Prayer
Finding the Heart’s True Home
by Richard Foster
Week 12
Part 1— Moving Upward
Chapter 9— The
Prayer of Rest
“Rest. Rest. Rest in God’s love. The only work you
are required now to do is to give your most intense attention to His still,
small voice within.” Madame Jeanne Guyon
OPENING PRAYER
1. What does it mean to rest in God?
The
‘eye of the storm’:
Stability
and serenity in chaos and confusion
Stillness
and relaxation in the midst of personal struggle
Focused
and attentive in the midst of frustration
2. Matthew 11:28, 29—it’s
possible to reach
3. Sabbath Prayer—Shalom
Psalm 37
Hebrews
4:7
Not
law, but a state of Grace—becoming like God
Laying
down the need to be productive—trusting God
Pray
without ceasing= come to rest
Intense
stillness, quiet alertness
4. How do we enter the Prayer of Rest?
Knitting
story
Prayer
in the Middle Voice—not passive, not active
We
both act and are acted upon
We
participate, but do not cause the action
Holy
leisure—balance
5. Activity of the Trinity
Romans
8:26,27—what a relief!
The
Holy Spirit is praying along with us, straightens out our stumblings
Jesus
intercedes for us as High Priest—Hebrews 7-9
God
is in everlasting communion with himself through our stumbling prayers
“When
we speak to God, it is really God who
lives in us speaking through us to
himself…The dialogue of grace is really the monologue of the divine nature in self-communing
love.”
6. Recollection
Solitude
and Silence
Quieting
all creaturely activity—a hush of the soul
Listening
to the still, small voice
Focus,
tranquility
Prayer of Recollection (Phil. 3:7-9): the spiritual
discipline of reminding the self of its true identity in Christ (full pardon,
full acceptance) and “Christ in me” (that I am not alone).
My Intention: “God,
whatever I do today, I want to do it in you.
I don’t want to do this alone, in my own power or as a way to hide and
cover. I don’t want to find my identity
in anything but Christ. I am in Christ and that is my true identity. (confess
any idolatry)
This protects the life from idolatry, false identities
and moralism or making decisions from false guilt, shame in life in the power
of the self.
7. Cupping the Hands Lightly
Holding
things with an open hand
Enough
freedom to stretch and grow
Enough
protection so that we will not be injured and allowed to be healed.
Closing
Prayer:
Blessed Savior, I am not good at resting in the hollow
of your hand. Nothing in my experience
has taught me this resting. I have been
taught how to take charge. I have been
taught how to be in control. But how to
rest? No, I have no models, no paradigms
for resting.
That
is not exactly right. Jesus, when you walked among the Jerusalem crowds and in the
Judean hill, you pioneered this way of living.
You were always alert and alive.
You lived utterly responsive to the will of the Father. Manifold demands were placed upon you, and
still you worked in unhurried peace and power.
Help
me to walk in your steps. Teach me to
see only what you see, to say only what you say, to do only what you do. Help me, Lord, to work resting and to pray
resting.
I ask
this in your good and strong name. –Amen (Richard Foster)
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