Abide in Christ Quotes: Andrew Murray's Best Lines, Day by Day
Andrew Murray wrote Abide in Christ as 31 short meditations on Jesus' words "Abide in me." Because each day is brief, the book is full of lines worth copying into a journal or a Bible margin. The quotations below are taken word for word from the text in TheWay Library, with the day each one comes from. Click the day to read the line in its setting, or open the full book and read it free.
They're grouped by theme rather than strictly in order, so you can find what Murray says about rest, faith, weakness, prayer or joy in one place.
The call to abide
IT is to you who have heard and hearkened to the call, 'Come unto me,' that this new invitation comes, 'Abide in me.' The message comes from the same loving Saviour.
Abide in Christ, Day 1
Murray opens by tying the two calls together. Day 1 is written to believers who came to Jesus and then drifted.
The rest is in Christ, and not something He gives apart from Himself, and so it is only in having Him that the rest can really be kept and enjoyed.
Abide in Christ, Day 2
Abiding is for the weak
Dear souls! how little they know that the abiding in Christ is just meant for the weak, and so beautifully suited to their feebleness.
Abide in Christ, Day 3
No, it is simply weakness entrusting itself to a Mighty One to be kept
Abide in Christ, Day 3
Abiding in Him is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us, and in us, and through us.
Abide in Christ, Day 3
Day 3 may be the most quoted chapter in the book. It answers the fear that abiding is only for a few advanced saints.
The vine and the branches
The believer can each day be pleasing to God only in that which he does through the power of Christ dwelling in him.
Abide in Christ, Day 4
Such is the wonderful condescension of the grace of Jesus, that just as His people are dependent on Him, He has made Himself dependent on them.
Abide in Christ, Day 4
for the vine does not live for itself, keeps nothing for itself, but exists only for the branches.
Abide in Christ, Day 4
The fruit is not for the branch, but for those who come to carry it away.
Abide in Christ, Day 20
The soul need but have one care, — to abide closely, fully, wholly. He will give the fruit.
Abide in Christ, Day 20
Faith, from first to last
Not less essential than for the commencement, is faith for the progress of the spiritual life. Abiding in Jesus can only be by faith.
Abide in Christ, Day 5
He would have us not only remember our union to Christ, but specially that it is not our own doing, but the work of God Himself.
Abide in Christ, Day 6
faith is confessed helplessness casting itself upon God's promise, and claiming its fulfilment; faith is the putting ourselves quietly into God's hands for Him to do His work.
Abide in Christ, Day 12
Holiness and the cross
Holy is higher than righteous.
Abide in Christ, Day 9
No graft without wounding, — the laying bare and opening up of the inner life of the tree to receive the stranger branch.
Abide in Christ, Day 11
In Day 11 Murray prays to take the cross "not only as the ground of our pardon, but also as the law of our life."
Every moment, day by day, now
But the things that are impossible with men are possible with God.
Abide in Christ, Day 13
And so the heart has rest and peace and joy in the consciousness of being kept when it cannot keep itself.
Abide in Christ, Day 13
That word takes away all care for the morrow most completely.
Abide in Christ, Day 14
And so each day separately, all the day continually, day by day successively, we abide in Jesus.
Abide in Christ, Day 14
It has been well said that in that little word now lies one of the deepest secrets of the life of faith.
Abide in Christ, Day 15
Day 14 builds on the manna, gathered one day's portion at a time. It's a good chapter for anyone anxious about whether they can keep going for years.
Surrender, stillness and trial
it is only in the emptiness that comes from the parting with what we have, that the Divine fulness can flow in.
Abide in Christ, Day 16
We must live and experience truth in order to know it.
Abide in Christ, Day 17
how slow many are to learn that quietness is blessedness, that quietness is strength, that quietness is the source of the highest activity, — the secret of all true abiding in Christ!
Abide in Christ, Day 18
In the storm the tree strikes deeper roots in the soil; in the hurricane the inhabitants of the house abide within, and rejoice in its shelter. So by suffering the Father would lead us to enter more deeply into the love of Christ.
Abide in Christ, Day 19
Prayer, love and joy
PRAYER is both one of the means and one of the fruits of union to Christ.
Abide in Christ, Day 21
It is because we abide in Him that we can ask what we will, and it is given to us.
Abide in Christ, Day 21
It is a perfect love. It gives all, and holds nothing back.
Abide in Christ, Day 22
They are the commandments of Him who loves thee. They are all love, they come from His love, they lead to His love.
Abide in Christ, Day 24
Hence there is nothing so attractive as joy, no preaching so persuasive as the sight of hearts made glad.
Abide in Christ, Day 25
With a heart full of joy no work can weary, and no burden can depress; God Himself is strength and song.
Abide in Christ, Day 25
Abide in my love, and love as I have loved. Bless God, it is possible.
Abide in Christ, Day 26
Weakness, self and the glorified Christ
The Christian often tries to forget his weakness: God wants us to remember it, to feel it deeply.
Abide in Christ, Day 28
The Christian thinks his weakness his greatest hindrance in the life and service of God: God tells us that it is the secret of strength and success.
Abide in Christ, Day 28
To seek life, not in itself, but in God, is the highest honour of the creature.
Abide in Christ, Day 29
It is as we see what Jesus is, and is to us, that the abiding in Him will become the natural and spontaneous result of our knowledge of Him.
Abide in Christ, Day 30
This life is a life of perfect victory and rest.
Abide in Christ, Day 31
Using these quotes well
A line lifted out of a chapter can sound like a slogan. In the book, each one sits inside a careful argument from Scripture, and most chapters close with a prayer. If a quote stops you, read the whole day it came from. Every chapter takes about ten minutes.
For an overview of all 31 chapters, see the Abide in Christ summary. For Murray's teaching from John 15 in one place, read What does it mean to abide in Christ? To read the book a day at a time with a question for each chapter, use the 31-day reading plan.
Andrew Murray wrote many other devotional books; you'll find them on his author page. To read these lines in context, start Abide in Christ free today.