Quotes from Richard J. Foster

Remembering God's work in the past has a sustaining and renewing effect during times of spiritual drought. Memory and worship are thus keys to a long life of spiritual formation. Try

Distraction is the primary spiritual problem in our day.

But when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great freedom in this. If we voluntarily choose to be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated. When we choose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide who and when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable.

This form of meditation is best accomplished with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other!

God calls for worship that involves our whole being. The body, mind, spirit, and emotions should all be laid on the altar of worship. Often we forget that worship should include the body as well as the mind and the spirit. The

1 Corinthians 12:12, 14–25 IN COMMUNITY WE learn of our individual responsibilities to God and our corporate responsibilities to one another. There are exceptions, to be sure, but sustaining a life with God without an active, living connection to a visible expression of the Body of Christ is virtually impossible and is not a goal to be sought after. Have

The unreasoned boast abounds that the good life is found in accumulation, that "more is better.

True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.

God invites us into a variety of Spiritual Disciplines, and we step into them as best we can. These actions place us before God as a living sacrifice. God, in turn, uses our actions to build within us deeply ingrained habit patterns of "righteous and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). Back and forth, back and forth, in interactive relationship so that, through time and experience, we are learning to "grow in grace.

Leo Tolstoy observes, "Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself."6 Let us be among those who believe that the inner transformation of our lives is a goal worthy of our best effort.

We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendour or beauty anywhere upon earth. We cannot describe it to you: only this we know, that God dwells there among men, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. For we cannot forget that beauty.

We read every verse of Scripture lovingly and attentively, because every verse is a potential summons from God.

Second Timothy is clear that we have a distinct, demanding body of doctrine that needs to be taught, a message that requires reiteration every Sunday if we, as the Church, are to be who we are called to be.

corporate "confession of guilt." "The church," he declared, "confesses that she has witnessed the lawless application of brutal force, the physical and spiritual suffering of countless innocent people, oppression, hatred and murder, and that she has not raised her voice on behalf of the

Nothing must come before the kingdom of God, including the desire for a simple life-style.

God is working, always working, to form us and conform us and transform us into the image of Christ. God is intent upon this forming, conforming, transforming process. And God invites us to participate in this process by means of interactive relationship.

To enter solitude, we must disregard what others think of us. Who will understand this call to aloneness? Even our closest friends will see it as a waste of precious time and rather self-centered. But, oh, the liberty that is released in our hearts when we let go of the opinions of others!

Praying with frequency gives us the readiness to pray again as needed from moment to moment. The more we pray, the more we think to pray, and as we see the results of prayer—the responses of our Father to our requests—our confidence in God's power spills over into other areas of our life." —Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines4

First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.

Grant me, Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights you most, to value what is precious in your sight, and to hate what is offensive to you. Amen. —Thomas à Kempis

When you are considering an apartment, a condominium, or a house, thought should be given to livability rather than how much it will impress others.

Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life.

Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself."6 Let us be among those who believe that the inner transformation of our lives is a goal worthy of our best effort. I: The Inward Disciplines

Most people have no need for more clothes. They buy more not because they need clothes, but because they want to keep up with the fashions. Hang the fashions! Buy what you need. Wear your clothes until they are worn out. Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life.