Spiritual Wellness

In honor of the National Day of Prayer, I’ve asked my dear friend Christa Barclay to share with us on the topic of prayer.  Christa teaches prayer classes at Gateway Church, and she has been my personal intercessor for five years!

George Mueller’s Legacy by Christa Barclay

A person’s legacy serves as a treasure map that, if followed, will lead to hidden treasures. Some use trust funds and wills to carry out their legacy, providing explicit instructions as to whom, what, how much, and when to disperse certain treasures.  Others leave a spiritual legacy. They challenge us to follow their way of life so that we too can gain spiritual treasures.  One man’s spiritual legacy has inspired me to find treasures of peace and joy in the darkest, most trying times of my faith journey.  His story gave me the courage to trust God to supply all my needs.

George Mueller was a missionary whose life is marked by his inspiring faith in a Prayer-Hearing God. He successfully founded five orphanages in the mid-1800s, yet he never held one fundraiser. In fact, he never even communicated that there was a financial need.  Instead, he depended solely upon the Lord to communicate the financial needs to others.  God was faithful.  Every child was fed, and every financial need was met.

Mueller’s faith was consistent with his mission: to show God. He often stated that, “the orphan houses exist to display that God can be trusted and to encourage believers to take Him at His word.” God’s sovereignty over all things and His intimate care for His children grounded Mueller’s faith.  In a biographical sermon on Mueller, John Piper, Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis Minnesota, illustrates further:

Mueller’s faith that his prayers for money would be answered was rooted in the sovereignty of God. When faced with a crisis in having the means to pay a bill he would say, “How the means are to come, I know not; but I know that God is almighty, that the hearts of all are in His hands, and that, if He pleaseth to influence persons, they will send help.”  That is the root of his confidence: God is almighty, the hearts of all men are in his hands, and when God chooses to influence their hearts they will give.

Mueller was a living example of Jesus’ cure for anxiety as told in Matthew 6:25-34. In His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encouraged the crowd with the following words:

“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Mt. 6:31-33)

This missionary lived year-after-year, decade-after-decade voicing requests to God and remaining silent before men.  Those who witnessed God’s consistent provision began to trust God more wholeheartedly. They saw the Heavenly Father faithfully provide for His children and the ministry. They saw the glorious result of a life devoted to seeking God’s ways first and having “all these things” (the material necessities of life) provided.

Mueller believed in a Prayer-Hearing God.  His legacy of faith is a treasure map for us to follow.  If we follow this same Prayer-Hearing God, we too can trust that God is listening to our prayers.  Like Mueller, we may not know how God will supply, but He will take care of us. Let us benefit from Mueller’s legacy that showed us God’s trustworthiness. And as an old hymn goes, let us turn our eyes to Jesus, set our gaze upon His beautiful face, make our requests known to Him, and trust Him to provide.  As we pray, peace will settle upon our soul and spirit.

What is the spiritual legacy you hope to leave behind?

legacy, money, prayer