The Daily Work of Prayer

Do you see prayer as a vital part of the work you do on a daily basis? If not, I’d really love to encourage you to change the way you view prayer – and work – based on the example of George Müller.

A Life That Points to God

George Müller of Bristol is one of my favorite biographies of all time, and I’d highly recommend you read this account of his life. He was born in 1805 and died in 1898, and over the course of his life, he pastored one church for 66 years, traveled to 42 countries, and read the Bible over 200 times.

Yet Muller is most well-known specifically for his care for orphans. Amidst the Industrial Revolution, England (where Muller pastored) was experiencing a massive orphan crisis with thousands upon thousands of children on the streets, destitute and abandoned, most of whom were homeless and driven into forced labor in prison-like conditions.

Over the course of six decades, Muller built five large orphan houses and provided care for over 10,000 orphans. And this care for orphans didn’t stop with him. His work inspired others in such a way that by the end of Muller’s life, tens of thousands more orphans were being cared for across England.

Praying for the Impossible

But what may be most remarkable about Muller’s care for orphans is his approach to prayer. Muller made a decision early on in this ministry to never share information about the financial needs of the orphanages. Instead, he and the ministry staff would simply devote themselves to prayer, and they would trust God to provide everything the orphans needed.

And that’s exactly what God did. Muller’s biography contains countless stories of workers praying for needs to be met and God answering just in time. Picture the children sitting down to eat with no milk for the staff to serve them.

They prayed, and moments later, a milk truck broke down outside the orphanage. The driver came into the orphanage and asked, “Can you all use this milk before it spoils?” They gladly accepted the milk, the orphans were fed, and the faith of all was strengthened.

God Is Faithful Still

That leads to one of my favorite quotes in the entire biography, specifically when Muller describes why he started these orphanages. Pay attention closely to what he wrote:

“Now, if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained, without asking any individual, the means for establishing and carrying on an Orphan-House: there would be something which, with the Lord’s blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God besides being a testimony to the consciences of the unconverted, of the reality of the things of God.

This, then, was the primary reason, for establishing the Orphan-House. . . The first and primary object of the work was, (and still is) that God might be magnified by the fact, that the orphans under my care are provided, with all they need, only by prayer and faith, without any one being asked by me or my fellow-laborers, whereby it may be seen, that God is FAITHFUL STILL, and HEARS PRAYER STILL.”

Did you catch that? Muller said that the primary reason he started this ministry to orphans was not to care for orphans! Now obviously Muller cared for orphans, but his primary aim was to establish a ministry that would show the church—and a watching world—that God is faithful to hear and answer prayer.

Prayer Is the Work

None of the above means that it is wrong to make particular needs known to others (instead of only praying). Scripture doesn’t necessitate that we avoid such work (or similar work) to achieve desired ends. But Scripture does call us to see prayer as work.

And our Heavenly Father does call us to set up our lives, families, and any other work we do in such a way that it is clear that we are completely dependent on him (and prayer to him) for anything good we might desire. And when we devote ourselves to prayer in our lives, families, and any other work we do, we can be confident that “God is faithful still,” and he will hear and answer our prayers.