Richard J. Foster

• Overview
• Bio
• Books
• Articles
• Audio & Video
• Podcast Episodes

Articles & Essays by Richard J. Foster

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 ​“fasting 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.

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Prayer

Published September, 2014 • Featured April 10, 2018

“Just like a little child can never draw a bad picture, so a child of God can never utter a bad prayer.” Richard Foster explores the discipline through which God welcomes, embraces, and changes us.

Interview

Forty Years of Celebration of Discipline: An Interview with Richard Foster

Featured April 5, 2018

Richard Foster chats with Paul Anderson of George Fox University about the 40^th anniversary of Celebration of Discipline, how that first book led to many others, why Renovaré came into being, the ways being a Quaker shaped his interdenominational outreach, and what the future holds.

Book Excerpt from Celebration of Discipline

Technology Cannot Nourish the Soul

Featured March 14, 2018

Forty years ago, traditional ways of growing in grace had largely fallen by the wayside of western Christianity. Yet, many had a strong desire to find practices to enter more fully and deeply into Christlikeness. Richard Foster penned Celebration of Discipline as a response to this need.

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Meditation

Published October, 2014 • Featured March 6, 2018

Prayer is the interactive relationship we have with God about what we and God are working on together. Christian meditation is the listening side of this interactive relationship.

Article

An Experiment with Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises

Published March, 1993 • Featured February 15, 2018

In this classic newsletter article, Richard Foster shares his experiment with the rhythms of Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises during Lent.

Book Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Understanding Submission

Published October, 2014 • Featured February 4, 2018

How does Jesus call us to follow him not only to a ​“cross death” but a ​“cross life”? How can we only be truly free when we are captives of the Lord? Richard Foster introduces us to the spiritual discipline of submission.

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

Prevail with God

Featured January 21, 2018

Richard Foster joins us today to offer ​“a magnificent model” of intercessory prayer from the Exodus 17 story of Moses, Aaron, and Hur. Why is nothing more important than this type of prayer in the ​“ongoing work of the kingdom of God”? Foster explains in this excerpt from his book on prayer.

Book Excerpt from The Challenge of the Disciplined Life

Spiritual Power May Look Like Weakness

Featured January 7, 2018

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:8). We share an always timely reflection from Richard Foster’s The Challenge of the Disciplined Life on the immense power hidden in the seeming weakness of those who remain faithful to God.

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

Release with Hope

Featured January 2, 2018

Sometimes, the start of a new year can serve as an impetus to let go of the destructive things in our lives. The Prayer of Relinquishment can move us from ​“the struggling to the releasing,” as Richard Foster writes in his book, Prayer: The Heart’s True Home. Here he shares a personal story.

Book Excerpt from Celebration of Discipline

Celebrate!

Featured December 17, 2017

At Christmastime, we find it fun to pull out some thoughts on the spiritual discipline of celebration from Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline.​With a nod to all things un-Scrooge from Nephew Fred added in, we’re going North Pole all the way! May these celebratory ideas enrich your holiday!

Article

The Contemporary Battlefronts

Published March, 1989 • Featured November 9, 2017

We finish Richard Foster’s consideration of what it means to be in the Lamb’s Army with a look at some current battlefronts in the realm of ​“principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness.” The stakes are high, but the Victor is certain.

Journal/Magazine Article

The Peaceable War of the Lamb

Published March, 1989 • Featured November 5, 2017

“We are called into this army with the Lord Jesus Christ as the commander-in-chief who leads his faithful people through all of history,” Richard Foster writes in this piece. What is the war he calls us into, and how can we best serve him? Richard explores these ideas in three parts.

Essay

Practicing the Sermon on the Mount

Published October, 2017 • Featured October 19, 2017

Richard Foster invites us to think anew on the Sermon on the Mount and, with the help of Dallas Willard, asks us to engage in some practices to live these startling, wise, and important words of Christ more deeply into our lives.

Book Excerpt from Streams of Living Water

The Stories of Francis

Featured October 5, 2017

The power of God worked through St. Francis of Assisi’s life in innumerable ways, manifesting itself in miracles and astounding acts of charity​. Richard Foster joins us to relate some of the stories of Francis that exemplify his model of the Charismatic tradition.

Book Excerpt from Streams of Living Water

Introducing Francesco

Featured October 1, 2017

Francis of Assisi is one of our most universally beloved Christian saints. Richard Foster joins us to share the story of how a marauding hooligan in the 13^th century became one of God’s most enduring and powerful witnesses of a Spirit-filled life. Come spend some time with good St. Frank!

Article

By Wisdom a House is Built

Featured September 28, 2017

It’s time to engage in the wisdom tradition in a personal way with a few praxis suggestions from Richard Foster. From putting on Proverbs to singing Solomon’s Song, from observation of the human scene to exploration of New Testament themes, there’s something for everyone in this piece.