Few names in Christian history stand as towering examples of faith and prayer as George Müller. His life, marked by unwavering trust in God and a profound commitment to prayer, continues to inspire believers around the world. Born in 1805 in Prussia, Müller’s journey from a life of sin to a life of service is a testament to the transformative power of the gospel.

Müller’s early years were far from exemplary. By the age of ten, he was already stealing money from his father, and his teenage years were characterized by deceit, theft, and gambling. His mother passed away when he was fourteen, and on the night of her death, Müller was out drinking and playing cards.

Despite his enrollment in the University of Halle to study divinity, his life was marked by what he described as “wicked behavior and an unrepentant spirit.”

The turning point in Müller’s life came in 1825 when he attended a prayer meeting. This meeting profoundly moved him, sparking a transformation that would define the rest of his life. Müller later reflected, “I have no doubt … that He began a work of grace in me. Even though I scarcely had any knowledge of who God truly was, that evening was the turning point in my life”. This encounter with God ignited a passion for prayer. 

Resolved to live a life wholly dependent on God’s guidance and provision, he made it a daily practice to bring his needs and those of others before the Lord. This habit would become the foundation upon which his life’s work was built.

In 1834, Müller embarked on a journey that would test his faith in ways he could never have imagined. Burdened by the plight of orphans in Bristol, England, he established an orphanage, but with a unique twist – he vowed never to ask anyone for financial support. Instead, he would rely solely on God’s provision through prayer.

From the outset, Müller’s endeavor was met with skepticism and doubt. How could a man with no financial resources or backing hope to undertake such a monumental task? Yet, Müller remained steadfast in his conviction. He believed that if God had called him to this work, then God would provide for every need. And provide He did, in ways that defied human logic.

Through the years, Müller witnessed countless miracles as God faithfully supplied the resources needed to care for the orphans. From food and clothing to shelter and education, every need was met through prayer and the generosity of God’s people. Müller’s unwavering trust in the Lord’s provision became a living testimony to the world, inspiring countless individuals to deepen their own prayer lives and trust in God.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Müller’s prayer life was his commitment to recording every answered prayer. Over the course of his life, he documented more than 50,000 specific answers to prayer, a staggering number that serves as a powerful reminder of God’s attentiveness to the cries of His children. Müller’s life was a living example of the truth found in Philippians 4:19: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

One notable instance of God’s provision occurred when the orphanage had no food. As they gathered for their morning meal, the cupboards were bare, and there was no apparent means of obtaining provisions. Undeterred, Müller led the children in prayer, trusting that God would provide. Remarkably, as they were praying, a knock came at the door. A baker stood there, explaining that he had been unable to sleep the previous night and felt compelled to bake bread for the orphanage. Shortly after, a second knock revealed a farmer arrived with a cart full of milk, having felt an inexplicable urge to share his surplus with the orphanage.

In another instance, Müller found himself in need of a substantial sum of money to cover the orphanage’s expenses. With unwavering faith, he prayed, and within a few days, an anonymous donor sent a letter containing the exact amount needed, down to the last penny.

Another remarkable story from his travels involves a journey to Quebec. Müller’s ship encountered thick fog, and the captain informed him that they would not be able to reach their destination on time. Müller requested to pray in the chart room, and after a simple prayer, he assured the captain that the fog would lift. When they returned to the deck, the fog had indeed cleared, allowing Müller to keep his appointment. The captain, deeply moved by this experience, became a Christian shortly afterward.

Over the course of his life, he received and disbursed over $7 million (equivalent to billions in today’s currency) for the care of orphans and the spread of the gospel, all without ever asking for donations or going into debt.

In a world that often values self-reliance and human effort, George Müller’s life is a powerful reminder of what God can accomplish through a person wholly devoted to Him. He believed that prayer was not a last resort but the first and most powerful resource available to believers. Through his unwavering trust and reliance on God, he not only cared for thousands of orphaned children but also inspired generations of believers to cultivate a deeper relationship with God through prayer.

His story encourages us to trust in God’s provision, commit ourselves to prayer, and live lives of service and compassion. As we reflect on Müller’s legacy, may we be inspired to deepen our own faith and seek God’s guidance in every aspect of our lives. Let us remember that, like Müller, we serve a God who hears and answers prayers and who can use our lives to bring about His purposes in the world.

Müller’s life was a living illustration of the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” His story reminds us that when we surrender our lives to the Lord and seek His will through prayer, we can trust Him to provide.

The post Changing Lives Through Prayer: The Inspiring Story of George Müller first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

Since last month, Leon (local partner) and I have trained more than 150 pastors across the island on evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and leadership development. We pray God leads us to the few people who want to work together to see their region reached with the good news. Many movements across the globe begin as local believers, burdened for the lost in their area, are further equipped to share The Good News and teach others to do the same.

Below are a handful of ways we are seeing God at work:

Eddy

In one of our trainings, we looked at Ephesians 4:11-12. “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” God used this passage to teach Eddy that he should equip his church for the work of ministry. Since then, he’s been training his church to share The Good News. 

Tiko

Tiko tried using our simple discipleship tools with his church’s youth, and they enjoyed how simple and interactive they were. 

Dewi

Dewi understood that each new believer becomes a royal priest of God (1 Peter 2:9), and now she teaches new believers to baptize other new believers. One of the new believers Dewi recently baptized has already baptized a new believer who, in turn, baptized another new believer!

Yusef

When we showed Yusef the Biblical model of multiplication from the early church, he said, “If we go back to the way the early church functioned, the entirety of Indonesia could be reached.” 

May it be so.

The post Stories From The Field first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

In the West, Christians often take for granted the availability of the Gospel and Biblical resources. Churches are readily visible, Bibles are readily available, and religious freedom, though changing, is still a basic right. Secret gatherings aren’t necessary and believers can sing boldly and loudly without fear of consequences. 

When I moved to Indonesia, I realized how much I really had taken for granted. I can’t remember a time when I hadn’t heard of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me. And I definitely can’t remember a time where I wasn’t able to find at least one follower of Jesus in any city. And yet, in the fourth most populated country in the world where about 90% of the population identifies as Muslim, I feel the burden for the lost more than ever before.

I specifically remember feeling impacted by our first train ride through our island. The train passed through countless villages and towns that have likely never had someone tell them about Jesus. Would someone ever make it to these towns? Who will go? These towns are hours away from my town by train, longer by car. And months later, this feeling has been reinforced by travel to other islands. From a plane or boat you can see many smaller islands, far from the mainland, with clusters of houses on them. Has the name of Jesus ever made it to these islands? Who will brave the long journey to get there and tell them their sins have been forgiven through Christ?

Why We Stay

So this is why we stay. Even when days are hard and culture kicks our rear ends. Even through endless battles of mold and rats and insects. Even when it feels like the harvest is not plentiful. We stay in a country where hundreds of people groups are still unreached and many of those don’t even have the Bible in their own language. We remember Paul’s reminder in Romans 10 that someone must tell of Jesus so that people can hear and believe. We cling to the promise of Isaiah 55:11 that His Word does not return empty when it goes out. We remember stories where groups came to faith years after someone initially told them about the gift of salvation. And we hope. We hope in the promise of Revelation 7:9-10 and trust God that EVERY tribe, tongue, and nation will be represented before the throne of the Almighty and praise God that we get to play a small part of that promise. 

Final thought: If you think God may be calling you overseas, please do not hesitate to follow His call! The harvest truly is plentiful and the workers really are few. No matter where He leads, He is faithful to equip and provide.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” Romans 10:14-15

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that Indonesian Christians would reach out to the unreached
• Pray that every people group would hear the name of Jesus in this lifetime
• Pray that that the Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of those who have heard and will hear the Gospel
• Pray that God’s word will not return void
• Pray for a movement in Indonesia with millions of people believing in the name of Jesus

The post Letters From Laborers – Why We Stay first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

While visiting him, they played an audio version of Genesis 1 for Arif. As he listened to the creation story, he became emotional, grabbing his prayer beads and repeating some of the words he heard in the story. Clearly, the Holy Spirit was moving in Arif’s heart. Ed and Sandy hope to return soon to give Arif a little speaker with more Bible stories and one day study the scriptures with him.

Please pray for: 

• Arif’s sight to be miraculously restored – doctors have done all they can to help
• An opportunity to study the scriptures with Arif and those around him
• That Arif would put his faith in Jesus
• Progress among this unreached people group

The post Blind Man Hears Creation Story first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

Recently, they taught at a small village church, where they met a lady named Diah. She was already actively sharing the Good News with her community, but wasn’t sure what to do after sharing. Through the training, she learned the Biblical pattern for planting churches and discipleship, and felt a renewed excitement for the Great Commission. Since that training, she has shared with many people, baptized 20 people, and started three groups that will hopefully become house churches. 

The goal for church planting movements is to see many generations of believers and house churches spread. As someone disciples new believers, they encourage those believers to share and start their own group. Then the new groups can also grow and lead to other groups. Paul and Rachel hope to meet many more people like Diah with a passion for sharing the Good News and multiplying house churches.

Ways to Pray

• Pray that God would lead Paul and Rachel to many more people like Diah who are passionate about multiplication
• That Diah would continue to disciple the new believers and her groups, and that these groups would continue to grow and multiply
• Pray for more church planting movements to take place all over Indonesia

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15

The post Indonesian Christian Becomes a Disciple Maker first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

“Ida Sanghyang Yesus”

Noman responded to a Facebook advertisement that our media ministry team launched. The question was “Do you know whether your good deeds are enough to erase your sins?” Noman clicked the “send a message” button and answered “No.”

We started chatting and Noman shared about his financial struggles. He had a large amount of debt to pay and it was due the next day. He had no money left and had used his relative’s assets as collateral and he was afraid of leaving his r­­elatives with more debt. As a result, Noman had suicidal thoughts because he was so desperate.

After he shared about his struggles, I encouraged him to pray and ask God for His help. Noman said that he prayed every single day according to his belief, which was the Hindu religion. I then asked him whether he wanted to know how he can clean his heart from sin and draw closer to God. Noman said yes! This led me to share in detail the Gospel, from the story of Adam and Eve, Jesus’ birth, His life on earth, Jesus becoming the sacrifice for the sins of humanity, and His resurrection. Noman, after hearing the whole gospel, decided he wanted to believe in “Ida Sangyang Yesus,” which is how Hindus refer to The Lord Jesus.

Later, towards the end of our conversation, I led Noman through the salvation prayer and asked him how he felt after praying. Noman said that he felt relieved and that he chooses to surrender his life to Christ. I connected Noman to my friend, Neil, who lives near Noman. They met up one day and Neil shared the Gospel once more. Praise God Noman decided to give his life to Jesus and was baptized by Neil a few weeks later! Praise God!

Social media has so much evil in it these days. What the enemy intended for evil, God uses for His glory. Our media ministry team is working to saturate social media with the Gospel.

Here’s how you can pray:

• Pray that more unreached peoples hear the Gospel.
• That we as a team are reminded to surrender our best ideas to the Lord, and that we follow His plans.
• Pray that we can grow our media ministry team because of the high demand of spiritual conversations online!
• That every word we share on social media leads others closer to Him.

The post From Suicidal To Surrendered to Jesus first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

I have been in and or communicating with Indonesia for over 4 years. I knew when I moved there after COVID that I wanted to live with an Indonesian family or have an Indonesian roommate. God didn’t answer my prayer before I left but soon after arriving in Southeast Asia.

One day I was at the market and I met a young man that was 24 years old that spoke English fluently. The English fluency was not my goal but it was God’s gift. We met several times for a meal to get to know each other.  One time while eating, we were discussing about where I lived and I told him I was looking for an local roommate to help me learn culture and language.

As God has answered my prayers historically. He always exceeds my expectations or my wildest dreams on what I was praying about. He did it again, and my new friend moved in. My highly intelligent roommate who had humble servants heart began to humbly serve me in ways I had never experienced before.

We soon began to have spiritual conversations after he moved in. My spirit told me that he was open and seeking. He currently identifies as a Muslim. He liked the Christian faith but his stumbling block was the three gods that he thought we worshiped and that confused him.

I gave him an illustration about our own physical body to help him understand the Trinity. My head being the Godhead, and in my body being Christ and the Holy Spirit being my heart. The hands and the feet can do nothing without the head, giving the hands and feet instructions. My core being my heart is what is guided by my head (God). My prayer is that my head, my body and my core work in perfect unity. Because I am broken, this is an imperfect example and my heart is deceptive. However, the God head is perfect, Jesus (hands and feet) are perfect and the Holy Spirit is perfect. They are able to be the perfect triune God.

My roommate is still a Muslim however when I was leaving to come back to America he told me that when I shared the Gospel with him he knew that I cared about him.  That was powerful to me.  It encouraged me to always share the truth, and it is because I care and try to tell about Jesus to all I meet. My roommate is still open and is studying Hebrew and Greek so he can understand original scripture writing better. (I told you he was smart).  He also told me that if he found a flaw in the Quran that he would leave that faith.

The post God Provides a Spiritually Seeking Roommate first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

However, one day I got to hear the story of a man who was born and raised in Kazakhstan and was a Muslim background believer. One day when he was walking the streets he heard a man speaking about Jesus. He had never heard this name before and was interested in learning more about who Jesus was. As he learned more about who Jesus was he eventually became a believer. When he finished sharing his story I felt God speak to me and tell me that He is the One True God and that if I were to tell people about Him, they would believe in God and stop worshiping their false idols.

God Opened My Heart to the Nations

That was when God completely changed my life. He opened my eyes to the world, my heart to the nations, and gave me a vision of telling others about Jesus who wouldn’t have the opportunity to hear otherwise. God forever changed my heart and as I learned more, I began to explore ways to go to the unreached so that they would have an opportunity to hear about Jesus.

As I worked to finish my degree, my heart continued to grow in desire to move overseas to tell others about the One True God. I didn’t know when I would go, what that would look like, or where it would be, so after I graduated I taught 3rd grade for two years.

As much as I loved teaching, I still felt God calling me to drop everything and go to the nations, and I couldn’t ignore Him. However, this was a very difficult decision for me to make. Ultimately, what led me to leave teaching was Jesus. Jesus had a career in carpentry, but He left his career to do full time ministry when he was older. Knowing this, I thought to myself that if the example that Jesus gave was to leave His career to do ministry, I should be willing to do the same.

Being Led to Indonesia

With that, I knew that I wanted to go in a way that was worthy of the Gospel, so while I was teaching, I also was a part of a missions training program. Through this program is where I learned about Indonesia and how it’s the fourth most populous nation and the largest Muslim country. While Indonesia is a spiritually dark place, they are very spiritually open to hearing and learning more about Jesus. There are millions of people here who are hungry to hear about Jesus.

With the millions of unreached people in Indonesia, I realized that the harvest was plentiful but the workers were few. There are 275 million people here who still worship false gods and need to hear about Jesus. I knew there was a great need there and wanted Indonesians to be represented around the throne of God in heaven one day (Revelation 7:9-10). That’s why I chose to move to Indonesia and be a worker among the lost. I went because God showed me the need of these people and not because I felt a specific calling there. Ultimately, I feel called by God to live a life honoring Him and sharing about Him wherever I live and whoever I am among. In this season of life it’s been living in Indonesia.

~M.

The post Letters from Laborers: God Forever Changed My Heart first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

Guilt From Murder

When Ronnie was younger, he went to another island in Indonesia, about 3 days boat ride to the west. He wanted to find a new opportunity there. He found a job as a security guy in a palm oil tree plantation in the deep woods. Ronnie worked there for several years. The environment where he worked at was very tough. He had to face people with harsh character and also people who tried to steal the crops.

In one of his working shifts, he got into a fight with someone who tried to rob him in the woods. He killed the guy. Though he was trying to defend himself, this situation had really traumatized him and made him feel guilty. Knowing that the gang of the person he killed was looking for him, he went back to the island where he was from and hoped to be able to start a new life.

Years had gone by. While he was able to find another new job and get married, he was still haunted by the fact that he had killed someone. He lived with his trauma and guilt and tried do good and practice religious rituals but he never felt peace.

A Christian Shares about Hope

In late 2019, while Ronnie was resting on the side of the road, he was visited by a Christian. This Christian person was a local taxi driver who was also a ministry worker doing outreach. The two later introduced themselves. This started a new friendship for Ronnie and this Christian. Few follow up meetings later, Ronnie shared the spiritual burden and the guilt that had been bothering him for years.

This new Christian friend then shared the truth about redemption in Christ. He told Ronnie that because of sin we will never be able to “made right” again before God unless we accept Christ and believe in Him as our God and Savior. Through His sacrifice on the cross, He has made us clean. The truth that Ronnie had just heard gave him a new hope. On that same day he gave his life to Jesus. He was forgiven of all his sin and found freedom in Christ.

Since that day, Ronnie has slowly felt better and experienced peace that he had never felt before. He was baptized in the river near his house, and also shared this good news to his wife. She also became a new believer!

Becoming a Fisher of Men

Now Ronnie has just celebrated his third Christmas as a follower of Christ. He has become a fisher of men, and actively partners with a group of Christian field workers in the area to bring Gospel to the lost. The area where Ronnie lives has less than 1% Christian with a population of 2.3 million people. The majority population in this area have come from another island where it is known to be a hard people group to reach and the mission has been engaged for almost 180 years with very minimal fruit.

Pray for Ronnie to continue to grow in his love for Jesus and be used by God to reach many Muslims in this area. Pray for the gospel to spread forth among this people of 2.3 million!

“Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” Romans 3:24-26

The post Muslim Man Burdened with Guilt Finds Freedom in Christ first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

But God had other plans and He would soon break my heart for Muslims who do not have the opportunity to hear about Jesus.

Growth in College

I became a believer when I was 15 years old. When I started college, I was intentional to find a Christian community. I got involved in Cru and grew so much in my faith during my college years. As a freshman, I started going out in between classes to share the gospel with other college students. I realized as Christians, we are called to share our faith and make disciples. I enjoyed getting to do that and give people the opportunity to hear the gospel!

After my sophomore year, I went on my first overseas trip to the Middle East to learn Arabic and share with college students in a large city there. This was my first exposure to sharing with Muslims and meeting people who had no idea who Jesus was. They didn’t even have Christian friends who could tell them the love God has for them. As I became friends with these girls, drank tea and ate with them, God broke my heart for Muslims. I wanted them to have eternal hope that I had. I felt so sad how a billion people on this planet were blinded from the truth from Islam.

Coming back from that trip, my perspective changed. I wanted to be more intentional with international students and refugees in America. I started to think “What if I move to a Muslim country after college?” It was a scary and exciting thought at the same time.

Unreached?

God continued to grow that desire to love and share Christ with Muslims. I took a class called Perspectives and first learned that there are still 3 billion people in the world who have not heard the gospel of Jesus and are considered “unreached.” I was shocked that there were still over 6,000 unreached people groups and very few missionaries among them. Most missionaries were serving in reached areas. The only way they would hear about Jesus was if someone from an outside culture went to them.

The amount of work still needed to be done to spread the glory of God to the ends of the earth was overwhelming. I asked God, “Show me what you want me to do to be apart of the Great Commission – to make disciples of all nations. I am willing, Lord!”

Leading me to Indonesia

Over the next year, He made it clear that He wanted me to go and serve in a Muslim country. So I began the process to pray about where He wanted me to go and when. I joined a missionary training program through church and spent 9 months reaching out to refugees and preparing to move overseas.  Through different connections, God led me to a team in Indonesia.

I actually knew very little about Indonesia. I had no idea it was the largest Muslim country in the world with 220 million Muslims. But I was willing and ready to be used by God to make Him known there.

The next 4 years would be the hardest and best years of my life. God moved in amazing ways and most of all worked in my heart in ways I never would have imagined. I understood that it was the greatest privilege to join in His work of sharing the gospel and discipling new sisters in Christ.

No matter where we are in the world, we get to glorify Him and bring the most amazing news of salvation to those around us. He didn’t have to use us, but He chose to use His children to spread to gospel to the nations. He is the one changing hearts, we just have to be obedient!

For His Glory,

~H.

The post Letters from Laborers: How God Broke My Heart for Muslims first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.