Faith For The Moment

Faith for the Moment

Everyone who asks, receives. Matthew 7:8

GEORGE MÜLLER WAS TRAVELING across the Atlantic from England when his ship was slowed by dense fog. Müller was due for a ministry engagement in Quebec, and he did not believe this fog was God’s means of preventing him from being there. After all, he believed God had called him to go. So when the captain told him they would not arrive at their port in time—the fog was just too dense—Müller informed him that God would find some other way. “My eye is not on the density of the fog but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.”^a

Müller prayed a very simple prayer and told the captain not to add anything to it because, as he explained, the captain didn’t believe God would answer, and Müller believed he already had. The fog lifted almost immediately, and the ship arrived on time. Müller was able to keep his commitment. Why? Because faith overcomes fog—and anything else that would hinder it.

Müller was known for such prayers of immediacy. As the founder and leader of several orphanages and schools in England, he often had need of God’s unusual provision. He had made a commitment early on to live by faith, dedicating all his resources to God and trusting him for the rest. So when lunch was needed for dozens of orphans but there was no food in the kitchen, he would pray, and a donation of food—or sometimes money to buy food—would arrive right on time, to the marvel of his peers. When he had to purchase land or buildings to expand his ministry and had no money in the bank, he got on his knees and asked God for provision, which almost invariably came by remarkable means. He understood what it meant to trust God for urgent situations and expect him to answer.

Sometimes our seeds of faith cannot wait for long-term fruit. We need God’s timely provision, and we have to trust that he knows what time it is. He may reorient our definition of needs, but he always provides. He honors the prayers of those who believe he answers them plainly.

The reason why we obtain no more in prayer is because we expect no more.