Andrew Murray (1828-1917) was the son of a Dutch missionary sent to South Africa. He ministered for 60 years in South Africa, praying that “May not a single moment of my life be spent outside the light, love, and joy of God’s presence, and not a moment without the entire surrender of myself as a vessel for him to fill full of his Spirit and his love.”
In study or on the sport field every student know what need there is of vigorous will and determined purpose if we are to succeed. Religion needs, and indeed deserves, not less but more of intense devotion. If anything, surely the love of Christ needs the whole heart.
It is this fixed determination before everything to secure Christ’s presence, that will overcome every temptation to be unfaithful or superficial in the keeping of our pledges. It is this will make the morning watch itself a mighty means of grace in strengthening character, and nerving us to say No to every call for self-indulgence.
It is this will enable us at once, when we enter the inner chamber and shut the door, to be there with our whole heart, ready at once for our intercourse with Christ. And it is this determination that, from the morning watch on, will become the keynote of our daily life.
To the world it is often said: Great things are possible to any man who knows what he wills, and wills it with all his heart. The student who has made personal devotion to Christ his watchword, will find in the morning hour the place where day by day the insight into his holy calling is renewed; where his will is braced up to walk worthy of it; and his faith rewarded by the presence of Christ waiting to meet him, and take charge of him for the day.
We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. A living Christ waits to meet us.
From The Inner Chamber and The Inner Life, by Andrew Murray.
