".. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, 0 Most High, to show forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness every night." (Ps. xcii. 1,2.)
How often we find the thought expressed that we must show forth God's lovingkindness in the morning! God has a right to it ; it is He that has spared us and given us a new day. It will be a blessing to the soul; the glad remembrance and confession of God's lovingkindness brings with it the favour of the Lord.
To trust once more in His mercy supports and strengthens faith. It binds the soul to Him and His service in love and joy. It takes us out of ourselves and lifts us up to God. To praise God is a remedy for many diseases.
The question is: How do I come to be able to do it? Sin and weakness so often cast me down. Let me show you the way. The first step is: be sure to take time every morning for this duty; this will be proof to your God that you are really in earnest. Next sit down quietly before God and meditate on His love in Christ Jesus. Exercise a quiet faith in that wonderful love as resting upon you. And then begin to give thanks. Although you may not realize it all as clearly as you would like, although you have not many words, kneel down quietly and say with childlike confidence: "Father, I love Thee, and glorify Thy love. Thou lovest me, Amen. Hallelujah!"
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Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917)
Brother Andrew Murray was a well-known writer/preacher in South Africa who ministered amongst the Dutch Reformed churches. His writings now are widely accepted by modern evangelicals and he is published more than ever in his life-time.Some of his better known books titles are: "Abide In Christ", "Absolute Surrender," and "Humility." His burden for the body of Christ were teachings on the abiding Spirit of Christ in the believer, the life of faith with God daily, and the life of intercession and prayer in the Church.
Andrew Murray was possibly the strongest spokesman of the Philadelphian age to expound the Body's necessity to abide in Christ, like the Apostle John before him.
Murray was born into a family of four children in the then remote Graaff-Reinet region (near the Cape) of South Africa. Educated in Scotland, which was followed by theological studies in Holland, Andrew returned to his native land to work as a missionary and minister. Given the daunting task of ministering to Bloemfontein, a remote region of 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people beyond the Orange River, Murray already began to sense the need to for the "deeper Christian life".
Though successful in preaching and bringing many to Christ, Murray found many of his greatest lessons in the School of Suffering, as will all who follow in the path of obedience.
Andrew Murray was one of four children born to Pastor Andrew, Sr., and Maria Murray. He was raised in what was considered to be the most remote corner of the world - Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Educated in Scotland and Holland, in 1848 Andrew, Jr., returned to South Africa as a missionary and minister with the Dutch Reformed Church. His first appointment was to Bloemfontein, a territory of nearly 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people.
Andrew and his brother John had been in close contact with a revival movement in Scotland, an evangelical extension of the ongoing Second Great Awakening in America. He prayed for the same sort of awakening for the church in South Africa and wrote, "My prayer is for revival, but I am held back by the increasing sense of my own unfitness for the work. I lament the awful pride and self complacency that have till now ruled my heart. O that I may be more and more a minister of the Spirit." (J. du Plessis, The Life of Andrew Murray)
In 1860, revival did come to the churches of Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently spread to surrounding towns and villages. Even remote farms and plantations felt the impact as lives were changed. Where once the churches had not been able to find one man ready to be a leader for God, the revival raised up 50 in Murray's Cape Town parish alone. There were more conversions in one month in that parish than in the whole course of its previous history. (Leona Choy, Andrew Murray: Apostle of Abiding Love)
Greatly concerned for the spiritual guidance of new converts and renewed Christians, Andrew Murray wrote over 240 books. His writings reflect his own longing for a deeper life in Christ and his prayer that others would long for and experience that life as well.