George Muller (1805-1898) of Bristol, England was an amazing man of prayer. In fact, he kept a detailed journal and recorded over 30,000 instances of specific answers to prayer. Muller was well-known for his ministry to thousands of orphans (over 120,000), which were supplied by the power of prayer. Starting without a penny and refusing to ask for money, Muller prayed in a whopping 129 million British pounds over his lifetime to support his orphanages!
Another interesting aspect of his prayer life was his burden for the lost. Muller told of encountering a missionary who was concerned for the salvation of each of his six sons. The man had prayed for many years without seeing a change and asked Muller for advice. He responded, “Continue to pray for your sons without ceasing, and expect an answer to your prayer, and you will have to praise God. I will join you in praying them to Jesus.” Six years later Muller encountered the man again, who told him that five of the six came to the Lord within an eight-day period, just two months after they had first met and covenanted to pray. The man was now praying confidently for his sixth son. Soon after their second meeting, Muller learned of the last son’s conversion.[1]
Muller also interceded for the souls of his lost friends. He wrote, “In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remained unconverted.”
Thirty-six years later he wrote that the other two, were still not converted. He wrote, “But I hope in God, I pray on, and look for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be.” In 1897, fifty-two years after he began to pray daily, without interruption, for these two men, the fourth was converted. Finally, the last man became a Christian a few years after Muller’s death.[2]
Persevering in prayer isn’t easy, but Scripture and history are full of examples that show how much it matters. Jesus encouraged His disciples to “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). Paul, Silas, and Timothy told the Christians in Thessalonica that they prayed “night and day” for them (1 Thess. 3:10). Epaphras was not a superstar preacher or missionary, but he was committed to “always wrestling in prayer” for church in Colossae (Col. 4:12).
I have seen the power of prayer in my own life. Three years ago, I started praying for the salvation of my neighbor. At the time, this man was a skeptic. He said he believed in a God, but that the Bible was probably myths. This fella was hard-hearted to say the least. He ended up moving away and I lost contact with him. But, this spring he sent me an email out of the blue. He said he wanted to talk. When we met, I was amazed to hear how he now believed in God because he had witnessed tangible evidence of God working in his life. I explained the Gospel to him and urged him to repent of his sins and trust in Christ as Savior. The next morning, I woke up and I had received a text message on my phone from him in the middle of night. Early that morning, this man that I thought was hopeless went out in the woods, got down on his knees and begged Jesus to save him!
You may not be able to travel the world, sing a song or preach powerfully, but you can be a prayer partner. I wonder who was praying for you leading up to your life-changing conversion? Now that you know the grace and mercy of Christ, it’s your turn to be somebody else’s intercessor. The church needs men and women of prayer who will continually lift up the lost. Why? Because the business of soul winning is a battle of spiritual warfare. Call their name out to the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring conviction. Pray that God would send a faithful witness into their lives who will share the Gospel (and be prepared to be the answer to that prayer too!). In this invisible war, prayer is our greatest weapon. Don’t stop praying, because you never know when the next one will be the one that leads to spiritual break though. -DM
[1] “Going
the Distance,” Our Daily Bread, <https://ourdailybread.org/resources/going-the-distance/>
[2]
Roger Steer, George Muller: Delighted in God! (Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw
Publishers, 1981), 246-247.
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