The Ministry of Intercession by Andrew Murray

We all know we should pray more, but why are we so reluctant? Andrew Murray deals with this question head on in his book The Ministry of Intercession. And he does not waste any time mollycoddling his readers. We may complain of lack of time or lack of motivation, but Murray writes,

Feebleness and failure in prayer is a sign of feebleness in the spiritual life. If we lack in this area, we lack in many others. Prayer is meant to be as simple and natural as breathing to a healthy person. The reluctance we feel, and the failure to confess, are God’s own voice calling us to acknowledge our disease, and to come to Him for the healing He has promised…. To pray aright, the life of the Spirit must be right in us. For praying the effectual, much-availing prayer of the righteous man, everything depends on being full of the Spirit…. Beware of grieving him by sin, by unbelief, by selfishness, by unfaithfulness to His voice in your conscience. You can count on him to do in your heart all that ought to be done there.

That last sentence is crucial. Instead of loading us with guilt for not praying enough, Murray emphasizes over and over that when Christ calls us to do something, He also enables it. Rest assured that if Christ is calling you to prayer, he will heal your reluctance and your lethargy. You can trust Him to restore your spiritual strength. Pray with humility and yet with confidence that He will teach you.

I appreciated Murray’s thorough explanations of several key Bible passages on prayer, especially the one in Luke 11 that appears to teach that if we nag God long enough, He has to give in to us. I also appreciated his emphasis on the privilege of prayer: Christ has taken believers up into partnership with himself; He has honored them, and bound Himself, by making their prayers one of the standard measures of the working of His power.

The appendix of the book is a thirty-day plan for taking baby steps toward a deeper prayer life. I highly recommend this book if you want to grow in the area of intercession. I have one caveat though. If you are not familiar with Murray’s other books, which emphasize complete surrender to God and to His will, you could misconstrue several statements in this book that seem to reflect the “name it, claim it” mentality of the prosperity gospel.

This title was free at the time of posting. If you have never read Murray, I would suggest these other (more accessible) titles first. The True Vine (99 cents) and Humility (free) are two of my favorites.

Blessings,