| Principles Of Giving continued...
On Proportionate Giving
One man sent Mr. Muller a Paisley shawl,
worth about $25, and with the gift enclosed a note, saying,
"It is now about ten years since I first adopted the principle
of proportionate giving....Prior to that I used to wonder,
with every sovereign I gave, whether I was not doing more
than was prudent, and the result was I had little pleasure
in giving. Now, however, having been greatly prospered in
business, I find myself able to give fourfold what I did,
and can understand better what is meant by the blessedness
of giving.
....The adoption of the principle of proportionate giving
has enabled me on the one hand to guide my affairs with discretion,
and on the other to refrain from 'robbing God.'"
Obtaining Gifts God's Way
Mr. Muller was a stickler for obtaining gifts
in God's way. "It is not enough," he says, "to obtain means
for the work of God, but that these means should be obtained
God's way. To ask unbelievers for means is not God's way;
to press even believers to give is not God's way; but the
duty and privilege of being allowed to contribute to the work
of God should be pointed out, and this should be followed
up with earnest prayer, believing prayer, and will result
in the desired end."
This is a plan which he practiced throughout his life. Not
once, even when asked to do so, did he ever tell anyone how
pressing or how great were the needs. He always told this
to the Lord, and expected God to move upon someone to supply
those needs.
He often thought that giving in adversity would prove a greater
blessing than giving in prosperity. Giving in adversity, when
needs were pressing, shows that one truly trusts in God for
supplying his daily needs, while giving in prosperity places
upon the giver no particular hardship.
He never hoarded, for when one hoards, he affirms, God would
send him to his laid-up treasures rather than to his knees
in the time of need. "I have every reason to believe," he
testifies, "that, had I begun to lay up, the Lord would have
stopped the supplies....Let no one profess to trust in God,
and yet lay up for the future wants, otherwise the Lord will
first send him to the hoard he has amassed, before he can
answer the prayer for more." [This is not condemning normal
budgeting for weekly, monthly and quarterly expenses, and
even the yearly car insurance bills we all face.]
Even to the smallest items, Mr. Muller believed that he was
God's steward. He did not think that he owned, or possessed
anything only as they came as gifts from the Lord to be used
for God's service.
"It is the Lord's order," he observes, "that, in whatever
way He is pleased to make us His stewards, whether as to temporal
or spiritual things, if we are indeed acting as stewards and
not as owners, he will make us stewards over more....
"Even in this life, as to temporal things, the Lord is pleased
to repay those who act for Him as stewards...
Your Church Got Needs? Try this: "When needs were pressing,
Mr. Muller would call the staff together for prayer, and often
on getting off their knees, dray wagons would be seen backing
up to the kitchen door, loaded with buns, bread, apples, cakes,
potatoes, boxes of soap, sacks of peas, haunches of venison,
rabbits and pheasants, and every other conceivable edible
article."...
"Thus from year to year did God supply the needs out of thousands
of bountiful storehouses which were consecrated to his work.
When a need existed Mr. Muller would pray diligently for it,
and shortly near by or thousands of miles distant, God would
put it in the heart of some person to supply it. For more
than sixty-three years God matched every petition of Mr. Muller
with its appropriate gift."
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