Pray with faith

    

 "The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16b

     George Mueller was an awesome man of God. Born in Germany in 1805, God called him to help the poor children of Bristol, England. He started out as a pastor of a small congregation where he received no salary, just the voluntary gifts of his constituents to supply his needs. After a few years God lead him to establish a home for orphans. He firmly believed that he would never ask anyone to help supply the needs for the home. He took his requests directly to God and God always met those needs through those that God chose to send funds or food to support the orphanage which began with one house and grew to one hundred and seventeen more over the years. He believed that “God’s faithfulness to him would encourage other believers to develop faith like his own—the faith without which it is impossible to please God…the faith that moves mountains of obstacles out of our path; the faith that takes hold of God’s strength and is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” (Autobiography of George Mueller, pp 5-9)

   In 1877 Mr. Muller was traveling in the U.S. and Canada and had booked passage on a ship to take him to Quebec. It was a trip of several days and at some point in the voyage they were unable to proceed because of heavy fog. It was a cool August day and the ship had not moved for 24 hours. He knew that if they didn’t get going soon, he would not make his engagement on time. He approached the bridge to speak to the captain. When he entered the bridge he addressed the captain. “Captain, I have come to tell you that you must be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon.” The captain replied that that would be impossible. Mr. Mueller then said, “I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years; let us go down to the chart room and pray.” The captain thought he had lost his mind. “Do you know how thick the fog is?” he responded. No George replied, “My eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.”

   George simply knelt down and prayed for God to lift the fog. Before the captain could open his mouth Mr. Mueller told him not to even attempt to pray because he obviously did not believe that God would answer. And since George did believe there was no need for him to pray. The captain’s eyes widened, then Mr. Mueller said, “I have known the Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Captain get up and open the door and you will find the fog gone.” The captain arose and opened the door to see that nothing remained of the fog. Captain Dutton told and retold that story to anyone who would listen for many years to come. (Prayers That Changed History by Tricia Goyer, pp 151-152.)

   What about you and I? Do we have the faith to go to our Lord first for every need or request for another? How about trying it today. What are your needs or the needs of your immediate family? Take them to the Lord today.

Pray for:

1.The needs of your immediate family and friends. Especially those who need to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

2. The faith to bring all your needs and wants to Jesus first. To trust Him to provide for you, and give you guidance, and not to trust your own knowledge or intellect.

3. God to give you the desire to be used by Him to pray for the needs of those in physical, financial, or emotional crisis.

4. God to guide your every decision, not just the big ones and to trust Him with all you wishes and dreams.

5. God will do a work that will last in your life and the life of His church, both your local church and the church universal.