Transformation Blog

Prayer Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster Part 3— Moving Outward Chapter 17— Intercessory Prayer “ Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the fellowship must enter every day.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer OPENING PRAYER 1.   Intercession is a way of loving others.          Shifting our “center of gravity”   from our own needs to others.          Nothing is more important that intercessory prayer.          People need help.   Marriages, children, health, spiritual growth          Many are living lives of “quiet desperation” with no hope, aimless          We can make a difference if we will pray. 2.   A Priestly Ministry          All Christians belong to the priesthood.          As Christ intercedes for us, so we are to intercede for others.          Moses and Joshua—both sides of the battle—one to pray, one to fight in the                             physical realm.        3.   Christ, the Eter

Prayer Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster Part 3— Moving Outward Chapter 16— Petitionary Prayer “ Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom.” C. H. Spurgeon OPENING PRAYER 1.        Our Staple Diet—not optional          Every parent wants to be asked.   It drives connection.          Petition is not a “lower” or inferior form of prayer.          Neglecting petition in favor of more inward prayer is self-serving and the antithesis of what God intends.          Our petitions are often self-serving and childish, but petition is the child-like    relationship that Jesus spoke about in terms of becoming part of the Kingdom. 2.   Unanswered Prayer          A problem, an embarrassment          P.T. Forsyth—“We shall come one day to a heaven where we shall gratefully know that God’s great refusals were sometimes the true answers to our truest prayer.”          Our prayers are answered but we can’t see them sometimes.

Prayer Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster Part 3— Moving Outward Chapter 15— Praying the Ordinary “ Do not forget that the value and interest of life is not so much to do conspicuous things…as to do ordinary things   with the perception of their enormous value.” Teilhard of Chardin OPENING PRAYER 1.        Transformation and intimacy both cry out for ministry.          The world writhes under the pain of arrogance and self-sufficiency.          Spiritual bankruptcy.          Reservoirs vs. canals. 2.        The Heresy of a 5% spirituality is overcome by praying the ordinary.          Living and dying an ordinary life—Richard Foster’s mother          The holiness of created things          Jesus was born in lowly circumstances to sanctify the commonplace          He wove all things together          Have “an unspeakable reverence for the holiness of created things.” (Thomas                            Merton) 3.        Prayer in