So Much with So Little

D. L. was born in 1837 only to lose his father four years later. He wasn’t born into a wealthy family, and his mother had eight other children. By the time D.L. was 10, his education was over. He had to go to work to help the family with finances. At 17, he struck out on his own, and in his first real job, he excelled as a shoe salesman. It really helped his mother back at home.

Through the years, his talent as a salesman still left D.L. somewhat empty. He attended church but felt there was more than just going to church. D.L. turned his life totally over to God and put his interests aside. He moved to Chicago in 1850 and began to make more money than ever, but still, something was missing.

By 1860, Dwight developed a spiritual thirst for the things of God. He started reaching out to children in the slum area of Chicago. The children’s ministry grew to more than 1,500. When the Civil War broke out, he joined to help soldiers with spiritual needs as a chaplain. He served, at times, under Ulysses S. Grant, commander of all the Union forces. Yet D.L. also wanted to help prisoners, just as much, with their spiritual needs.

By 1862, he had married. He ministered full time to dying soldiers on either side. After the war, D.L. had no formal capacity but began to minister and preach. This took him as far away as England several times.

Because of his little learning, his wife Emma tutored him to help him speak and write plainly.

In many places where he would speak, hundreds of converts would join the church. In London alone he addressed over 2.5 million people, even with his lack of education. He traveled over a million miles and spoke to over 100 million people in his lifetime. As many as 750,000 sinners became saints because of his personal prayer with them.

When he died in 1899, at sixty-three, D.L. had founded a Bible College, a Christian School and one of the largest churches in Chicago. They all still bear his name, even today.

All of this from a man who was never an ordained minister. He never went to Bible College, and had little Bible training. Yet Dwight L. Moody’s work still lives on today with a Christian publishing company and a radio network that touches millions more than when he was alive.

Just think what you can do if you’ll let God really use your live even now.