Why God Used D. L. Moody - pt 4: Freedom from Love of Money, Passion for the Lost & Enduement with Power

The fifth reason why God used D. L. Moody so powerfully - and something that is incredibly relevant for today - is that he was free from the love of money.  Torrey writes,

Mr. Moody might have been a wealthy man, but money had no charms for him.  He loved to gather money for God's work; he refused to accumulate money for himself.  He told me during the World's Fair that if he had taken, for himself, the royalties on the hymnbooks which he had published, they would have amounted, at that time, to a million dollars.  But Mr Moody refused to touch the money...Millions of dollars passed into Mr. Moody's hands, but they passed through; they did not stick to his fingers.
       This is the point at which many an evangelist makes shipwreck, and his great work comes to an untimely end.  The love of money on the part of some evangelists has done more to discredit evangelistic work in our day, and to lay many an evangelist on the shelf, than almost any other cause.

Sixth was his Consuming passion for the salvation of the lost.  Moody was so full of passion for the lost that he "made the resolution, shortly after he himself was saved, that he would never let twenty-four hours pass over his head without speaking to at least one person about his soul."
Torrey tells the story:

Once, when walking down a certain street in Chicago, Mr. Moody stepped up to a man, a perfect stranger to him, and said: "Sir, are you a Christian?"  "You mind your own business," was the reply.  Mr. Moody replied: "This is my business."  The man said, "Well, then, you must be Moody."  Out in Chicago they used to call him in those early days "Crazy Moody," because day and night he was speaking to everybody he got a chance to speak to about being saved...

Oh, young men and women and all Christian workers, if you and I were on fire for souls like that, how long would it be before we had a revival?  Suppose that tonight the fire of God falls and fills our hearts, a burning fire that will send us out all over the country, and across the water to China, Japan, India and Africa, to tell lost souls the way of salvation!

The seventh and final reason given is that D. L. Moody was definitely endued with Power from on High.
Torrey states that Moody had "a very clear and definite baptism with the Holy Ghost...he had no doubt about it.  In his early days he was a very busy man; he had a tremendous desire to do something, but he had no real power.  He worked largely in the energy of the flesh.

But after "seeking the baptism of the Holy Ghost," Torrey states,

The power of God fell upon him as he walked up the street and he had to hurry off to the house of a friend and asked that he might have a room by himself, and in that room he stayed alone for hours; and the Holy Ghost came upon him, filling his soul with such hoy that at last he had to ask God to withhold his hand, lest he die on the spot from very joy.  He went out from that place with the power of the Holy Ghost upon him...

Moody would get discouraged when others squabbled about not needing a definite baptism of the Holy Ghost, saying:

Why don't they see that this is just the one thing that they themselves need?  They are good teachers, they are wonderful teachers...but why will they not see that the baptism with the Holy Ghost is just the one touch that they themselves need?

Oh, if we could recapture and put into practice these 7 areas, imagine how the Lord might move among us!  But this isn't easy - it requires a death to self, a putting away of distraction, a holy focus and fervor that the world will mock and oppose and attempt to quench. 
Yet may Moody's life stir us to action and zeal in these seven areas and may we would follow him as he followed Christ!



Why God Used D. L. Moody:

1. A fully surrendered man
2. A man of prayer
3. A deep and practical student of the Bible
4. A humble man
5. Freedom from the love of money
6. Passion for the lost
7. Definite enduement of power from on high.

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"Why God Used D. L. Moody" is available in these Kindle eBooks:

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Why God Used D. L. Moody, pt 3: he was a Student of the Bible and a Humble man

The third reason Torrey gives as to why God so mightily used D. L. Moody was that he was a "deep and practical student of the Bible."  Torrey writes,

Every day of his life, I have reason for believing, he arose very early in the morning to study the Word of God, way down to the close of his life.  Mr Moody used to rise about four o'clock in the morning to study the Bible.  He would say to me: 'If I am going to get in any study, I have got to get up before the other folks get up'; and he would shut himself up in a remote room in his house, alone with his God and his Bible.

Wow...four o'clock in the morning!  As I read those words I'm convicted, realizing the level of commitment Moody had compared with my own.  How much of my time is taken up by trivial matters? 
Torrey then continues,

Oh, you may talk about power; but, if you neglect the one Book that God has given you as the one instrument through which He imparts and exercises His power, you will not have it...
     Oh, men and women, if you wish to get an audience and wish to do that audience some good after you get them, study, study, STUDY the one Book, and preach, preach, PREACH the one Book, and teach, teach, TEACH the one Book, the Bible, the only Book that is God's Word, and the only Book that has power to gather and hold and bless the crowds for any great length of time.

The Fourth reason God used D. L. Moody so powerfully was his humility.  Even though he spoke to some of the largest crowds in the biggest buildings of his day and though his name was known throughout the land and overseas he remained humble before God and people.  Moody used to say,
"Faith gets the most; love works the most; but humility keeps the most"

Torrey aptly concludes,

Oh, how many a man has been full of promise and God has used him, and then the man thought that he was the whole thing and God was compelled to set him aside!
I can look back for forty years, or more, and think of many men who are now wrecks or derelicts who at one time the world though were going to be something great.  But they have disappeared entirely from the public view.  Why?  Because of overestimation of self.  Oh, the men and women who have been put aside because they began to think that they were somebody...and therefore God was compelled to set them aside.

The entire shore of the history of Christian workers is strewn with the wrecks of gallant vessels that were full of promise a few years ago, but these men became puffed up and were driven on the rocks by the wild winds of their own raging self-esteem.

This is as true today as it was 100 years ago - the unfortunate truth is that pride continues to make wreck of many a life and ministry.  Let's learn from these men of God and "humble ourselves before the Lord" (James 4:10) that He may use us for His glory!

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Kindle Availability:
"Why God Used D. L. Moody" is available in these Kindle eBooks:

• How to Pray and Why God Used D. L. Moody - just $1.00
• Included in "The Works of R. A. Torrey, Vol 1" for just $4.99 

    

Why God Used D. L. Moody, pt 2 - Surrender and Prayer

The first reason Torrey gives for D. L. Moody's power and usefulness is that he was a "fully surrendered man". Not that he was perfect, but that he had intentionally endeavoured to submit his entire life to Christ.  He tells the story:

Henry Varley, a very intimate friend of Mr. Moody in the earlier days of his work, loved to tell how he once said to him: 'It remains to be seen what God will do with a man who gives himself up wholly to Him.'  I am told that when Mr. Henry Varley said that, Mr. Moody said to himself: 'Well, I will be that man.'...
     If you and I are to be used in our sphere as D. L. Moody was used in his, we must put all that we have and all that we are in the hands of God, for Him to use as He will, to send us where He will, for God to do with us what He will, and we, on our part, to do everything God bids us do."

Torrey concludes that

"There are thousands and tens of thousands of men and women in Christian work, brilliant men and women, rarely gifted men and women, men and women who are making great sacrifices, men and women who have put all conscious sin out of their lives, yet who, nevertheless, have stopped short of absolute surrender to God, and therefore have stopped sort of fullness of power."

The second reason Torrey gives is that Moody was a man of prayer, even stating that he was "a far greater pray-er than he was a preacher."

"Time and time again he was confronted by obstacles that seemed insurmountable, but he always knew the way to surmount and to overcome all difficulties.  He knew the way to bring to pass anything that needed to be brought to pass.  he knew and believed in the deepest depths of his soul that 'nothing was too hard for the Lord' and that prayer could do anything that God could do...
     Often times Mr. Moody would write me when he was about to undertake some new work, saying: 'I am beginning work in such and such a place on such and such a day; I wish you would get the students together for a day of fasting and prayer'...
     Often we were gathered in the lecture room far into the night -- sometimes till one, two, three, four or even five o'clock in the morning, crying to God, just because Mr. Moody urged us to wait upon God until we received His blessing.  How many men and women I have known whose lives and characters have been transformed by those night of prayer and who have wrought mighty things in many lands because of those night of prayer!"

It is no wonder the Lord moved so powerfully in Moody's ministry - and it is not surprising why we often see so little fruit in ours.  Oh, that we today would recapture that same passion for prayer - that would lead us to forsake sleep, even food, for the sake of the work of God and the salvation of the lost!

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Kindle Availability:
"Why God Used D. L. Moody" is available in these Kindle eBooks:

• How to Pray and Why God Used D. L. Moody - just $1.00
• Included in "The Works of R. A. Torrey, Vol 1" for just $4.99 

    

Why God used D. L. Moody

I recently read this short classic for the first time and was struck with the wisdom and depth packed into it.
R. A. Torrey, who wrote this book, was a well-known evangelist, writer and teacher, as well as a personal friend of Moody's.  More than anyone else he was able to comment - from both a personal and spiritual viewpoint - why it was God's hand rested so mightily on Moody.  But his focus wasn't just on Moody, but rather on encouraging others to live the life he had lived that they might also see God's blessing on their ministry.  Torrey states,

"The God who used D. L. Moody in his day is just as ready to use you and me, in this day, if we, on our part, do what D. L. Moody did, which was what made it possible for God to so abundantly use him...God does not give His power arbitrarily. It is true that He gives it to whomsoever He will, but He wills to give it on certain conditions, which are clearly revealed in His Word."

 Torrey then goes on to share 7 principles he felt were key to Moody's life and impact:

1. A fully surrendered man
2. A deep and practical student of the Bible
3. A man of prayer
4. A humble man
5. Freedom from the love of money
6. Consuming passion for the salvation of the lost
7. Endued with power from on high

In the days to come we'll look more closely at a few of these 7 important areas.  Suffice to say that this little book will challenge you deeply and  should be a must-read for those who are ministering for the Lord!

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Kindle Availability:
"Why God Used D. L. Moody" is available in these Kindle eBooks:

• How to Pray and Why God Used D. L. Moody - just $1.00
• Included in "The Works of R. A. Torrey, Vol 1" for just $4.99 

    

Why This Blog?

Jesus said that those who have been instructed about the kingdom of heaven will "bring out of the storeroom new treasures as well as old" (see Mt 13:52). 
     We have lots of great books and great preachers these days, but often we forget lessons learned and insights gleaned from the past.  There are many men and women of God of years gone by who have seen Him answer prayer, give strength in persecution, send revival and awaken sinners.
     This blog is dedicated to finding and promoting some of those old "treasures" and it is my prayer that such a great cloud of witnesses will spur us on even today towards faith, holiness and power in ministry!