Listening to the Giants

One of my favorite sections of the biography is when A.T. Pierson presents a list of 24 important steps, steps that he believes were essential in the spiritual formation of George Müller. Here are the final steps 19-24: 19. His surrender of all earthly possessions. Both himself and his wife literally sold all they had and gave alms, henceforth to live by the day, hoarding no money even against a time of future need, sickness, old age, or any other possible crisis of want. Again, the reader must look at Müller as a description of a godly Saint, not as a prescription of a godly Saint . In other words, don’t finish reading this blog post and then go sell all of your belongings. That response is probably not in the will of God. Yet we must re-examine our love of money or at least the security that money provides. Our lack of prayerfulness is often connected to our self-sufficient heart and our self-sufficient heart is fueled by having the monetary resources to “fill our mout...

Every Christian should sit at the feet of George Müller. His discipline and his faith are worthy of study, but most of us need to learn how Müller pleaded with God. The excerpt below gives us a snapshot into his prayer life: “This method of holy argument —ordering our cause before God, as an advocate would plead before a judge—is not only almost a lost art, but to many it actually seems almost puerile (this means infantile or childish …I didn’t know what it meant). And yet it is abundantly taught and exemplified in Scripture. Abraham in his plea for Sodom is the first great example of it. Moses excelled in this art, in many crises interceding in behalf of the people with consummate skill, marshalling arguments as a general-in-chief marshals battalions. Elijah on Carmel is a striking example of power in this special pleading. What holy zeal and jealousy for God! It is probable that if we had fuller records we should find that all pleaders with God, like Noah, Job, Samuel, David, Danie...

Throughout the next few weeks, this blog will examine certain “snapshots” of D.L. Moody, which I hope will bring a deeper appreciation for this servant and a greater love for the God whom he gave his life to. “It was foreign to the disposition of Edwin Moody (D.L. Moody’s father) to give much thought to the future, and so it is not strange that he made little or no provision for the contingency of his sudden death. When, therefore, he was stricken down without a moment’s warning at the early age of forty-one, the widow was left with practically no means of support.” It is unclear the age of Moody when his father died, but one can assume that it was heartbreaking for the family. Yet death is part of the human existence and the biography that I read (the one written by Moody’s son) focuses more on the burden carried by Moody’s mother, rather than the loss of their beloved husband and father. The question I have is this: What impact (if any) did Moody’s loss play in his personal d...