Who is Andrew Murray?
So anyone know more than me about this guy? He's described as Dutch Reformed, but his lifeworks are included in the Charismatic/Pentecostal Library. Is Logos confused or am I?
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Enter "andrew murray reformed charismatic" in Google for plenty of perspective.
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logosres:pentcstmurray;ref=Page.pp_1-6;off=13;ctx=INTRODUCTION$0A~THE_message_which_this_litt
THE message which this little book brings is simple but most solemn. It is to the effect that the one thing needful for the Church, and the thing which, above all others, men ought everywhere to seek for with one accord and with their whole heart, is to be filled with the Spirit of God.
In order to secure attention to this message and attract the hearts of my readers to the blessing of which it speaks, I have laid particular emphasis on certain main points. These I briefly state here.- It is the will of God that every one of His children should live entirely and unceasingly under the control of the Holy Spirit.
- Without being filled with the Spirit, it is utterly impossible that an individual Christian or a church can ever live or work as God desires.
- Everywhere and in everything we see the proofs, in the life and experience of Christians, that this blessing is but little enjoyed in the Church, and, alas! is but little sought for.
- This blessing is prepared for us and God waits to bestow it. Our faith may expect it with the greatest confidence.
- The great hindrance in the way is that the self-life, and the world, which it uses for its own service and pleasure, usurp the place that Christ ought to occupy.
- We cannot be filled with the Spirit until we are prepared to yield ourselves to be led by the Lord Jesus to forsake and sacrifice everything for this pearl of great price.
I feel very deeply the imperfection that attaches to this little volume. Yet I am not without the hope that the Lord will make it a blessing to His people. We have such a feeble conception of the unspiritual and sinful state which prevails in the Church, that, unless we take time to devote our heart and our thoughts to the real facts of the case, the promise of God can make no deep impression upon us. I hope that the attempt I have made to exhibit the subject in various aspects will help to prepare the way for the conviction that this blessing is in truth the one thing needful, and that to get possession of this one thing we ought to bid farewell to everything else we hold dear. I frankly invite Christian disciples into whose hands the book may fall to peruse it carefully more than once. Owing to the prevailing lack of the presence and operation of the Spirit, it takes a long time ere these spiritual truths concerning the need, and the fulness, and the reality of the Spirit’s power can obtain entire mastery over us. It is only by the exercise of self-sacrifice and persisting in keeping our minds occupied with these thoughts, that we can ever obtain what might otherwise come to us at once.
On reviewing what I have written, I am inclined to think that there is one point on which I ought to have spoken more definitely. I refer to the place which persevering prayer must occupy in connection with this blessing. This little book was not exclusively written for prayer at the season of Pentecost. Every day ought to be a Pentecostal season in the Church of Christ. For just as little as a man can remain in sound health without the fresh air of heaven, can Christians or the Church live according to the will of God without this blessing. The book is designed to point to what must prevail throughout all the year; and it seems to me now that, perhaps under the impression that in the season of Pentecost prayer for the blessing is practically unanimous, I have not strongly enough exhorted my readers to ceaseless calling upon God in the confidence that He will answer. Let me advert again to this point in a few sentences.
When we read the Book of the Acts, we see that the filling with the Spirit and His mighty operation was always obtained by prayer. Recall, for example, what took place at Antioch. It was when the Christians there were engaged in fasting and prayer that God regarded them as prepared to receive the revelation that they must separate Barnabas and Saul; and it was only after they had once more fasted and prayed that these two men went forth, sent by the Holy Spirit.1 These servants of God felt that the boon they needed must come only from above. To obtain the blessing we so much need, from heaven and out of the hands of the living God Himself, we in like manner, even with fasting, must liberate ourselves as far as possible from the demands of the earthly life, even in that which otherwise appears quite lawful; and no less must we betake ourselves wholly to God in prayer. Let us therefore never become weary or dispirited, but in union with God’s own elect, who call upon Him day and night, entreat Him and even weary Him by our incessant entreaties that the Holy Spirit may again assume His rightful place and exercise full dominion in ourselves and the Church as a whole: yea, more, that He may again have His true place in the Church, be held in honour by all, and in everything reveal the glory of our Lord Jesus. To the soul that in sincerity prays according to His Word, God’s answer will surely come.
There is nothing so fitted to search and to cleanse the heart as true prayer. It teaches one to put to himself such questions as these: Do I really desire what above everything I pray for? Am I willing to cast out everything to make room for what God is prepared to give me? Is the prayer of my lips really the prayer of my life? Do I really continue in intercourse with God, waiting upon Him, in quiet trust, until He gives me this great, heavenly, supernatural gift, His own Spirit, to be my spirit, the spirit of my life every hour?
Murray, A. (1908). The Full Blessing of Pentecost: The One Thing Needful. (J. P. Lilley, Trans.) (pp. 1–6). London: J. Nisbet & Co.
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Randy W. Sims said:
logosres:pentcstmurray;ref=Page.pp_1-6;off=13;ctx=INTRODUCTION$0A~THE_message_which_this_litt
THE message which this little book brings is simple but most solemn. It is to the effect that the one thing needful for the Church, and the thing which, above all others, men ought everywhere to seek for with one accord and with their whole heart, is to be filled with the Spirit of God.
In order to secure attention to this message and attract the hearts of my readers to the blessing of which it speaks, I have laid particular emphasis on certain main points. These I briefly state here.- It is the will of God that every one of His children should live entirely and unceasingly under the control of the Holy Spirit.
- Without being filled with the Spirit, it is utterly impossible that an individual Christian or a church can ever live or work as God desires.
- Everywhere and in everything we see the proofs, in the life and experience of Christians, that this blessing is but little enjoyed in the Church, and, alas! is but little sought for.
- This blessing is prepared for us and God waits to bestow it. Our faith may expect it with the greatest confidence.
- The great hindrance in the way is that the self-life, and the world, which it uses for its own service and pleasure, usurp the place that Christ ought to occupy.
- We cannot be filled with the Spirit until we are prepared to yield ourselves to be led by the Lord Jesus to forsake and sacrifice everything for this pearl of great price.
I feel very deeply the imperfection that attaches to this little volume. Yet I am not without the hope that the Lord will make it a blessing to His people. We have such a feeble conception of the unspiritual and sinful state which prevails in the Church, that, unless we take time to devote our heart and our thoughts to the real facts of the case, the promise of God can make no deep impression upon us. I hope that the attempt I have made to exhibit the subject in various aspects will help to prepare the way for the conviction that this blessing is in truth the one thing needful, and that to get possession of this one thing we ought to bid farewell to everything else we hold dear. I frankly invite Christian disciples into whose hands the book may fall to peruse it carefully more than once. Owing to the prevailing lack of the presence and operation of the Spirit, it takes a long time ere these spiritual truths concerning the need, and the fulness, and the reality of the Spirit’s power can obtain entire mastery over us. It is only by the exercise of self-sacrifice and persisting in keeping our minds occupied with these thoughts, that we can ever obtain what might otherwise come to us at once.
On reviewing what I have written, I am inclined to think that there is one point on which I ought to have spoken more definitely. I refer to the place which persevering prayer must occupy in connection with this blessing. This little book was not exclusively written for prayer at the season of Pentecost. Every day ought to be a Pentecostal season in the Church of Christ. For just as little as a man can remain in sound health without the fresh air of heaven, can Christians or the Church live according to the will of God without this blessing. The book is designed to point to what must prevail throughout all the year; and it seems to me now that, perhaps under the impression that in the season of Pentecost prayer for the blessing is practically unanimous, I have not strongly enough exhorted my readers to ceaseless calling upon God in the confidence that He will answer. Let me advert again to this point in a few sentences.
When we read the Book of the Acts, we see that the filling with the Spirit and His mighty operation was always obtained by prayer. Recall, for example, what took place at Antioch. It was when the Christians there were engaged in fasting and prayer that God regarded them as prepared to receive the revelation that they must separate Barnabas and Saul; and it was only after they had once more fasted and prayed that these two men went forth, sent by the Holy Spirit.1 These servants of God felt that the boon they needed must come only from above. To obtain the blessing we so much need, from heaven and out of the hands of the living God Himself, we in like manner, even with fasting, must liberate ourselves as far as possible from the demands of the earthly life, even in that which otherwise appears quite lawful; and no less must we betake ourselves wholly to God in prayer. Let us therefore never become weary or dispirited, but in union with God’s own elect, who call upon Him day and night, entreat Him and even weary Him by our incessant entreaties that the Holy Spirit may again assume His rightful place and exercise full dominion in ourselves and the Church as a whole: yea, more, that He may again have His true place in the Church, be held in honour by all, and in everything reveal the glory of our Lord Jesus. To the soul that in sincerity prays according to His Word, God’s answer will surely come.
There is nothing so fitted to search and to cleanse the heart as true prayer. It teaches one to put to himself such questions as these: Do I really desire what above everything I pray for? Am I willing to cast out everything to make room for what God is prepared to give me? Is the prayer of my lips really the prayer of my life? Do I really continue in intercourse with God, waiting upon Him, in quiet trust, until He gives me this great, heavenly, supernatural gift, His own Spirit, to be my spirit, the spirit of my life every hour?
Murray, A. (1908). The Full Blessing of Pentecost: The One Thing Needful. (J. P. Lilley, Trans.) (pp. 1–6). London: J. Nisbet & Co.
Well said Randy! I totally agree with you.
Blessings in Christ.
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Tes said:
Well said Randy! I totally agree with you.
Tes, I don't know if you realized it, but Randy was just copying/pasting some of the text from the introduction to that book. All the words are by Andrew Murray himself, not Randy.
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Rosie Perera said:Tes said:
Well said Randy! I totally agree with you.
Tes, I don't know if you realized it, but Randy was just copying/pasting some of the text from the introduction to that book. All the words are by Andrew Murray himself, not Randy.
Hi Rosie, thank you. I thought the quotation at the beginning was Randy's. But any way I am glad even he did that. If he did not copy that I wouldn't able to see the Truths which I am glad about.
Blessings in Christ.
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Andrew Murray was a leader in the Keswick Higher Life movement that in many ways was a forerunner of the Charismatic or Pentecostal movement.
His theology on the Holy Spirit was virtually the same as D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, F. B. Meyer, and many other such contemporaries. (It is interesting that the Moody Bible Institute has moved away from D. L. Moody's convictions about the Holy Spirit.).
His books are quite good devotional / inspirational material. He was a very godly man of great faith, and a good writer. He is particularly good on prayer and spiritual life.
He was Dutch Reformed, but Calvinism is not an emphasis of his writing, and he believes in gifts of the Spirit, such as healing.
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley0
