Teach Me To Pray , livre ebook

Teach Me to Pray
Andrew Murray
B OOKS BY A NDREW M URRAY
F ROM B ETHANY H OUSE P UBLISHERS With Updated Language
Abiding in Christ
Absolute Surrender
The Andrew Murray Daily Reader
The Blood of Christ
The Fullness of the Spirit
Humility
The Indwelling Spirit
A Life of Obedience
Living a Prayerful Life
The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer
The Path to Holiness
Teach Me to Pray
Teach Me to Pray
Andrew Murray
Teach Me to Pray Copyright 1982, 2002 Bethany House Publishers
Newly edited and updated for today s reader by Nancy Renich.
Formerly published under the titles With Christ in the School of Prayer and The Believer s School of Prayer
Cover by Amos/Smith Photography
Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE , Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South, Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-7642-2596-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murray, Andrew, 1828-1917.
Teach me to pray : classic devotions edited for today s reader / by Andrew Murray. - Rev. and updated.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: The believer s school of prayer. 1982.
ISBN 0-7642-2596-0 (pbk.)
1. Prayer-Christianity. I. Murray, Andrew, 1828-1917. Believer s school of prayer. II. Title.
BV210.3 .M875 2002
248.3 2-dc21 2002002803
ANDREW MURRAY was born in South Africa in 1828. After receiving his education in Scotland and Holland, he returned to Africa and spent many years as a missionary pastor. He and his wife, Emma, raised eight children. He is best known for his many devotional books, including some of the most enduring classics of Christian literature.
Preface
Of all the promises connected with the command Abide in me, there is none higher and none that more quickly brings the confession Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect (Philippians 3:12), than this: If you remain in me . . . ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you (John 15:7). Power with God is the highest attainment of the abiding life.
Of all the Christlike traits, none is greater and more glorious than conformity to Him in the work that engages Him without ceasing in the Father s presence: His all-prevailing intercession. The more we abide in Him and grow in His likeness, the more His priestly life will work in us, and the more our life will become what His is: one that intercedes for others.
[You] have made us kings and priests to our God (Revelation 5:10). From both the king and the priest flow power, influence, and blessing. In the king, power comes down; in the priest, power rises and prevails with God. In our blessed Priest-King, Jesus Christ, the kingly power is founded on the priestly He is able to save completely . . . because he always lives to intercede for them (Hebrews 7:25). In believers, His priests and kings, this is also true. Through intercession, the church finds and exercises its highest power. Also through intercession, each member of the church proves his descent from Israel, who as a prince had power with God and with people and prevailed.
Teach Me to Pray has been written because of a deep conviction that the place and power of prayer in the Christian life has not been fully understood. As long as we look at prayer chiefly as the means of maintaining our own Christian life, we cannot fully know what it is intended to be. But when we learn to regard it as the most important work entrusted to us and as the root and strength of all other work, then we understand that there is nothing we need more than to study and practice the art of praying in the correct manner.
In the progressive teaching of our Lord about prayer and the wonderful promises given on His last night on earth (John 14:16) concerning the works we are to do in His name and the fruit we are to bear, one thing is clear: Only when the church yields itself to this holy work of intercession can it expect the power of Christ to be manifested on its behalf. It is my prayer that God will use this book to show His children the wonderful place of power and influence He longs and waits for us to occupy and for which a weary world also waits.
The Father longs to hear the prayer of faith, to give us whatever we ask for in Jesus name. We tend to limit the great love and promises of our God. It seems we cannot read the simplest and clearest statements of our Lord without adding qualifying clauses. The church needs to learn that God intends that prayer have an answer! We have not yet fully conceived what God will do for the one who truly believes his prayer is heard. The truth that God hears prayer is universally admitted, but very few understand its full meaning or experience its full power. If anyone is motivated enough to take the Master s promises simply and literally as they stand, my object in writing this book will have been attained.
Multitudes have found unspeakable blessing in learning how completely Christ is our very life and how He undertakes to be and to do everything in us that we need Him to be and to do. The question remains as to whether we have learned to apply this truth to our prayer life. Many complain that they lack power to pray in faith, to pray the effective prayer that accomplishes something. But Jesus is waiting, longing, to teach us this. In heaven He ever lives to pray for us. His life in us is an always-praying life, if we only trust Him for it. Christ teaches us to pray not only by example, instruction, command, and promises but also by showing us that He is our ever-living intercessor . When we believe this and abide in Him for our prayer life too, our fears of not being able to pray correctly will vanish. We will joyfully and triumphantly trust our Lord to teach us to pray and to be the life and power of our prayers.
May God open our eyes to see what the glorious ministry of intercession is to which we as His royal priesthood have been set apart. May He help us to believe what mighty influence our prayers can have, and may all fear of being unable to fulfill our calling vanish as we grasp the truth that Jesus is living in us and interceding for us.
-Andrew Murray
Contents
1. The Only Teacher
2. The True Worshipers
3. Alone With God
4. The Model Prayer
5. The Certainty of an Answer to Prayer
6. The Infinite Fatherliness of God
7. The All-Comprehensive Gift
8. The Boldness of God s Friends
9. Prayer Supplies Laborers
10. Prayer Must Be Specific
11. The Faith That Appropriates
12. The Secret of Believing Prayer
13. The Cure for Unbelief
14. Prayer and Love
15. The Power of United Prayer
16. The Power of Persevering Prayer
17. Prayer in Harmony With the Person of God
18. Prayer in Harmony With the Destiny of Man
19. Power for Prayer and Work
20. The Chief End of Prayer
21. The All-Inclusive Condition
22. The Word and Prayer
23. Obedience: The Path to Power in Prayer
24. The All-Prevailing Plea
25. The Holy Spirit and Prayer
26. Christ the Intercessor
27. Christ the High Priest
28. Christ the Sacrifice
29. Our Boldness in Prayer
30. The Ministry of Intercession
31. A Life of Prayer
Appendix: George M ller and the Secret of His Power in Prayer
- Chapter 1 - The Only Teacher
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray.
Luke 11:1
The disciples had been with Christ and had seen Him pray. They had learned to understand something of the connection between His public life and His private life of prayer. They had learned to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer-none could pray like Him. So they came to Him with the request Lord, teach us to pray. In hindsight they surely would have told us that few things surpassed what He taught them about prayer.
On this day in Luke s account, the disciples felt the need to repeat their common request: Lord, teach us to pray. As we grow in the Christian life, the concept of Christ s never-failing intercession becomes increasingly wonderful. It stirs in us a desire to be like Christ in His intercession.
As we see Him pray, and we remember that no one can pray or teach like Him, we agree with the disciples and say, Lord, teach us to pray. As we think about the fact that He is our very life, we feel assured that we have but to ask and He will be delighted to take us into closer fellowship with himself and to teach us to pray as He prays.
Let us say today as they did of old, Lord, teach us to pray. As we meditate we will find each word of our petition full of meaning.
Prayer is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that even a small child can pray, it is at the same time the highest and holiest wo