Richard J. Foster

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Articles & Essays by Richard J. Foster

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Worship

Featured December 3, 2018

Turn­ing to Isa­iah and John’s respons­es to the glo­ry of the liv­ing God as mod­els, Richard Fos­ter gives us a brief intro­duc­tion to the prac­tice of wor­ship, remind­ing us that, whether our encounter with God is one of divine fire­works or a still, small voice, we must answer with awe, won­der, and praise.

Book Excerpt from Celebration of Discipline

The Christian's Authority to Forgive Sin

Published December, 1977 • Featured November 15, 2018

“The fol­low­ers of Jesus Christ have been giv­en the author­i­ty to receive the con­fes­sion of sin and to for­give it in his name.” Richard Fos­ter unpacks the priv­i­lege and pow­er of con­fes­sion in this Cel­e­bra­tion of Dis­ci­pline excerpt.

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Confession

Published October, 2014 • Featured November 7, 2018

Con­fes­sion is the spir­i­tu­al dis­ci­pline that allows us to enter into the grace and mer­cy of God in such a way that we expe­ri­ence for­give­ness and heal­ing for the sins and sor­rows of the past.

Book Excerpt from The Challenge of the Disciplined Life

The Vow of Service in the Family

Featured October 30, 2018

This excerpt from Richard Fos­ter’s The Chal­lenge of the Dis­ci­plined Life reveals how to live out the Min­istry of Pow­er, par­tic­u­lar­ly in fam­i­ly life, through the ​“min­istry of the towel.”

Article

Is It So Terrible to be Useful?

Published October, 1988 • Featured October 23, 2018

Draw­ing on a scene from ​“The Last Emper­or,” Richard Fos­ter helps us shift our think­ing from feel­ing used to becom­ing useful.

Book Excerpt from Celebration of Discipline

Self-Righteous Service Versus True Service

Published December, 1977 • Featured October 16, 2018

Richard Fos­ter invites us to dis­cern between self-right­eous ser­vice and true ser­vice, the kind that ​“can serve ene­mies as freely as friends.”

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Service

Published October, 2014 • Featured October 9, 2018

“Of all the spir­i­tu­al dis­ci­plines, ser­vice is the most con­ducive to the growth of the grace of humil­i­ty with­in us.” Richard Fos­ter explains why in this snap­shot of Service.

Book Excerpt from Spiritual Classics

Silence Gives Power to Words

Published December, 1999 • Featured September 24, 2018

John Main con­tends that for words to be charged with strength and pow­er, they must spring from the silence of the Spir­it in our inner being.

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Solitude

Published October, 2014 • Featured September 20, 2018

“Soli­tude empow­ers us to walk away from all human pre­tense and manip­u­la­tion.” Richard Fos­ter gives us a clear snap­shot of this vital spir­i­tu­al discipline.

Article

Facing the Fear of Solitude

Published March, 1997 • Featured September 6, 2018

Soli­tude strikes right at the root of our fear of becom­ing unim­por­tant, unneed­ed, insignif­i­cant, use­less— which is pre­cise­ly why we need it. Richard Fos­ter helps us learn how to resign as CEO of the universe.

Article

Embracing Suffering

Published January, 2006 • Featured August 29, 2018

Richard Fos­ter writes about our cul­ture’s ​“suf­fer­ing avoid­ance” and Christ’s call to iden­ti­fy with those who suffer.

Book Excerpt from Freedom of Simplicity

Christ the Center

Featured July 31, 2018

Richard Fos­ter draws a pro­found les­son about sim­plic­i­ty from Matthew 6. How are we to live with glad and gen­er­ous hearts? With eyes focused singly on Christ the center.

Journal/Magazine Article

Four Paradoxes of Christian Simplicity

Published December, 2004 • Featured July 17, 2018

Chris­t­ian sim­plic­i­ty is not just a fad­dish attempt to respond to the chaot­ic and mate­ri­al­ist world in which we find our­selves; it is a call giv­en to every Chris­t­ian in every age to fol­low Christ.

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Simplicity

Published October, 2014 • Featured July 12, 2018

“Sim­plic­i­ty is an inward real­i­ty that results in an out­ward lifestyle. Both are nec­es­sary. ” Richard Fos­ter explains why.

Blog Post

Guidelines for Simplicity

Featured July 10, 2018

Richard Fos­ter pro­vides a short, sim­ple list of prac­ti­cal sug­ges­tions for liv­ing a life of simplicity.

Book Excerpt from Life with God

Seeing the Bible Afresh

Published April, 2008 • Featured June 12, 2018

Is it time to see Scrip­ture with new eyes? For any­one ​“starv­ing at the spir­i­tu­al feast,” Richard Fos­ter offers a par­a­digm for Bible study called the Immanuel Prin­ci­ple — God with us.

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Study

Published October, 2014 • Featured June 5, 2018

“Study is the process where­by our minds take on an order con­form­ing to the order of what­ev­er we con­cen­trate upon.” Richard Fos­ter suc­cinct­ly intro­duces this mon­th’s dis­ci­pline of study.

Article

The Purpose of Fasting

Published December, 1977 • Featured May 22, 2018

In this excerpt from Cel­e­bra­tion of Dis­ci­pline, Richard Fos­ter helps us see that “[f]asting must for­ev­er cen­ter on God. It must be God-ini­ti­at­ed and God-ordained.”

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Fasting

Published September, 2014 • Featured May 8, 2018

“Fast­ing is the vol­un­tary denial of an oth­er­wise nor­mal func­tion for the sake of intense spir­i­tu­al activ­i­ty.” Richard Fos­ter explains the what and why of this mon­th’s focus discipline.

Book Excerpt from Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home

We Never Outgrow Asking

Published July, 1992 • Featured April 25, 2018

Ado­ra­tion or con­tem­pla­tion may seem nobler than ask­ing God for some­thing. But Richard Fos­ter kind­ly insists that peti­tion isn’t a low­er form of prayer — it’s our sta­ple diet.