With Christ in the School of Prayer Quotes by Andrew Murray
Andrew Murray packed With Christ in the School of Prayer with short, sharp sentences that people still copy into Bibles and journals. Here are the best of them, quoted word for word from the text in TheWay Library, with the lesson each comes from. Every lesson is linked so you can read the line in its setting, or read the full book free.
If you want the shape of the whole book first, see the lesson-by-lesson summary.
Quotes on what prayer is
Murray opens by setting prayer at the top of the Christian life, not at the edges.
Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 1
It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfilment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 1
His most quoted line comes from the same first lesson, where he points out what Jesus chose to teach.
Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He did not speak much of what was needed to preach well, but much of praying well. To know how to speak to God is more than knowing how to speak to man. Not power with men, but power with God is the first thing.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 1
Quotes on meeting the Father
In Lesson 3, Murray notices that Jesus says "Father" three times when He speaks of the secret room.
The first thing in closet-prayer is: I must meet my Father.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 3
On the order of the Lord's Prayer, where God's name comes before our bread:
The sooner I learn to forget myself in the desire that He may be glorified, the richer will the blessing be that prayer will bring to myself. No one ever loses by what he sacrifices for the Father.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 4
And a gentle word for anyone who feels like a failure at prayer, from Lesson 6:
The master judges by the result, but our Father judges by the effort. Failure does not always mean fault.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 6
Quotes on the answer to prayer
Murray's preface says plainly what he most wants the church to learn.
If there is one thing I think the Church needs to learn, it is that God means prayer to have an answer
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Preface
Our prayers must not be a vague appeal to His mercy, an indefinite cry for blessing, but the distinct expression of definite need.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 10
A life marked by daily answer to prayer is the proof of our spiritual maturity
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 21
When the answer seems slow, Lesson 16 holds on to God's eagerness to give.
God will not delay one moment longer than is absolutely necessary
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 16
Quotes on faith
He that waits to pray, or loses heart in prayer, because he does not yet feel the faith needed to get the answer, will never learn to believe.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 11
Trust in the person begets trust in his word.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 12
The one, that faith needs a life of prayer in which to grow and keep strong. The other, that prayer needs fasting for its full and perfect development.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 13
Quotes on prayer and daily life
Murray never lets prayer float free of how we live. Lesson 14 ties it to how we treat people.
Not the feeling I call up, but the tone of my life during the day, is God's criterion of what I really am and desire.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 14
The effectual prayer of faith comes out from a life given up to the will and the love of God.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 14
On secret prayer and praying with others:
As a tree has its root hidden in the ground and its stem growing up into the sunlight, so prayer needs equally for its full development the hidden secrecy in which the soul meets God alone, and the public fellowship with those who find in the name of Jesus their common meeting-place.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 15
On work and prayer, from Lesson 19:
Effectual working needs first effectual prayer.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 19
Prayer not only teaches and strengthens to work; work teaches and strengthens to pray.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 19
Quotes on the Word and the name of Jesus
Murray borrows a saying he credits to a new convert:
I pray — I speak to my father; I read — my Father speaks to me.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 22
From Lesson 24, "In My Name":
It is not to the lips, but to the life God looks to see what the Name is to us.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 24
when it is everything to me, it will obtain everything for me. If I let it have all I have it will let me have all it has.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 24
It is living in the Name of Christ that is the secret of praying in the Name of Christ; living in the Spirit that fits for praying in the Spirit.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 25
For more on this theme, see What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?
Quotes on Christ our intercessor
In the preface Murray gives the hope behind the whole book.
Christ is our life; in heaven He ever liveth to pray; His life in us is an ever-praying life, if we will but trust Him for it.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Preface
From Gethsemane, in Lesson 28:
He endured the not answering of His prayer that our prayers might find an answer.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 28
A priest is thus a man who does not at all live for himself.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 30
And the last lesson comes back to where the first began:
It was the sight of the praying Jesus that made the disciples long and ask to be taught to pray.
With Christ in the School of Prayer, Lesson 31
Reading the quotes in context
A line like "ask whatsoever ye will" can sound reckless on its own. Murray always sets the promise beside its conditions: abiding in Christ, His words in us, love toward others, obedience, and the glory of the Father. That's why it helps to read each quote inside its lesson. Every lesson ends with a written prayer, so it works well as a short daily reading.
To learn about the man who wrote these lines, read Who was Andrew Murray? Then open With Christ in the School of Prayer and start with Lesson 1.