How to Deliver Yourself From Prayerlessness by Andrew Murray

Summary

Andrew Murray argues that prayerlessness is not merely a scheduling problem or a personal weakness. It reflects a damaged relationship with God and a spiritual life still directed by the “flesh” rather than the Spirit. He says prayerlessness dishonors God, weakens believers and church ministry, and limits the church’s work of evangelism and intercession.

Murray identifies self-reliance as a root of the problem. Trying to force a better prayer life through willpower can lead to discouragement. Instead, he urges believers to seek deliverance through Jesus, trusting that Christ can restore their desire and strength to pray. Lasting change, he says, grows from ongoing fellowship with Christ and reliance on the Holy Spirit—not from a one-time effort.

Practices and Guidance

• Be honest and specific: Name prayerlessness as a personal failing rather than explaining it away with busyness or distractions.
• Look beneath the symptoms: Examine whether self-directed habits and other patterns—such as anger, rivalry, worldly attachment, or asserting one’s own will—are crowding out spiritual life.
• Avoid relying on willpower alone: When prayer feels dry or difficult, come honestly to Jesus, acknowledge your weakness, and trust Him rather than trying to manufacture the right feelings.
• Practice childlike dependence: Wait on Christ in faith, trusting His love and help to teach you how to pray.
• Make prayer a regular priority: Set aside time for communion with God. Murray stresses that a lasting prayer life requires daily, close fellowship with Christ.
• Stay attentive to common obstacles: Resist delaying or shortening prayer, distraction, wandering thoughts, unbelief, and discouragement.
• Pray with faith and persistence: Murray distinguishes perseverance rooted in faith from anxious striving in one’s own strength.
• Surrender and seek spiritual renewal: He connects prayer with self-denial, placing the old nature under Christ’s rule, and allowing the Spirit to guide daily life.
• Treat prayer as communion, not just requests: Bow, worship, and wait on God, reflecting on Christ’s presence, power, and love.

Murray presents the hoped-for results as deeper communion with God, greater joy and perseverance, and renewed strength for service. He especially emphasizes the potential effect on ministers, congregations, and mission work: prayer, in his view, is essential to fruitful preaching, care for others, and intercession for the church and the world.

Presenters and Sources

• Andrew Murray — Author and source of the message excerpt.
• God’s Pillars — Channel presenting the audiobook excerpt; the narrator is not identified in the subtitles.
• Biblical passages cited in the message: Matthew 17:19–21; Galatians 3:3 and 5:16–25; Romans 7:18, 7:23–25, and 8:2; Ephesians 6:18 and 3:20–21; John 10:10 and 14:1–20; Philippians 4:13; Romans 8:37; 2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 John 1:9; and 1 Timothy 1:14.