"Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectation.”
Born on May 9, 1828, Andrew Murray was raised a “missionary kid” in one of the most remote areas of the world – Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. When he grew up, he too would eventually become a missionary in South Africa, but not before God took him through many events and circumstances to help grow him and prepare him for his future missionary ministry.
The Murray home was a godly home. Often, on Friday nights, Andrew Murray’s father would bring the family together and read them stories of past revivals. The family would then pray for the souls of South Africa. This would go on in the Murray home for thirty years.
When Andrew Murray was 10 years old, he left with his brother, John, to study in Scotland. When he was 20, he was ordained to preach. When he returned to South Africa, he looked much younger than his age. In fact, he was so small and thin that a local farmer saw him and exclaimed, “Why, they have lent us a girl to preach to us!”
Murray may have been small physically, but he had a large and powerful ministry! He gave sixty years of his life to South Africa, wrote more than 200 books and tracts on the Christian life, and was used of God to lead South Africa into a great season of revival.
Murray is perhaps best-known for his writing on the subject of prayer. He believed wholeheartedly that prayer is the fuel for the Christian life. He once said, “Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do.”
When was the last time you prayed? Before you ate? Before you slept? The right kind of prayer is the one where the requests are thought about least and God is thought about most. Prayer is not supposed to be a list of things we want – but rather a time to talk to our God. Are you tempted to think sometimes that you probably already know what God can do? Do not let yourself limit God. Pray with faith that He knows what He is doing and that He will do the absolute best thing for His glory and for your good!
1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.