George Mueller

Rating:
Summary: Reminds us of what we already know
Review: As a Christan, I certainly know and have seen the power of prayer in my life and in the lives of people around me. Sometimes, though, I fall into a rut, start doubting, etc. Well, this book did a great job of reminding me how real and tangible God is and how much He wants the best for us all. We need only to ask. A truly refreshing book. I suggest it to Christians and also people who doubt the existance of God and His reality in today's modern world.

Rating:
Summary: Reminds us of what we already know
Review: As a Christan, I certainly know and have seen the power of prayer in my life and in the lives of people around me. Sometimes, though, I fall into a rut, start doubting, etc. Well, this book did a great job of reminding me how real and tangible God is and how much He wants the best for us all. We need only to ask. A truly refreshing book. I suggest it to Christians and also people who doubt the existance of God and His reality in today's modern world.

Rating:
Summary: This book stirs up faith
Review: George Mueller

By Faith Coxe Bailey Reviewed by Lindsay Woods

This is a really cool book. I read it all in two sittings, which is not a regular occurrence for me. It's about a young man living in Germany, who struggles with authority and feels that everyone wants to dominate him - his father, the police, even a publican who had him arrested. On leaving School he attends the University of Halle, where he is a divinity student - (his fathers wish), he has no great interest in God. A chance reunion with an old acquaintance eventually leads to his acceptance of Jesus at a prayer meeting.

From here he has notions of mission work, meets with a missionary to the Jews, decides thats what he should be doing, learns Hebrew, prays very fervently, tells his dad, dad says it's dumb and cuts his finance, George says "go ahead and cut it, I'm not taking any money from you again". From here the story develops of George's total dependence on God and no one else. He needs money to get through his studies, and when he prays God miraculously provides for him.

He travels to London where he is starts a probationary period with a society that reaches Jews for Jesus. However George is frustrated by the emphasis on study, when people could be getting saved, so he leaves. From there he takes up a position as minister in a small church in Teignmouth, gets married to Mary, and the idea of financial reliance on God develops. The church paid George's salary by renting the best seats in the church to those with cash. George wanted God to finance him, and his conviction was that he would ask no-one else but God for money, the point being to prove that God answers prayer. God did support him, as he prayed.

He moves on to Bristol where he starts a chapel with good friend Henry Craik, and they minister to the slums, and endure disease outbreak, which actually takes George's son. On seeing a child caged into a children's home, he decides to start a school for the poor children. Lack of money is always the perceived issue by George's associates, but George proves that by praying and being patient God brings the money. He opens his school. But many students were so poor, they were shipped off to the home, where there are unable to leave to goto school. George believed God wanted him to start an orphanage for these children. He prayed very specifically, with an exact sum of money in mind, and for people to help with the work, and for clothes for the children, and so on. Then he read in the bible in the book of Psalms, and a verse struck him, that confirmed what he was doing was right. It was God's promise to him, and he remembered it when he prayed. God provided people to do the job, and brought finance from nowhere to his doorstep. He opened the orphanage, packed it out, prayed for more, and opened another 3 orphanages over a period of time. There was never an abundance of cash, but day by day, God provided, as George prayed. Eventually, George bought land, and built a huge orphanage out of town, then four more over the years until he provided for over two thousand orphans. As he asked God for more, God gave more, donations went from shillings to pounds, to hundreds of pounds to thousands of pounds at a time - and George only asked God for it.

This is a great book about the reality of God and his ability to work, and do more and more than we can imagine