Abide in Christ Summary: Andrew Murray's 31 Days, Chapter by Chapter
Abide in Christ is Andrew Murray's book on one command of Jesus: "Abide in me" (John 15:4). It is laid out in 31 short chapters, one for each day of a month. Each day takes a single angle on living in steady fellowship with Christ: how it begins, why it is possible, what it costs and what it produces. The whole book makes one claim. The same Saviour who called you to come to Him now calls you to stay with Him, and He Himself makes the staying possible.
This summary walks through all 31 days in order. Each heading links to that chapter in the reader, so you can go straight from the note to Murray's own words. You can also start from the book page for Abide in Christ and read it free from the beginning.
The call and the union (Days 1 to 6)
Day 1: All Ye Who Have Come to Him. Murray writes to Christians who came to Jesus and then found their first joy fading. His answer is simple: they wandered from Him. The call "Come unto me" always meant "come to me to stay with me."
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
Day 2: And Ye Shall Find Rest to Your Souls. Jesus promised rest twice in Matthew 11:28-29: rest given when we come, and rest found when we take His yoke and learn of Him. Lasting rest belongs to full surrender, because the rest is in Christ Himself.
Day 3: Trusting Him to Keep You. Many think abiding is for a few gifted saints. Murray says it is meant for the weak. It is not a great work we do but a consent to let Christ do the keeping.
Day 4: As the Branch in the Vine. The parable of the vine shows the union is living, complete and mutual. The branch can do nothing without the vine, and in Christ's own appointment the vine bears no fruit without the branches.
Day 5: As You Came to Him, by Faith. We came to Christ by faith, and we stay rooted in Him the same way. Murray asks the reader to remember the first act of believing and do it again.
Day 6: God Himself Has United You to Him. "Of God are ye in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:30). Your union with Christ is the Father's work, not yours, and that is your security.
What Christ is made to us (Days 7 to 10)
These four days follow 1 Corinthians 1:30, where Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
Day 7: As Your Wisdom. Christ is Prophet as well as Priest and King. Abiding in Him, we have the wisdom of God leading the whole spiritual life and giving us what we need to know.
Day 8: As Your Righteousness. Righteousness comes first because there is no progress without peace with God. The believer stands clothed in the King's own robe.
Day 9: As Your Sanctification. Holiness is not something we produce and then offer. Christ is our holiness, and we are made holy by abiding in Him. Murray draws here on the Puritan Walter Marshall.
Day 10: As Your Redemption. Redemption here means the full and final deliverance still to come, even of the body. Abiding in the exalted Christ, we taste "the powers of the world to come" now.
The cross and the keeping (Days 11 and 12)
Day 11: The Crucified One. A graft only grows where the stock has been cut. We abide in the wounded Christ, and His cross becomes both the ground of our pardon and the pattern of our life.
Day 12: God Himself Will Stablish You in Him. The God who first united us to Christ will also establish us. Our own vows and efforts often cause our failures; faith hands the work back to God.
Time: every moment, day by day, now (Days 13 to 15)
Day 13: Every Moment. Murray takes Isaiah's song of the vineyard, "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment." He answers the objection that busy people cannot think of Christ while their minds are on their work. Abiding, he says, is not a strain on the mind but trust in a love that keeps us even when we are occupied with other things. If God does the keeping, unbroken fellowship is possible.
Day 14: Day by Day. Like the manna, grace comes a day's portion at a time. We do not need to carry the years ahead. Faithfulness today makes tomorrow easier.
Day 15: At This Moment. The secret of the life of faith lies in the word now. Whenever your mind is free, turn it to Jesus and trust Him for this present moment.
The conditions of abiding (Days 16 to 19)
Day 16: Forsaking All for Him. Life is a constant giving out and taking in. The capacity to receive from Christ grows as we give up what we hold.
Day 17: Through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit teaches abiding, but He teaches by life before understanding. We learn it by doing it, trusting that He is at work within.
Day 18: In Stillness of Soul. The Christian life is not a partnership where we do our half. Quietness before God is where He works. Murray warns against needless excitement and a soul too busy with the world.
Day 19: In Affliction and Trial. The vine needs pruning more than any plant. Trials are the Father's way of driving our roots deeper into Christ.
The fruit of abiding from John 15 (Days 20 to 26)
Day 20: That You May Bear Much Fruit. Fruit is never for the branch but for others. Abiding gives us Christ's love for sinners. Our one care is to abide; He gives the fruit.
Day 21: So Will You Have Power in Prayer. Prayer is a means of abiding and also its fruit. Abiding brings our will into line with Christ's, so we ask what we will and it is done.
Day 22: And in His Love. Christ loves us as the Father loves Him. Murray describes that love as eternal, perfect, tender and unchangeable.
Day 23: As Christ in the Father. Jesus gives His own life with the Father as the pattern for ours: one with Him in life and love, and living in glad dependence and obedience.
Day 24: Obeying His Commandments. Works do not bring us to Christ, but keeping His commandments is how we stay in His love. His commands are as much love as His promises.
Day 25: That Your Joy May Be Full. Full abiding is full joy. Joy proves our treasure is real and gives strength for every burden.
Day 26: And in Love to the Brethren. The love of heaven is meant to flow through human hearts to one another. Christ's "new commandment" is the sign of true discipleship, and the new nature can keep it.
Sin, strength, self and the throne (Days 27 to 31)
Day 27: That You May Not Sin. From 1 John 3: "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not." Sin still lives in us, but as we abide, Christ keeps down its power.
Day 28: As Your Strength. God wants us to accept our weakness, not hide it. Weakness owned and brought to Christ gives us access to all the power given to Him.
Day 29: And Not in Self. The self-life has to be surrendered to death so the life of Christ can rule our natural powers. "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
Day 30: As the Surety of the Covenant. Jesus is surety of the New Covenant on both sides: to us that God will keep His part, and to God that we will keep ours. Knowing Him this way makes abiding natural.
Day 31: The Glorified One. The book ends with Christ on the throne. Abiding in the glorified Christ is a life of victory and rest, fellowship with the Father, and work for others, looking toward His appearing.
The thread through all 31 days
Read straight through, the book keeps returning to one point. Abiding is not a strain we keep up. It is trust in a Saviour who has bound Himself to keep us. Murray says it plainly early on:
Our part is simply to yield, to trust, and to wait for what He has engaged to perform.
Abide in Christ, Day 3
If you want the best lines in one place, see Abide in Christ quotes. For Murray's answer to the central question, read What does it mean to abide in Christ? And if you'd like to take the book as it was built, one chapter a day, the 31-day reading plan gives a question for each day.
More of Murray's work is on his author page, and related books are under Christian Life. To begin with Day 1, open Abide in Christ and read it free.