Are You Just Studying the Bible or Encountering God?

“Hearing the voice of God is something more than the thoughtful study of the Word. There may be a study and knowledge of the Word in which there is but little real fellowship with the living God. But there is also a reading of the Word, in the very presence of the Father and under the leading of the Spirit, in which the Word comes to us in living power from God himself. It is to us the very voice of the Father, a real personal fellowship with himself. It is the loving voice of God entering the heart that brings blessing and strength. and awakens the response of a living faith that reaches the heart of God again.”

  • Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer

Power through Prayer: Our Original Destiny

I am reading With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. The depth and power of this book are difficult to describe. I am half way through it and I already know that I will have to read it again. I am more convinced than ever that I know very little of the real power and purpose of prayer. Here is a passage to consider.

“‘Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’ By no means does such a promise refer primarily to the grace or blessing we need for ourselves. It refers to our position as fruit-bearing branches of the Heavenly Vine, who, like Him, live only for the work and glory of the Father. It is for those who abide in Him, who have forsaken self to abide in Him with His life of obedience and self-sacrifice, those who have lost their life and found it in Him, and are now entirely given up to the interests of the Father and His kingdom. These are they who understand how their new creation has brought them back to their original destiny, has restored God’s image and likeness, and with it the power to have dominion. Such have indeed the power, each in their own circles to obtain and dispense the powers of heaven here on earth. With holy boldness they may make known what they will. They live as priests in God’s presence. As kings the powers of the world to come begin to be at their disposal. They enter upon the fulfillment of the promise: ‘Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
— Andrew Murray