Teach Me To Pray
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Andrew Murray
ANDREW MURRAY (1828-1917) was a church leader, evangelist, and missionary statesman. As a young man, Murray wanted to be a minister, but it was a career choice rather than an act of faith. Not until he had finished his general studies and begun his theological training in the Netherlands, did he experience a conversion of heart. Sixty years of ministry in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, more than 200 books and tracts on Christian spirituality and ministry, extensive social work, and the founding of educational institutions were some of the outward signs of the inward grace that Murray experienced by continually casting himself on Christ. A few of his books include The True Vine, Absolute Surrender, The School of Obedience, Waiting on God, and The Prayer Life.
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Reviews for Teach Me To Pray
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I picked this up under it's original title, "With Christ in the School of Prayer." After reading a bit, I decided to check out what Richard Foster had to say on prayer in his "Celebration of Discipline." He said to read Andrew Murray! Without a doubt, this is the most challenging and profound work on prayer that I have ever come across. It truly changed my life. Read it slowly. And then read it again.
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Book preview
Teach Me To Pray - Andrew Murray
Teach Me to Pray
Andrew Murray
BOOKS BY ANDREW MURRAY
FROM BETHANY HOUSE PUBLISHERS
With Updated Language
Abiding in Christ
Absolute Surrender
The Andrew Murray Daily Reader
The Blood of Christ
The Fullness of the Spirit
Humility
The Indwelling Spirit
A Life of Obedience
Living a Prayerful Life
The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer
The Path to Holiness
Teach Me to Pray
Teach Me to Pray
Andrew Murray
Teach Me to Pray
Copyright © 1982, 2002
Bethany House Publishers
Newly edited and updated for today’s reader by Nancy Renich.
Formerly published under the titles With Christ in the School of Prayer and The Believer’s School of Prayer
Cover by Amos/Smith Photography
Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The ‘‘NIV’’ and ‘‘New International Version’’ trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South, Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 978-0-7642-2596-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murray, Andrew, 1828-1917.
Teach me to pray : classic devotions edited for today’s reader / by Andrew Murray. — Rev. and updated.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: The believer’s school of prayer. 1982.
ISBN 0-7642-2596-0 (pbk.)
1. Prayer—Christianity. I. Murray, Andrew, 1828-1917. Believer’s school of prayer. II. Title.
BV210.3 .M875 2002
248.3'2—dc21 2002002803
ANDREW MURRAY was born in South Africa in 1828. After receiving his education in Scotland and Holland, he returned to Africa and spent many years as a missionary pastor. He and his wife, Emma, raised eight children. He is best known for his many devotional books, including some of the most enduring classics of Christian literature.
Preface
Of all the promises connected with the command ‘‘Abide in me,’’ there is none higher and none that more quickly brings the confession ‘‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect’’ (Philippians 3:12), than this: ‘‘If you remain in me . . . ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you’’ (John 15:7). Power with God is the highest attainment of the abiding life.
Of all the Christlike traits, none is greater and more glorious than conformity to Him in the work that engages Him without ceasing in the Father’s presence: His all-prevailing intercession. The more we abide in Him and grow in His likeness, the more His priestly life will work in us, and the more our life will become what His is: one that intercedes for others.
‘‘[You] have made us kings and priests to our God’’ (Revelation 5:10). From both the king and the priest flow power, influence, and blessing. In the king, power comes down; in the priest, power rises and prevails with God. In our blessed Priest-King, Jesus Christ, the kingly power is founded on the priestly ‘‘He is able to save completely . . . because he always lives to intercede for them’’ (Hebrews 7:25). In believers, His priests and kings, this is also true. Through intercession, the church finds and exercises its highest power. Also through intercession, each member of the church proves his descent from Israel, who as a prince had power with God and with people and prevailed.
Teach Me to Pray has been written because of a deep conviction that the place and power of prayer in the Christian life has not been fully understood. As long as we look at prayer chiefly as the means of maintaining our own Christian life, we cannot fully know what it is intended to be. But when we learn to regard it as the most important work entrusted to us and as the root and strength of all other work, then we understand that there is nothing we need more than to study and practice the art of praying in the correct manner.
In the progressive teaching of our Lord about prayer and the wonderful promises given on His last night on earth (John 14:16) concerning the works we are to do in His name and the fruit we are to bear, one thing is clear: Only when the church yields itself to this holy work of intercession can it expect the power of Christ to be manifested on its behalf. It is my prayer that God will use this book to show His children the wonderful place of power and influence He longs and waits for us to occupy and for which a weary world also waits.
The Father longs to hear the prayer of faith, to give us whatever we ask for in Jesus’ name. We tend to limit the great love and promises of our God. It seems we cannot read the simplest and clearest statements of our Lord without adding qualifying clauses. The church needs to learn that God intends that prayer have an answer! We have not yet fully conceived what God will do for the one who truly believes his prayer is heard. The truth that God hears prayer is universally admitted, but very few understand its full meaning or experience its full power. If anyone is motivated enough to take the Master’s promises simply and literally as they stand, my object in writing this book will have been attained.
Multitudes have found unspeakable blessing in learning how completely Christ is our very life and how He undertakes to be and to do everything in us that we need Him to be and to do. The question remains as to whether we have learned to apply this truth to our prayer life. Many complain that they lack power to pray in faith, to pray the effective prayer that accomplishes something. But Jesus is waiting, longing, to teach us this. In heaven He ever lives to pray for us. His life in us is an always-praying life, if we only trust Him for it. Christ teaches us to pray not only by example, instruction, command, and promises but also by showing us that He is our ever-living intercessor. When we believe this and abide in Him for our prayer life too, our fears of not being able to pray correctly will vanish. We will joyfully and triumphantly trust our Lord to teach us to pray and to be the life and power of our prayers.
May God open our eyes to see what the glorious ministry of intercession is to which we as His royal priesthood have been set apart. May He help us to believe what mighty influence our prayers can have, and may all fear of being unable to fulfill our calling vanish as we grasp the truth that Jesus is living in us and interceding for us.
—Andrew Murray
Contents
1. The Only Teacher
2. The True Worshipers
3. Alone With God
4. The Model Prayer
5. The Certainty of an Answer to Prayer
6. The Infinite Fatherliness of God
7. The All-Comprehensive Gift
8. The Boldness of God’s Friends
9. Prayer Supplies Laborers
10. Prayer Must Be Specific
11. The Faith That Appropriates
12. The Secret of Believing Prayer
13. The Cure for Unbelief
14. Prayer and Love
15. The Power of United Prayer
16. The Power of Persevering Prayer
17. Prayer in Harmony With the Person of God
18. Prayer in Harmony With the Destiny of Man
19. Power for Prayer and Work
20. The Chief End of Prayer
21. The All-Inclusive Condition
22. The Word and Prayer
23. Obedience: The Path to Power in Prayer
24. The All-Prevailing Plea
25. The Holy Spirit and Prayer
26. Christ the Intercessor
27. Christ the High Priest
28. Christ the Sacrifice
29. Our Boldness in Prayer
30. The Ministry of Intercession
31. A Life of Prayer
Appendix: George Müller and the Secret of His Power in Prayer
—Chapter 1 —
The Only Teacher
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he
finished, one of his disciples said to him,
‘‘Lord, teach us to pray.’’
Luke 11:1
The disciples had been with Christ and had seen Him pray. They had learned to understand something of the connection between His public life and His private life of prayer. They had learned to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer—none could pray like Him. So they came to Him with the request ‘‘Lord, teach us to pray.’’ In hindsight they surely would have told us that few things surpassed what He taught them about prayer.
On this day in Luke’s account, the disciples felt the need to repeat their common request: ‘‘Lord, teach us to pray.’’ As we grow in the Christian life, the concept of Christ’s never-failing intercession becomes increasingly wonderful. It stirs in us a desire to be like Christ in His intercession.
As we see Him pray, and we remember that no one can pray or teach like Him, we agree with the disciples and say, ‘‘Lord, teach us to pray.’’ As we think about the fact that He is our very life, we feel assured that we have but to ask and He will be delighted to take us into closer fellowship with himself and to teach us to pray as He prays.
Let us say today as they did of old, ‘‘Lord, teach us to pray.’’ As we meditate we will find each word of our petition full of meaning.
Prayer is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that even a small child can pray, it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which anyone can rise. It is fellowship with the unseen and most holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal. It is the very essence of true religion. It is the channel of all blessings and the secret of power and life Through prayer, God has given to everyone the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that promises wait for their fulfillment, the kingdom for its coming, and the glory of God for its full revelation.
We know, however, that we are weak and unfit for this holy task. Only the Spirit of God can enable us to do it as it should be done. How quickly we are deceived into resting in the form of prayer, while the power is missing! Our early training, the teaching of the church, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions—any of these can lead to prayer that has virtually no spiritual power. To be taught true prayer—that which takes hold of God’s strength and to which the gates of heaven are opened wide—who would not cry, ‘‘O for someone to teach me how to truly pray!’’
Jesus has actually opened a school for training His redeemed who seek to have power in prayer. Let us enter it with the petition ‘‘Lord, this is what we need to be taught Please teach us to pray like this!’’
We read in your Word about the power your believing people of old had in prayer and the mighty wonders that were done in answer to them. If this took place under the old covenant, in the time of preparation, how much more should it take place in these days of fulfillment as a sure sign of your presence in their midst. We have heard the promises given to your apostles about the power of prayer in your name. And we have seen how gloriously they experienced the truth of those promises. We also know that the same promises can become true for us. Even today we consistently hear about what glorious tokens of your power you give to those who trust you completely. We know that all those who pray and receive have the same desires we have. Teach us to pray as they do. We know the promises are as much for us as for them. Teach us to pray so that we may receive answers to our prayers. You have entrusted your work to us as well. On our prayers the coming of your kingdom also depends. In our prayer too you can glorify your name. Yes, Lord, we offer ourselves as learners. We would be taught of you.
At first there is no work that appears so simple as prayer. But now we feel the need of being taught to pray. Later we may see that there is no task that is more difficult. The confession is forced from our lips that we do not know how to pray as we ought. It is true we have God’s Word with its clear and sure promises, but sin has darkened our minds so that we do not always know how to apply the Word. In spiritual things we do not always seek the most important things, or we fail in praying according to the law of the sanctuary. In temporal things we are still less able to avail ourselves of the wonderful liberty our Father has given us to ask for what we need. Even when we know what to ask, how much is still needed to make our prayer acceptable? It must be to the glory of God, in full surrender to His will, in full assurance of faith, in the name of Jesus, and with a perseverance that refuses to be denied. All this must be learned. And it can only be learned in the school of much prayer, for it is practice that makes perfect. Amid the painful consciousness of ignorance and unworthiness, and in the struggle between believing and doubting, the heavenly art of effective prayer is learned. Because even when we do not remember it, there is One—the beginner and finisher of our faith and prayer— who watches over our praying and sees to it that all who trust Him for it shall be carried through to perfection in this school. Let the deep undertone of all our prayer be the teachableness that comes from our own sense of ignorance and faith in Him as a perfect teacher. Then we shall be taught We will learn to pray in power. We may depend upon it; He teaches us to pray.
A pupil needs a teacher who knows his work and has the gift of teaching, who in patience and love will condescend to the pupil’s level. Jesus is all this and much more. No one can teach like Jesus. It is Jesus, praying himself, who teaches us to pray. He knows what prayer is. He learned it in the trials and tears of His earthly life. In heaven it is still His beloved work; His life there is intercession. Nothing delights Him more than to find those whom He can take with Him into the Father’s presence. He can clothe them with power to pray down God’s blessing on those around them. He can train them to be His fellow workers in the intercession by which the kingdom is to be revealed on earth. He knows how to teach through the urgency of felt need and by the confidence joy inspires. He teaches by His Word and by the testimony of other believers who know what it is to have their prayer heard. By His Holy Spirit He has access to our heart, and either shows us the sin that hinders our prayer or the assurance that we are pleasing to God. He teaches not only by thoughts of what to ask or how to ask but also by breathing within us the very spirit of prayer, by living within us as the Great Intercessor. In awe and joy we ask, ‘‘Who teaches like Him?’’
Jesus did not teach His disciples how to preach but how to pray. To know how to speak to God is more vital than knowing how to speak to men. It is power with God not man that is of supreme importance.
As we meditate on the words He spoke while on earth, let us give ourselves especially to His teaching on the art of prayer. We can have the fullest confidence that with such a teacher we will make good progress. Let us not only meditate but also pray and wait at the foot of the throne to be trained for the work of intercession—in the assurance that even with our stammering He is beautifully carrying on His work. He will breathe into us His own life, which is prayer itself. As He makes us partakers of His righteousness and of His life, He will make us partakers of His intercession. As the members of His body, as a holy priesthood, we shall take part in His priestly work of pleading and prevailing with God for men. Ignorant and feeble as we are, Lord, teach us to pray.
Blessed Lord, you ever live to pray, and you can teach me to live to pray. You make me share your glory in heaven through my praying without ceasing and by my standing as a priest in the presence of my God.
Lord Jesus, I confess I do not know how to pray as I ought. Teach me to wait on you and in so doing give you time to train me to pray. May a deep sense of my ignorance, of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer, and of the need of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prayer, lead me to surrender my thoughts of what I think I know. Draw me to kneel before you in true teachableness and poverty of spirit.
Fill me, Lord, with confidence that with you as my teacher, I will learn to pray. With Jesus as my teacher—He who ever prays to the Father and by His prayer rules the destinies of His church and the world—I need not be afraid. As much as I need to know of the mysteries of the prayer world, you will unfold for me. And when it is not for me to know, you will teach me to be strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Blessed Lord, you will not put to shame your scholar who trusts you, nor will I by your grace put you to shame. Amen.
—Chapter 2 —
The True Worshipers
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they
are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and
his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
John 4:23–24
Jesus’ words to the woman of Samaria are His first recorded teaching on prayer. They give us some wonderful first glimpses into the world of prayer. The Father seeks worshipers. Our worship satisfies His loving heart and is a joy to Him. He seeks true worshipers but does not find many. True worship is that which is in spirit and truth. The Son has come to open the way for this worship and to teach it to us. One of our first lessons in the school of prayer must be to understand what it means to pray in the spirit and in truth and to know how we can do it.
To the woman of Samaria our Lord spoke of a threefold worship. There is, first, the unlearned worship of the Samaritans: ‘‘You Samaritans worship what you do not know’’ (John 4:22). The second, the intelligent worship of the Jew, having the true knowledge