Inspirational Quotes by Richard J. Foster
“The offering of ourselves can only be the offering of our lived experience, because this alone is who we are. And who we are—not who we want to be—is the only offering we have to give. We give God therefore not just our strengths but also our weaknesses, not just our giftedness but also our brokenness.”
“We are learning the obedience of unwearied patience in the midst of pestering children. We are learning the obedience of absolute gentleness with the frustrations and fears and pains of our spouse. We are learning the obedience of settled peace in the expectation of events beyond our control. This is the Covenant of Holy Obedience.”
“But all authentic prayer is a scraping of the heart whereby the dregs of the soul are offered up to God. Nehemiah’s”
“Once we have made generous latitude for individual differences and schedules, we must firmly discipline ourselves to a regular pattern of prayer. We cannot assume that time will somehow magically appear. We will never have time for prayer—we must make time. On this score we have to be ruthless with our rationalizations. We must never, for instance, excuse our prayerlessness under the guise of “always living prayerfully.”
“Self-denial is an unfamiliar concept for many of us today, and we worry that it requires losing our individuality. But all self-denial means is realizing that we do not always have to have our own way, that our happiness does not depend on getting what we want.1”
“The Covenant of Place gives us the gift of focus.”
“However brightly the light may shine, it can be seen only by those who are spiritually prepared to receive it. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’” —A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy 8”
“Prayer is the human response to the perpetual outpouring of love by which God lays siege to every soul. When our reply to God is most direct of all, it is called adoration.”
“I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from The Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book.” —Abraham Lincoln5”
“The fruit of the Spirit is the outward evidence of the inward reality of a heart “abiding” in Christ.”
“As Foster writes, “We will never have pure enough motives, or be good enough, or know enough in order to pray rightly. We simply must set all these things aside and begin praying. In fact, it is in the very act of prayer itself—the intimate, ongoing interaction with God—that these matters are cared for in due time.”1”
“God first acts in grace and mercy by delivering the people, and then the people respond in gratitude and thanksgiving by obeying the commandments. Put succinctly: the crossing of the Red Sea comes before the giving of the Ten Commandments. How”
“many things tempt our hearts to put them first and God second. We must root out the desire to worship these things and focus on the true God. The”
“Every soul belongs to God and exists by His pleasure. God being who and what He is, and we being who and what we are, the only thinkable relation between us is one of full Lordship on His part and complete submission on ours. We owe Him every honor that is in our power to give Him. Our everlasting grief lies in giving Him anything less.” —A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God 4”
“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”
“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”
“Discipline is to present us before grace, it does not produce grace to make sense.”
“Freedom comes not from the absence of restraint but from the presence of discipline.”
“The Spiritual Disciplines in and of themselves have no merit whatsoever. They possess no righteousness, contain no rectitude. Their purpose—their only purpose—is to place us before God. After that they have come to the end of their usefulness. But it is enough.”
“over many centuries and through multiple human authors, God has so superintended the development of the Bible that it speaks to us about real life (zoë) and teaches us how to live “with God”
Group of Brands
© 2026 Bibleportal.com All rights reserved.
Richard J. Foster is a Christian theologian and author in the Quaker tradition. His writings speak to a broad Christian audience. He has been a professor at Friends University and pastor of Evangelical Friends churches. Foster resides in Denver, Colorado. He earned his undergraduate degree at George Fox University in Oregon and his Doctor of Pastoral Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Foster is best known for his 1978 book Celebration of Discipline, which examines the inward disciplines of prayer, fasting, meditation, and study in the Christian life, the outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service, and the corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. It has sold over one million copies. It was named by Christianity Today as one of the top ten books of the twentieth century.