Andrew Murray Quotes on Prayer, Surrender, Christ and the Spirit
PrayerHolinessHoly SpiritChristian LifeDevotional
Andrew Murray wrote for Christians who knew something was missing. Over and over he told them the same good news: what God asks of you, He will do in you. His sentences are simple and often startling, which is why they get copied so much.
Many Murray quotes online come without a source. Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter, so you can read each one where he wrote it. We've already gathered the best lines from three of his books on their own pages: Abide in Christ quotes, Humility quotes and With Christ in the School of Prayer quotes. This page draws from the rest of his books. For his life, see who was Andrew Murray, and for a guide to every book, see Andrew Murray books.
On the love of God
Murray started with God's heart. God loves to give, and He gives Himself.
God is love, longing to communicate Himself to me.
The Deeper Christian Life, Chapter I: Daily Fellowship with God
If I want love I must seek God, for love is the very nature of God.
Love Made Perfect, Chapter I: God Is Love
It was never an effort to the child to love the father.
Love Made Perfect, Chapter I: God Is Love
God is Love, and lives not for Himself: He finds His life, His delight, His glory, in blessing His creatures.
The Fruit of the Vine, Chapter II: No Fruit
What God gives, He continues with a never-ceasing giving.
Holy in Christ, Twenty-second Day
On Christ with us and in us
For Murray the Christian life was not a set of rules but a Person, present every hour.
But thank God, while I have to think of my business, Jesus will think of me, and He will come in and will take charge of me.
'Jesus Himself'
I have no care if He cares for me, and I have no fear if He provides for me.
'Jesus Himself'
You have as much holiness as you have of Christ
'Jesus Himself'
I must begin every day anew with the thought, I have Jesus to do all for me.
The New Life, Chapter VI: God's Gift of His Son
Trust Him for it; the Christ of Bethlehem, the Christ of Calvary, the Christ of the Throne in heaven, is the Christ in you.
Within; or, The Kingdom of God Is Within You
The branch has nothing; it just depends upon the vine for everything.
Absolute Surrender, Address IX: "Ye Are the Branches"
Our abode, the home of our soul, is to be the love of Christ.
The True Vine, Abide in My Love
On prayer
Murray called prayerlessness a sin, and he didn't soften it. But he always went on to the cure.
The sin of prayerlessness is a proof for the ordinary Christian or minister, that the life of God in the soul is in deadly sickness and weakness.
The Prayer-Life, Chapter I: The Sin of Prayerlessness
How many there are who take only five minutes for prayer!
The Prayer-Life, Chapter I: The Sin of Prayerlessness
The primary need is not the multiplication of prayer meetings, but that individual Christians should learn to pray.
The State of the Church, Chapter IX
Intercourse with God is the consummation of all blessedness on earth as in heaven.
The Inner Chamber and the Inner Life, Chapter II: The Door Shut — Alone with God
Before I pray, and while I pray, and after I have prayed, I must ask: Do I pray in faith?
The New Life, Chapter XXXIV: Prayer
My life is like His, a life hid in heaven, in God; it needs time day by day to be fed from heaven.
Like Christ, Day XVII: In His Praying
The best way of learning to do a thing — in fact the only way — is to do it.
The Ministry of Intercession, Pray Without Ceasing
On waiting on God
His little book Waiting on God is one of the most loved things he wrote. Waiting, for Murray, meant expecting God to act.
Waiting on God is the first and the best beginning for prayer.
The Master's Indwelling, Waiting on God
Waiting on God gives Him time in His own way and divine power to come to us.
Waiting on God, Day 4: For Supplies
It is God, who is the warrant for your expecting great things.
Waiting on God, Day 8: Strong and of Good Courage
On the Bible
All Bible study to be fruitful should be learning of Christ. The Bible is the school book, Christ is the Teacher.
The Inner Chamber and the Inner Life, Chapter XVII: Learning of Christ
On self, surrender and obedience
Murray was plain that self has to go. He was just as plain that God does the work.
The reason why Christians pray and pray for the Christ life to come in to them, without result, is that the self life is not denied.
The Master's Indwelling, The Self Life
Everything must be sacrificed and given over to death: the All of God must expel the All of sin.
The Full Blessing of Pentecost, Chapter XII: How It Is to Be Found by All
There must not only be faith in Christ's sacrifice, but fellowship with Him in it.
Holy in Christ, Twenty-eighth Day: The Way into the Holiest
God did not reveal all His will to Christ at once, but day by day, according to the circumstances of the hour.
The School of Obedience, Chapter II: The Obedience of Christ
The only religion that satisfies God is that of the heart; that is why He asks us to love Him with the whole heart.
Thy Will Be Done, Chapter XII: Doing the Will of God from the Heart
On the Holy Spirit
God longs to give the fulness of the Spirit to every child of His.
The Deeper Christian Life, Chapter V: The Blessing Secured
The Holy Spirit not only reveals the presence of Jesus but He gives the likeness of Jesus.
The Spiritual Life, Be Filled with the Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the holy life which there was and is in Christ Jesus, and which works in us as a Divine life-power.
The Spirit of Christ, Day XIX: The Leading of the Spirit
The Spirit of Pentecost was that true missionary Spirit which seeks to win the whole world for Jesus Christ.
The Full Blessing of Pentecost, Chapter IV: How It Was Bestowed from Heaven
On faith and coming to God
Some of his books were written for people still seeking peace. These lines are for them.
He that believeth shall be saved; simple faith is enough: more God does not require. With less, however, He will not be content.
Why Do You Not Believe?, Chapter I
The washing of the soul is God's work, an act of God's holy and all-prevailing grace.
Have Mercy upon Me, Chapter XVI: Wash Me, and I Shall Be Whiter than Snow
Draw nigh — it never says with a clear head, but with a true heart.
Let Us Draw Nigh, Chapter VI: The Fulness of Faith
More ever-present and more mighty than the temptation, His unfailing love is always near to give the victory.
The Holiest of All, Chapter XVIII
On love, work and giving
Last, Murray on how this inner life reaches other people.
The joy of being forgiven is only that of a sinner and of earth: the joy of forgiving is Christ's own joy, the joy of heaven.
Like Christ, Day XIX: In Forgiving
Learn from this that God can only work in us as He dwells in us.
Working for God!, Chapter VII: The Father Abiding in Me Doeth the Work
All the world's judgments of the value of gifts are reversed in heaven; the love that gives liberally according to what it hath is met by the Father's love from above.
Money, Chapter III: The Grace of God and Money
Ask God to reveal by His Spirit, what the poverty of Jesus is, and then to work in you as much of it as you can bear.
Money, Chapter IV: The Poverty of Christ
Where to read more Murray
If one of these lines caught you, read the book it came from. If you're not sure where to begin, start with With Christ in the School of Prayer or Waiting on God, and keep The Prayer-Life for when you're ready to be searched. All thirty-five of his books in the library are on the Andrew Murray author page.