground of your own merit or righteousness you ask God for blessing, you will not get it. You must ask on the ground of the merits and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is called in Scripture—asking in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You must first be yourself a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of your own soul. Then, further, the blessings for which you ask must be according to the mind of God. For instance, if any one of you were to ask for many bags of gold so that you might be able to do all your days without work, you might ask a long time without getting these bags of gold to enable you to spend your time in idleness. Prayer must be according to the mind of God. Further: you must have confidence in the power, in the love, and the willingness of God to answer prayer; this is particularly important. We have to believe God does hear us, and is willing to give us the blessing. Then, having asked, we must go on waiting upon God and looking for blessing till it comes. I never in my life, in this way, asked God for blessing without at last getting it; and I expect I shall never ask in this way without the blessing coming. And what God is willing to do for one He is willing to do for another. Have you had any answers to your prayers, my dear children? The answer to prayer brings great blessings to the soul. It makes one so happy when one gets answers to prayer. Ask yourselves,—How many answers have I had to my prayers? If you watch the hand of God you will easily find out if”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/346695 via the Logos Bible Android app.
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If we are indeed acting as stewards

If we are indeed acting as stewards and not as owners, He will make us stewards over more - George Muller

It should be Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

“Well, now, beloved fellow-disciples, it should be Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, more practically and experimentally in our closets, in our walk, in our labour, in our service; and day by day our hearts should be occupied with Jesus, and especially the friendship of Jesus should be cultivated by us increasingly. When trials, difficulties, and sorrows come, we should remember we have the self-same Jesus now as ready to comfort and encourage us as He did the disciples more than 1800 years since; and quite as ready as He was then to prove Himself our Friend, our Helper, our Comforter.”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/132615 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Become Acquainted With Jesus

“The more we become acquainted with Jesus and with ourselves, the more we seek to be like that blessed One. After this, let us, fellow-believers, more and more aim. “The world is passing away, and the fashion, thereof.” We have but one life to spend here, and that a very brief one; and after our conversion our one great object in this evil world should be to seek to manifest the mind of Jesus. And then, with regard to our fellow-believers, we are to love one another. Disciples should love one another, notwithstanding all the weaknesses and infirmities we see in one another. For Christ’s sake should we do it, because it is the will of that blessed One. Therefore let us aim after this; and the more we can thus manifest the mind of Jesus, the greater will be the honour which we obtain for Him.”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/138400 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Who are you holding hands with

“You must be an out and out Christian; you cannot hold with one hand the world, and with the other Christ.” http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/286256 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Satans methods

“What Satan couldn’t accomplish as a lion, cursing Israel, he accomplished as a serpent, beguiling Israel and leading the men into wicked compromise.” http://ref.ly/o/be-strng/208550 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Above All Things, See To It That...

“Above all things, see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord.”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/51929 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Learn to the Glory of God

“Things that are profitable for this life are to be learned,—and to be learned, among other reasons, that hereafter they may be useful even in the cause of Christ. I have just been referring to languages. When I learned French, for instance, and other languages, I had no thought that they would ever be useful, in the service of Christ; but afterwards it pleased God so to order it in His providence that I had sometimes six missionaries for five and six months at a time in my house, and there were three different languages spoken at my dinner-table,—German, French, and English. Now the very fact of knowing these languages helped me in the cause of Christ. I am now continuing my correspondence in three different languages,—French, German, and English. These, in the cause of Christ, have been very useful. Not that I mean to lay stress on these things, as if they were of such moment that there would be no happiness without them. Not this; for the great point, after all, remains,—to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus, and to walk in the ways of God. But, if we have the opportunity, let us make good use of the opportunity. We must not despise the opportunities, nor put them aside, but make good use of them; because youth passes away, is of a transient character, does not last, and therefore the time is to be usefully employed in the cultivation of the mind and in becoming acquainted with the affairs of this life, all of which may afterwards be used, not only with regard to this life, but in the service of the Lord, and for the glory of God.” http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/296326 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Open thy mouth wide

“under all circumstances there should not be a single trial that befals us, but we should look forward calmly to it, and say, “Jesus is able to meet all these circumstances; Jesus can help me; He says, ‘Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.’ Let me open my mouth wide, and see how the blessed One is both able and willing to fill it.”” http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/269555 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Mind on Christ

“if you are minded to let the world go, and lay hold on Christ, and be an out and out disciple of the Lord Jesus, I tell you this, as an honest man, you will be a happy man. Oh! how happy, how unspeakably happy, how blessed your portion as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh! it is a blessed thing to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/286696 via the Logos Bible Android app.

bear the infirmities of the weak

“If we are, then, what we are by the grace God, so that every particle of power over sin, of heavenly-mindedness, of desire to act according to the Holy Scriptures, becomes ours, because it planned God, in the riches of His grace, thus to bless us, who are we, that we should look down upon a brother, because there are degrees of ignorance or spiritual weakness in a fellow-disciple? Jesus is our head. It is His will that we should love one another. In gratitude to that blessed One, who laid down His life that I might be saved, let me obey; and if I find pride keeps me from it, let me seek grace to subdue it. “We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” When we meet with a weak brother, as to grace or knowledge, our natural tendency is to say, “Oh, he is a weak one.” The carnal mind says, “Put him aside.” But the Word of the blessed Lord says, “Bear the infirmities of the weak.” If I am strong, let me prove my strength by putting my shoulder to the burden. If I cannot bear with the weakness of my brother it is a plain proof that I am a weak one myself. Why have we received grace? That we may help on our weaker or less instructed brother—that in helping others we may bring glory to God.”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/38136 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Seek habitually to carry out what we know

“But another point here needs especially to be noticed: it is that we seek habitually to carry out what we know, to act up to the light that we have received; then more will assuredly be given. But if we fail to do this, our light will be turned into darkness. It is of the deepest moment that we walk with a sincere, honest, upright heart before the Lord. If evil be practised, or harboured and connived at, the channel of communication between our souls and God (for the time being) will be cut off. It is all important to remember this. Infirmities and weaknesses will cleave to us as long as we remain in the body; but this is a different thing from willingly allowing evil. I must be able, with a true, honest, upright heart, to look my heavenly Father in the face, and say, “Here I am, blessed Lord; do with me as Thou wilt.””

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/54517 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Become acquainted with the true loveliness of God

“The more we, the children of God, meditate in the Holy Scriptures, the more perfectly we shall become acquainted with the true loveliness of God, and the more shall we therefore ourselves seek to please Him, and the more shall we seek to stir up others to acquaint themselves with Him, that they may please Him.”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/71464 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Let Us Trust Our Heavenly Father...

“Beloved in Christ! let us trust our heavenly Father; let us, like little children, hang entirely on Him, reposing in the sweet assurance of His unchangeable, eternal love. Let us remember how He acted towards His saints of old, what His dealings were with them; let us remember what is recorded concerning their history; for now, as He has ever done, God will most surely act according to His word.”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/57696 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Do I strengthen my brethren and sisters?

“We should ask ourselves, “Do I strengthen my brethren and sisters? do I lend them a helping hand when they are tried and afflicted and weak? When they are falling, do I seek to strengthen their hands in God?” Again, in the Epistle to the Thessalonians we read, “Edify one another even as also ye do.” Do we build up one another, and seek to encourage and lead on one another in the knowledge of Christ? How is it with us regarding these points? Is it true of us that we are not merely plants and trees, but fruit-bearing trees in the Lord’s Garden? Oh! beloved in Christ, is our life and walk day by day a sweet perfume to Christ? Just let us ask ourselves, and deal honestly with our souls this evening; and before we go away let us ask ourselves, as before God, the question, Is my life and my deportment a sweet savour unto Christ? Do I refresh the heart of my blessed Lord? Thus it might be,-—thus it ought to be, beloved in Christ.” http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/249720 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Do I by my life and deportment and words minister the Spirit to others?

“Do I by my life and deportment and words minister the Spirit to others? How often has it been thus; or has it been so at all? And if in some degree, is it so habitually? What the Lord Jesus Christ looks for is this, That since He has graciously been pleased to give unto us the Holy Ghost, it should be true of us individually, “that out of us flow rivers of living water.” And I would say, that, if we more expected it, we should have more; and if our life and walk and deportment were more as it becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus, we should, by the grace of the Spirit, refresh others, and out of us would verily flow “rivers of living water”; as was the case in the days of the apostles.” http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/252157 via the Logos Bible Android app.

The Same Yesterday, Today, And Forever

“I delight to speak about Him, because our holy faith is a reality. The God of the Bible is the same in the second part of the nineteenth century as He was at the beginning. There is no difference between the Living God four thousand years ago and now; no difference between what the blessed Jesus was when on earth and now. Only let us seek to acquaint ourselves with Him; only believe what the Scriptures say about Him; only in child-like simplicity come to the word and believe it, and lay hold on it. Oh how blessed—how blessed! Oh that some of my dear fellow-sinners might be attracted to Jesus this evening!”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/121328 via the Logos Bible Android app.

leaning upon the Beloved

“Are we leaning upon the Beloved? Just answer the question before God, What is your habit of soul? Trusting in yourself, your intellect, your physical strength, your money, your experience in business, your skilfulness in your profession, or even the experience you have had in the divine life, your knowledge of the Word of God,—do you trust in any of these things? If so, allow me affectionately to tell you, that you are not “leaning upon the Beloved.” And this will prove your weakness, and will make you feel that you are in a wrong state, and not doing as you should do.” http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/261038 via the Logos Bible Android app.

If we cry mightily to God

“Oh! if we cry mightily to God, and expect great things from Him, what may not be accomplished through us?”

http://ref.ly/o/jehvahmagnfd/92897 via the Logos Bible Android app.