I desire that all the children of God, who may read these
details, may thereby be led to Increased and more Simple Confidence in
God for everything which they may need under any circumstances...
And that
these many answers to prayer may encourage them to pray, particularly as
regards the conversion of their friends and relatives, their own progress in
grace and knowledge, the state of the saints whom they may know personally,
the state of the Church of God at large, and the success of the preaching of
the gospel.
Especially I affectionately warn them against being led
away by the device of Satan to think that these things are peculiar to
myself and cannot be enjoyed by all the children of God...
For though every
believer is not called upon to establish Orphan Houses, Charity Schools,
etc., and trust in the Lord for means, yet all believers are called upon, in
the simple confidence of faith, to cast all their burdens upon Him, to trust
in Him for everything, and not only to make everything a subject of prayer,
but to Expect answers to their petitions that they have asked According To
His Will, and in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Think Not, dear reader, that I have the gift of faith,
that is, the gift of which we read in 1 Corinthians 12:9 and that is
mentioned along with "the gifts of healing," "the working of miracles,"
"prophecy"--and that on that account I am able to trust in the Lord.
From my
inmost soul I do ascribe it to God alone that He has enabled me to trust in
Him, and that He has not allowed my confidence in Him to fail.
But I thought
it needful to make these remarks, lest anyone should think that my depending
upon God was a special gift given to me, which other saints have no
right to look for; or lest it should be thought that this, my depending upon
Him, had only to do with the obtaining of money by prayer and faith.
By the
grace of God I desire that my faith in God should extend towards
everything: the smallest of my own temporal and spiritual concerns, and
the smallest of the temporal and spiritual concerns of my family, towards
the saints among whom I labor, the Church at large, everything that has to
do with the temporal and spiritual prosperity of my Institution.
Dear
reader, Do Not Think that I have attained in faith (and how much less in
other respects!) to that degree to which I might and ought to attain.
Lastly, let not Satan deceive you in making you think
that you could not have the same faith, but that it is only for people who
are situated as I am.
When I lose such a thing as a key, I ask the Lord
to direct me to it, and I Look For an answer to my prayer.
When a person with whom I have made an appointment does
not come at the fixed time, and I begin to be inconvenienced by it, I ask
the Lord to be pleased to hasten him to me, and I Look For an answer.
When I do not understand a passage of the Word of God, I
lift up my heart to the Lord, that He would be pleased, by His Holy Spirit,
to instruct me--and I Expect to be taught, though I do not fix the time
when, and the manner how, it should be.
When I am going to minister in the Word, I seek help from
the Lord, and while I, in the consciousness of my natural inability as well
as my utter unworthiness, begin this His service, I am not cast down, but of
good cheer, because I look for His assistance and believe that He, for His
dear Son's sake, will help me.
Oh! I beseech you, do not think me an extraordinary
believer, having privileges above other of God's dear children that they
cannot have; nor look on my way of acting as something that would not do for
other believers.
Do but stand still in the hour of
trial--and you will see the help of God, if you trust in Him.
But there is so often a forsaking the ways of the Lord in
the hour of trial, and thus the food of faith, the means whereby our faith
may be increased, is lost.
~George Mueller~
