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Richard J. Foster

Richard J. Foster Quotes

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Famous Richard J. Foster Quotes

“To most observers, innovation is a solitary process that requires creativity and genius, perhaps even greatness. It can't, in their view, be managed or predicted, just hoped for and, perhaps, facilitated. But for me innovation was and still is more than that. It was a battle in the marketplace between innovators or attackers trying to make money by changing the order of things, and defenders protecting their cash flow.”

TryingStillsOrderProcessViewsCreativityGreatnessGeniusBattleFlowInnovationMaking MoneyCashSolitaryObserversMarketplaceDefendersInnovatorsCash Flow
Author:Richard J. Foster
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“Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation. He mourns that we do not draw near to Him. He grieves that we have forgotten Him. He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence.”

HeartTodayDrawsDistanceForgottenWoundsObsessionGrievingAcheMournPreoccupation
Book:Prayer - 10th Anniversary Edition: Finding the Heart's True Home
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“A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is provide the right conditions for the growing of grain. He cultivates the ground, he plants the seed, he waters the plants, and then the natural forces of the earth take over and up comes the grain...This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines - they are a way of sowing to the Spirit... By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.”

WayDoneEarthSpiritualSpiritJesusForceGrowsWaterCan DoNaturalGrowingConditionsDisciplinePlantSeedsFarmersGrainHelplessSowingSpiritual Disciplines
Book:Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth
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“Jesus Christ and all the writers of the New Testament call us to break free of mammon lust and live in joyous trust...They point us toward a way of living in which everything we have we receive as a gift, and everything we have is cared for by God, and everything we have is available to others when it is right and good. This reality frames the heart of Christian simplicity. It is the means of liberation and power to do what is right and to overcome the forces of fear and avarice.”

WayHeartMeanRealityChristianJesusForceChristBreakJesus ChristOvercomingSimplicityAvailableLustLiberationTestamentNew TestamentJoyousAvarice
Author:Richard J. Foster
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“Nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honour and recognition. It will devise subtle, religiously acceptable means to call attention to the service rendered. If we stoutly refuse to give in to this lust of the flesh, we crucify it. Every time we crucify the flesh, we crucify our pride and arrogance.”

IfsGivingMeanDesireAttentionPrideDisciplineRefuseFleshLustRecognitionArroganceSubtleServingHonourScreamAcceptableStrainPride And Arrogance
Author:Richard J. Foster
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“The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the pure from the impure. God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture.”

MatterEnoughBigsSidesPrayerPureMassEternitySelfishBitterMotiveMixturesHatefulMercifulTangled
Book:Prayer - 10th Anniversary Edition: Finding the Heart's True Home
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“Whenever the Christian idea of meditation is taken seriously, there are those who assume it is synonymous with the concept of meditation centered in Eastern religions. In reality, the two ideas stand worlds apart. Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to fill the mind. The two ideas are quite different.”

WorldMindTwoIdeasDifferentRealityChristianTakenMeditationConceptsEmptyAssumingContemplationEasternWorlds Apart
Book:Richard Foster's treasury of Christian discipline
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“One remarkable feature of the devotional masters is the incredible sense of uniform witness in the midst of such diverse personalities... and the necessity of Christian simplicity is one of their most consistent themes.”

ChristianSimpleMastersPersonalityIncrediblesSimplicityWitnessFeaturesThemeConsistentRemarkableMidstDiverseUniformsSimple LivingDevotional
Book:Richard Foster's treasury of Christian discipline
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“In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emerging of the Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicaed, Spirit-empowered peole. All of creation watches expectantly for the springing up of a disciplined, freely gathered, martyr people who know in this likfe the life and power of the Kindgom of God. It happened before, it can happen again.”

PeopleKnowsHappensEarthSpiritHeavenWaitingWatchesHappenedCreationMartyrEmpoweredEmergingHeaven And EarthTiptoes
Author:Richard J. Foster
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