Celebration of Discipline, Richard J. Foster

[Amanah]

Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
HarperCollins, 1978, 1988, 1998
Foster, Richard J.

Some thoughts from Foster's book:

Spiritual Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us . . . Spiritual Disciplines are a way of sowing to the Spirit . . . It is a path of discipined grace, grace because it is free, but disciplined because there is something for us to do.

In the Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes it clear that grace is free, but it is not cheap.

The disciplines according to Foster:

Meditation
Prayer
Fasting
Study
Simplicity
Solitude
Submission
Service
Confession
Worship
Guidance
Celebration

In this little blog, I'm going to summarize Foster's book, and add thoughts from other books that support his ideas. Ive read his book several times and I find that when I practice spiritual disciplines, I'm able to grow closer to God and be more in touch with his presence.

I believe when we change our habits we make more room in our lives for God to work. For instance, If i decide that I'm going to spend time in prayer and bible reading every day, I have to give up another activity that I would be doing in that time. I have to give up some of the time I would have spent watching tv, or playing on my computer.

I think making room for God in our lives is how we open ourselves up for him to change us and through us impact our world.

[crakjak]

Originally Posted by Amanah

Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
HarperCollins, 1978, 1988, 1998
Foster, Richard J.

Some thoughts from Foster's book:

Spiritual Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us . . . Spiritual Disciplines are a way of sowing to the Spirit . . . It is a path of discipined grace, grace because it is free, but disciplined because there is something for us to do.

In the Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes it clear that grace is free, but it is not cheap.

The disciplines according to Foster:

Meditation
Prayer
Fasting
Study
Simplicity
Solitude
Submission
Service
Confession
Worship
Guidance
Celebration

In this little blog, I'm going to summarize Foster's book, and add thoughts from other books that support his ideas. Ive read his book several times and I find that when I practice spiritual disciplines, I'm able to grow closer to God and be more in touch with his presence.

I believe when we change our habits we make more room in our lives for God to work. For instance, If i decide that I'm going to spend time in prayer and bible reading every day, I have to give up another activity that I would be doing in that time. I have to give up some of the time I would have spent watching tv, or playing on my computer.

I think making room for God in our lives is how we open ourselves up for him to change us and through us impact our world.

Very good read! Also, Foster's book entitled "Prayer"

[bbyrd009]

Amen! If you want to be closer to God, you have to take a step up.
I think the earthly parent/child relationship illustrates many parallels here (well, at least when this relationship is a healthy, un-codependent one...).
I loved "Grace is free, but it isn't cheap."

[Dedicated Mind]

i have this book, haven't read it yet

[mizpeh]

I've been asking God "how" for a long, long time...How do I overcome the flesh and kill the flesh through the Spirit? Rom 8:13 (remember, Paul's audience is born-again believers). I've felt that is had to do with prayer, fasting, and studying and meditating on the word, but couldn't quite put it together into words.

Here is an answer in Chapter 1 page 7 under the heading, The Spiritual Disciplines Open the Door. "If all human strivings end in moral bankruptcy (and having tried it, we know it is so), and if righteousness is a gracious gift from God (as the Bible clearly states), then is it not logical to conclude that we must wait for God ot come and transform us? Strangely enough, the answer is no. The analysis is correct--human striving is insufficient and righteousness is a gift from God--but the conclusion is faulty. Happily there is something we can do. We don not need to be hung on the horns of the dilemma or either human works or idleness. God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.

The apostle Paul says, "he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Gal 6:8). Paul's analogy is instructive. 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. The Disciplines are God's way of getting us into the ground; they put us where he can work within us and transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They are God's means of grace."

[Amanah]

thank you Mizpeh, that is the point of the book. I meant to review it here and got side tracked.

[mizpeh]

Same chapter, page 8:

"It might be helpful to visualize what we have been discussing. Picture a long, narrow ridge with a sheer drop-off on either side. The chasm to the right is the way of moral bankruptcy through human strivings for righteousness. Historically this has been called the heresy of moralism. The chasm to the left is the absence of human strivings. This has been called the heresy of antinomianism. On the ridge there is a path, the Disciplines of the spiritual life. This path leads to the inner transformation and healing for which we seek. We must never veer off to the right or to the left, but stay on the path. The path is fraught with severe difficulties, but also with incredible joys. As we travel on this path, the blessing of God will come upon us and reconstruct us into the image of Jesus Christ. We must always remember that the path does not produce the change; it only places us where the change can occur. This is the path of disciplined grace."

Looks like I have a couple of things to look up; heresy of moralism and the heresy of antinomianism.

[mizpeh]

" To understand that the work of prayer involves a learning process saves us from arrogantly dismissing it as false or unreal. If we turn on our television set and it does not work, we do not declare that there are no such things as electronic frequencies in the air or on the cable. We assume somethings is wrong, something we can find and correct. We check the plug, switch, circuitry until we discover what is blocking the flow of this mysterious energy that transmits pictures. We know the problem has been found and fixed by seeing whether or not the TV works. It is the same with prayer. We can determine if we are prayig correctly if the requests come to pass. If not, we look for the "block"; perhaps we are praying wrongly, perhaps something within us needs changing, perhaps there are new principles of prayer to be learned, perhaps patience and persistence are needed. We listen, make the necessary adjustments, and try again. We can know that our prayers are being answered as surely as we can know that the television set is working."

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, page 38.

[mizpeh]

" We must never wait until we feel like praying before we pray for others. Prayer is like any other work; we may not feel like working, but once we have been at it for a bit, we begin to feel like working. We may not feel like practicing the piano, but once we play for a while, we feel like doing it. In the same way, our prayer muscles need to be limbered up a bit and once the blood-flow of intercession begins,we will find that we feel like praying."

page 45

[mizpeh]

I've really struggled with this at work; my mind tends to get lost in what I'm doing and I lose track of the presence of God. On page 45 Richard Foster wrote, "It is not prayer in addition to work but prayer simultaneious with work. We precede, enfold, and follow all our work with prayer. Prayer and action become wedded. Thomas Kelly witnesses: "There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating,meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship, and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings."