Andrew Murray Books: A Guide to All 35 and Where to Start

Prayer Christian Life Holiness Holy Spirit Devotional

Andrew Murray (1828–1917) was a South African pastor who wrote well over two hundred books and tracts, most of them short and most of them about one thing: how a Christian can live close to God. TheWay Library has thirty-five of them, free to read. They fall into a few clear groups: prayer, abiding in Christ, surrender and holiness, the Holy Spirit, books for new believers, and his studies in Hebrews. For his life story, see who was Andrew Murray.

Where to start

If you read one Murray book, make it With Christ in the School of Prayer. It's his best-known work, thirty-one lessons on prayer, each built on a saying of Jesus. Our summary walks through it.

Then choose by what you need:

If you want rest in Christ: Abide in Christ, a month of daily readings.
If you're stuck in your Christian life: Absolute Surrender, nine addresses.
If pride is your battle: Humility, his shortest classic, about two hours.
If you're new to the faith: The New Life.

Many of these books are arranged as thirty-one readings, one for each day of a month. That makes them easy to read slowly. For his best lines across all of them, see our Andrew Murray quotes.

Books on prayer

Murray wrote more on prayer than on any other subject. He believed prayerlessness was the great sickness of the church and that Christ Himself would teach anyone who asked.

With Christ in the School of Prayer: thirty-one lessons on believing, definite, persevering and united prayer, prayer in Jesus' name and the ministry of intercession. See also quotes from the book and what it means to pray in Jesus' name.
Lord, Teach Us to Pray: a booklet of four meditations, on Christ as the teacher of prayer, worship in spirit and truth, prayer in secret and the Lord's Prayer. An hour's read.
The Prayer-Life: his searching book on the sin of prayerlessness, born of conferences with ministers. He traces it to the flesh and unbelief and shows how deliverance comes, with chapters on George Müller and Hudson Taylor.
The Inner Chamber and the Inner Life: thirty-six short chapters on the morning hour alone with God in prayer and the Word, and on Bible study that leads to obedience.
Waiting on God: thirty-one short readings that make waiting on God the keynote of life: for supplies, for instruction, quietly, in the dark and continually.
The Ministry of Intercession: his plea for prayer for others. Our copy is incomplete. It has the introduction, notes and the thirty-one daily Helps to Intercession, but not the main chapters.

Waiting on God is the first and the best beginning for prayer.
The Master's Indwelling, Waiting on God

Abiding in Christ

This is the heart of Murray's teaching: the Christian lives by staying joined to Christ, as a branch to a vine.

Abide in Christ: thirty-one meditations on "Abide in me," for believers who have come to Christ but not found rest. Read our summary, the 31-day reading plan, Abide in Christ quotes and what it means to abide in Christ.
Like Christ: the companion book, thirty-one days on being like Jesus in serving, suffering wrong, forgiving, prayer and humility.
The True Vine: a month of short readings on John 15:1–16, each ending in prayer.
The Fruit of the Vine: six chapters on fruit-bearing in John 15: no fruit, more fruit, much fruit, abiding fruit, and fruit and prayer.
'Jesus Himself': one short address on Christ's promise "Lo, I am with you alway" and the presence of Jesus every hour.
The Master's Indwelling: thirteen addresses calling carnal Christians into a life possessed by Christ, through surrender, death with Christ and humility.

Surrender, humility and holiness

Absolute Surrender: nine addresses that start from Ahab's words "I am thine, and all that I have." See our summary and what is absolute surrender.
Humility: twelve chapters on humility as the root of every grace and pride as the root of sin. See the summary and Humility quotes.
Holy in Christ: thirty-one days tracing the word holy through the Bible. God alone is holy, and believers are made holy in Christ.
The School of Obedience: addresses to South African students on obedience in Scripture and in Christ, the morning watch, and obedience to the last command.
Thy Will Be Done: meditations on the will of God as the glory of heaven and the way there. Chapters III and IV are missing from our copy.
The Two Covenants and the Second Blessing: why many believers live an Old Covenant life of effort and failure, and how the New Covenant promise of a new heart calls them higher.
The Deeper Christian Life and The Spiritual Life: two sets of addresses on moving from a carnal life into fellowship with God. The Spiritual Life comes from his 1895 visit to America.

The Holy Spirit

The Spirit of Christ: thirty-one meditations on the Spirit's indwelling in the believer and the church. It's his fullest book on the Spirit, about ten hours.
The Full Blessing of Pentecost: thirteen chapters on being filled with the Spirit: what it is, what hinders it, and how it's received and kept.
Back to Pentecost: a short call back to the ten days of united prayer before Pentecost.
The State of the Church: his answer to the 1910 Edinburgh missionary conference. The real obstacle to missions, he says, is the low state of the church at home.
Faith in the Power of God: an address to ministers on 1 Corinthians 2. The opening pages are missing.

God longs to give the fulness of the Spirit to every child of His.
The Deeper Christian Life, Chapter V

For new believers and seekers

The New Life: fifty-two short chapters for young Christians, on the Word, faith, prayer, the Spirit, witness, baptism, the Lord's Supper and money.
Why Do You Not Believe?: thirty-one short chapters for anxious seekers who haven't yet found peace, written after pastoral visits.
Have Mercy upon Me: Psalm 51 taken phrase by phrase, from confession to a clean heart and the joy of salvation.
Within: addresses on "the kingdom of God is within you" and receiving the whole Christ.

Hebrews and the Lord's Supper

The Holiest of All: his devotional commentary on the whole of Hebrews, in about a hundred and twenty short chapters. This is the longest book here.
Let Us Draw Nigh: twelve chapters on Hebrews 10:19–25, taken from the larger work.
The Lord's Table: daily readings for the week before Communion, the Lord's Day and the week after.

Love, work and money

Love Made Perfect: two addresses on 1 John 4 and John 17:26.
Working for God!: thirty-one readings on every believer's call to work for God, and the waiting that gives strength for it.
Money: four short chapters, from the widow's mites to the poverty of Christ.

A note on these editions

Many of these books were restored from scans of old printings and are still being proofread. The Holiest of All, Why Do You Not Believe?, The Deeper Christian Life, Within and The Prayer-Life have the most misread words. Like Christ is missing Day XXVI. With Christ in the School of Prayer, Absolute Surrender and Humility are clean texts.

Why read Murray today

Murray wrote plainly, and he wrote for ordinary Christians who knew they weren't living the life the New Testament describes. He never stops at the problem. Again and again he says that God will do in us what He asks of us. Begin with With Christ in the School of Prayer or Abide in Christ, and find all thirty-five on the Andrew Murray author page.