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Soul Nourishment FirstA Booklet by George Mller

It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost, for morethan fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and

primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I mightglorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might benourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefitbelievers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself asit becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not beingnourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in aright spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitualthing, to give myself to prayer, after having dressed myself in the morning. Now, I saw that the

most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God, and tomeditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved,instructed; and that thus, by means of the Word of God, while meditating on it, my heart mightbe brought into experiential communion with the Lord.

I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in themorning. The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lords blessing upon hisprecious Word, was, to begin to meditate on the Word of God, searching as it were into everyverse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word, not for thesake of preaching on what I had meditated upon, but for the sake of obtaining food for my ownsoul.

The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soulhas been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that,though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almostimmediately more or less into prayer. When thus I have been for a while making confession or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go to the next words or verse, turning all,as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it, but still continuallykeeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is,that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercessionmingled with my meditation, and then my inner man almost invariably is even sensiblynourished and strengthened, and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a

peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me thatwhich, either very soon after or at a later time, I have found to become food for other believers,though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word that I gave myself to meditation,but for the profit of my own inner man.

The difference, then, between my former practice and my present one is this: formerly,when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfastin prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer, except whenI felt my soul to be more than usually barren, in which case I read the Word of God for food, or for refreshment, or for a revival and renewal of my inner man, before I gave myself to prayer.

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But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even anhour, on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort,encouragement, humbling of soul, etc., and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then beganreally to pray. I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart, first being nourished by thetruth, being brought into experiential fellowship with God, I then speak to my Father and to myFriend, (vile though I am, and unworthy of it), about the things that He has brought before me inHis precious Word.

It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this point. In no book did I ever readabout it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private intercourse with abrother stirred me up to this matter. And yet, now, since God has taught me this point, it is asplain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is, toobtain food for his inner man. As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of timeexcept we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should bewith the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow.

Now, what is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God; and hereagain, not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, justas water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it toour hearts. When we pray, we speak to God. Now, prayer, in order to be continued for anylength of time in any other than a formal manner, requires, generally speaking, a measure of strength or godly desire, and the season, therefore, when this exercise of the soul can be mosteffectually performed is after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the Word of God, where we find our Father speaking to us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to instruct us, tohumble us, to reprove us. We may therefore profitably meditate, with Gods blessing, though weare ever so weak spiritually; nay, the weaker we are, the more we need meditation for thestrengthening of our inner man.

Thus there is far less to be feared from wandering of mind than if we give ourselves toprayer without having had time previously for meditation. I dwell so particularly on this pointbecause of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived fromit myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow believers to ponder thismatter. By the blessing of God, I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have hadfrom God to pass in peace through deeper trials, in various ways, than I had ever had before;and after having now above fourteen years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God,commend it.

In addition to this I generally read, after family prayer, larger portions of the Word of God,

when I still pursue my practice of reading regularly onward in the Holy Scriptures, sometimes inthe New Testament, and sometimes in the Old, and for more than twenty-six years I haveproved the blessedness of it. I take, also, either then or at other parts of the day, time moreespecially for prayer. How different, when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in themorning, from what it is when without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and thetemptations of the day come upon one.

(Excerpt from George Muellers writings available on the web. Also cited in Spiritual Disciplinesfor the Christian Life by Donald Whitney.)

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Lisa Hughes

T h e D i s c i p l i n e o f P r a y e r

Wind up thy heart towards heaven in the beginning of the day, and it will go the better all the day after. He that loseth his heart in the morning in the world, will hardly find itagain all the day. O! Christians, let God have your morning meditations. (ThomasWatson)

The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day. (Henry Ward Beecher)

If I have had any success in life, I attribute it to the habit of giving the first two hours of each day to Bible study and prayer. (Lord Earl Cairns, Lord Chancellor of England)

Make it the first daily business to understand some part of [the Bible] clearly, and thenthe rest of the day to obey it. (John Ruskin, to the students at Oxford University)

I ought to pray before seeing anyone. Often when I sleep long, or meet with othersearly, it is eleven or twelve oclock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretchedsystem. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place.(Robert Murray McCheyne)

The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees.He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuitsthan seeking God will make poor headway. (E. M. Bounds)

If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he will be in the last placethe remainder of the day. (E. M. Bounds)

Prayer is the most tangible expression of trust in God. (Jerry Bridges, Trusting God )

His delays are not denials, but are meant to test our faith. (H. A. Ironside)

The reason why so many prayers suffer shipwreck is because they split against therock of unbelief. Praying without faith is shooting without bullets. When faith takesprayer in hand, then we draw near to God. (Thomas Watson, The Godly Mans Picture )

No regenerate child of God should ever doubt that when he prays to God out of realneed his prayer will be answered. He who doubts this does Him the greatest dishonor,for by not believing that He will give what we really need we in fact appear to regardHim as less sympathetic and less faithful than an ordinary earthily father or even anordinary earthly friend. Therefore unbelief in relation to the answering of prayer is notonly a weakness, but a serious sin and utter folly. (Geldenhuys, Luke Commentary ,325)

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S c r i p t u r e V e r s e s f o r P r a y e r

Rom. 15:5-65 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the

same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus;6 that with one accord you may withone voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In everything I showed youthat by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Eph. 1:15-2315 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you,and your love for all the saints,16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mentionof you in my prayers;17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may giveto you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.18 I pray that the eyesof your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling,what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,19 and what is the surpassinggreatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from thedead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,21 far above all rule andauthority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, butalso in the one to come.22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Himas head over all things to the church,23 which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all inall.

Eph. 3:14-2114 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,15 from whom every family in heavenand on earth derives its name,16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of Hisglory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;17 so that Christmay dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height anddepth,19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filledup to all the fulness of God.20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,according to the power that works within us,21 to Him be the glory in the church and in

Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph. 6:19-2019 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth,to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,20 for which I am an ambassador inchains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

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Phil. 1:9-119 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and alldiscernment,10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincereand blameless until the day of Christ;11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness

which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Col. 1:9-129 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you andto ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom andunderstanding,10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in allrespects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;11strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of allsteadfastness and patience; joyously12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us toshare in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Col. 2:2-32 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to allthe wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledgeof Gods mystery, that is, Christ Himself,3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdomand knowledge.

Col. 4:3-4

3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word,so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;4 inorder that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

Col. 4:1212 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you hisgreetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect andfully assured in all the will of God.

1 Thess. 1:2-52 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;3constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope inour Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father,4 knowing, brethren beloved byGod, His choice of you;5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also inpower and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of menwe proved to be among you for your sake.

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1 Thess. 3:11-1311 Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you;12 andmay the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men,

just as we also do for you;13 so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holinessbefore our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

2 Thess. 1:11-1211 To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of yourcalling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power;12 in orderthat the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to thegrace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thess. 2:16-1716 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and givenus eternal comfort and good hope by grace,17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in everygood work and word.

2 Thess. 3:1-31 Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and beglorified, just as it did also with you;2 and that we may be delivered from perverse and evilmen; for not all have faith.3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you

from the evil one.

Heb. 13:1818 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselveshonorably in all things.

Heb. 13:20-2120 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheepthrough the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,21 equip you in every goodthing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, towhom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.