With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray free essay sample

Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray Publisher: F. H. Pevell co. , 1895. Page 265. Introduction: This book, With Christ in the School of Prayer, was writing by the Reformed Dutch pastor Andrew Murray, and published by F. H. Revell co in 1895. It was writing century ago and considered as a Christian classic literature. Currently, this book was collected in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library general public access freely. For the content of this book, it consisted of thirty-one practical lessons. Each lesson revealed how Biblical principles apply to Christian prayer, and also ended with a personal prayer of Murray to enforce the important point of the lesson. Author’s Background Andrew Murray was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He was South-African Dutch Reformed leader and an author of many devotional books. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian serving the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa and his mother was a descendant of French Huguenot and German Lutheran. We will write a custom essay sample on With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This background explained his love to God and his faith toward cross-cultural mission. Murray was one of the chief promoters that called to mission in South Africa. This led to the Dutch Reformed Church, the European church, missions to the local African. For his contribution to world missions, he was given an honorary doctorate by the Universities of Aberdeen (1898) and Cape of Good Hope (1907). Book Analysis This book, With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray, was a collection of Biblical principles that could progressively apply to readers’ prayer life. In fact, due to its progressive format, readers could study, and practice the teaching chapter by chapter. There were total of thirty-one chapters. Readers could study each chapter per day and they would complete the entire training in one month. It would be a wonderful spiritual journey for reading and practicing for a month. Since Murray wrote the book on 1895, the quote King James Version, and the use of the language made it difficult to follow, for example, availeth in chapter 1, importunity in chapter 8, and howbeit in chapter 13. Therefore, readers should read it multiple times in order to taste the spirit of the text. In some places, the interpretation of the text was out of the context. For example, in chapter 5, the â€Å"ask†, â€Å"seek† and â€Å"knock† were interpreted as â€Å"ASK, refers to the gifts we pray for†¦ SEEK is the work Scripture uses of God Himself †¦ KNOCK speaks of admission to dwell with Him and in Him† for abiding fellowship. However, the common understanding of this was the triple assurance of prayer by faith. This was further explained by the allusion of a son asking for bread and fish. Murray’s proof texting came close to typology. However, this book is very inspiring because it corrected our common misunderstanding that prayer was simply â€Å"talking to God. † In fact, this book argued that believers need to learn how to pray and our teacher is Jesus. â€Å"Learning† referred to study with effort that required spending time and energy, but not simply talking to God in order to establish Father-Son relationship. The ultimate goal of learning how to pray is establish a lifetime of intercessory prayer. It just liked Jesus, our teacher of prayer, praying on our behalf for our benefit. Conclusion This is a wonderful book that could refresh our mind and spirit. Thirty one chapters can finish in one month with one chapter per day. The most important is that it reminds believers continually ask for Jesus’ help in our prayer life. We need to continually to study prayer in the Divine art of prayer and intercession so that we can go to God in prayer and ask to other benefit from His grace.