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Andrew Murray
Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917). South African pastor, author, and revivalist born in Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony, to Dutch Reformed missionary parents. Sent to Scotland at 10, he studied at Aberdeen University and Utrecht, Netherlands, returning ordained in 1848. He pastored in Bloemfontein and Worcester, later moderating the Dutch Reformed Church’s Cape Synod. In 1860, he sparked a revival in the Orange Free State, preaching to thousands across racial lines despite apartheid’s rise. Murray wrote over 240 books, including Abide in Christ (1882) and With Christ in the School of Prayer, translated into dozens of languages. His emphasis on holiness, prayer, and divine healing influenced global Pentecostalism. Married to Emma Rutherford in 1856, they had eight children, four becoming missionaries. He founded theological seminaries and the Huguenot College for women. Despite chronic illness, he traveled to Europe and America, speaking at Keswick Conventions. His devotional works remain widely read, shaping Christian spirituality across denominations.
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Andrew Murray emphasizes that the spirit of the world infiltrates the church, hindering the work of the Holy Spirit and obstructing revival. He notes that even the most mature believers struggle to recognize and combat this subtle influence, which requires a heart fully surrendered to God. Murray argues that true revival can only occur when the worldly spirit is expelled from the church, allowing the Spirit of God to work effectively. He calls for a deep conviction and transformation within the church to prepare it for God's mission in the world.
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It Is the Spirit of the World in the Church That Hinders the Spirit…
I have spoken to believers. The most advanced believer will be the first to admit how subtle, how deep, the spirit of the world is, and how utterly beyond our own powers of watchfulness or victory. It is only a heart fully possessed by the Spirit of God that can know its subtlety or escape its power. If it be true that it is difficult to bring home this conviction to individual believers, how much more so is it when we speak about the church as a whole. And yet, I am very deeply persuaded that as it is the spirit of the world in the church that alone hinders the Spirit of God, and makes a revival so absolutely necessary, and so wholly impossible too until the worldly spirit be cast out, so it will alone be by a deep work of the Spirit, convicting the world in the church, that a true revival can come and the church be fitted for doing God’s work in and for the world. (Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray , pg. 28)
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Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917). South African pastor, author, and revivalist born in Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony, to Dutch Reformed missionary parents. Sent to Scotland at 10, he studied at Aberdeen University and Utrecht, Netherlands, returning ordained in 1848. He pastored in Bloemfontein and Worcester, later moderating the Dutch Reformed Church’s Cape Synod. In 1860, he sparked a revival in the Orange Free State, preaching to thousands across racial lines despite apartheid’s rise. Murray wrote over 240 books, including Abide in Christ (1882) and With Christ in the School of Prayer, translated into dozens of languages. His emphasis on holiness, prayer, and divine healing influenced global Pentecostalism. Married to Emma Rutherford in 1856, they had eight children, four becoming missionaries. He founded theological seminaries and the Huguenot College for women. Despite chronic illness, he traveled to Europe and America, speaking at Keswick Conventions. His devotional works remain widely read, shaping Christian spirituality across denominations.