Biography of D.L. Moody

D.L. Moody

D.L. Moody was the greatest preacher in the nineteenth century. He preached from America to Europe, from slum houses to huge halls. Through his ministry, many lost people were saved. His faith in God was strong, and he didn’t want to slow down his ministry work because of unimportant things. However, all these glorious days of D.L. Moody’s ministry didn’t come all in an instant and turned Mr. Moody from zero to hero. He must go through all the trials and obstacles in his ministry step by step - and those steps were not always easy to go through, of course.

Some of the steps which God had provided, so that Moody became as what He wanted him to be, were his encounters with George Mueller and Henry Valrey. Moreover, he heard preaching of a great preacher in England, Charles Spurgeon, and his heart was moved by compassion of Christ. These three men with their teachings and living witnesses of God’s mercy were really affected Moody’s life and ministry. All the teachings impacted the way Mr. Moody viewed his own life and ministry.

Furthermore, Mr. Moody’s life had changed through some encounters and series of events in his life. It began when D.L’s wife, Emma, was sick. The doctor diagnosed the sickness  as asthma. The doctor suggested sea air as the best cure for Emma’s asthma. Therefore, Mr. Moody thought that England would be a good place where Emma could get the sea air she needed. Besides, if they went to England, it meant that Mr. Moody could hear the preaching of Charles Spurgeon, the preacher from England whom he had admired for so long.

Likewise, in the spring of 1867, D.L and Emma went to England. The first time  D.L. Moody in England, he visited George Mueller, a man who was known for his faithfulness to God and made several large buildings for orphans in Bristol, England. Mr. Mueller didn’t ask for money from offices, companies, or other people, to support his orphanage ministry, but he prayed to God for his minsitry’s needs and the money he needed came, although sometimes it needed a very efficient management of the money. And why D.L. wanted to meet him, it is because of he wanted to ask how obtaining money for a project, because, at that time, D.L. Moody had just finished a project of building a hall in Chicago. For the money needed for the project, D.L. had asked people in offices to help and give some of their money. When D.L. heard George Mueller’s answer of how he obtained money, he was surprised. How could a man just pray and got everything he needed? Yes, a man must pray but how he could obtain enough money, if he didn’t ask people to give?  That was the big question in Mr. Moody’s heart but when D.L. saw God’s miracles in Mr. Mueller’s ministry, he learned to believe that God did answer prayer and a great provider. George Mueller had declared his life as the statement of God’s unfailing mercy. Mr. Mueller had built some large homes for orphans with the money that was really sent by God. Mr. Mueller declared this to D.L.: “It is not so much what Dwight, one young man who is just thirty years old, can do for God. It is more – what God can do for Dwight Moody.” Nevertheless, it seemed that D.L. didn’t really understand those words seriously, because he was not quite comfortable with Mr. Mueller’s faith that made him look like a fanatic. However, those words had made some great remark in D.L. Moody’s life.

After he had met George Mueller, D.L. went to London to listen the preaching of Charles Spurgeon. At the sermon, he wasn’t sure of what Charles Spurgeon preached about, but somehow he knew that God spoke to him through Mr. Spurgeon’s preaching. After the sermon, he prayed and told his feeling to God. He wasn’t sure of what God told him, but he knew that God was telling him something. He began to ask himself, why he had gone to England. First, he met George Mueller, and then Spurgeon. Each one of them had told some important things to D.L., but he hadn’t got the meaning of those two. He said to the Lord after Spurgeon’s preaching, “…I’m starting to find out why I came over to England. First, Mr. Mueller… and then Spurgeon. I got to piece it all together, God. Show me.” And so, through Spurgeon, God gave D.L. a feeling that God was going to tell him something. Nevertheless, this feeling lasted several days.

In the same week, D.L. went to a prayer meeting at a private home in England. There, he was introduced to a minister whose name was Henry Valrey. At that time, someone told that D.L. was in England to sample a wide variety of things – Spurgeon and other things too but D.L. denied that statement. He said that he was looking for something in England – something he could bring back to America with him. “Do you expect to find it at our prayer meeting, D.L.?” Henry Valrey said to him solemnly. Nevertheless, D.L. did really find the missing piece that he seeked for days in that prayer meeting. Mr. Valrey uttered, “We try hard. We fail. We are sure we can succeed if we try harder tomorrow. We fail again. And if we succeed, it is only half success – half of what it would be if we had done it with God. For I tell you today: The world has yet to see what God can do with one man wholly committed to Him.”  One piece of the words that Mr.Valrey said had pierced into mr. Moody’s heart and matched the missing piece in his heart. The words “The world has yet to see what God can do with one man wholly committed to Him” were the only words D.L. could remember when the prayer meeting ends. Likewise, those words made him think hard all the way home from the prayer meeting. After a thorough meditation, those words became clear to D.L. For the first time, he realized that he needed to put God first instead of his wills and dreams. He remembered what he had done before; when he was at his own house and said that he wanted to make something big of himself, and he also realized that he hardly changed his dreams at all when he “worked for God”. He had thought that selling shoes and raising money for a house of God had been just the same. Now it was all clear. And if those two things were the same, raising money for the house of God would be only for himself, and not for God. Besides, Emma had also said to D.L., “This is Christianity, D.L. It is not D.L. Moody selling shoes”. And now it all was clear to D.L.

Since that day, he had been committing his work and ministry to God. He became a preacher who preached everywhere where people needed to hear the Gospel. He also started the Moody Bible Institute. Through his ministry and his life, many souls were saved. Although his name was known everywhere, he realized that what he did was for God, and not for himself. He always remembered the words: “The world has yet to see what God can do with one man wholly committed to Him”. These words became the ultimate goal of Moody's ministry and life as a blessing for others.