Prayer
Finding the Heart’s True Home
by Richard Foster

Part 2— Moving Upward
Chapter 12—Prayer of the Heart

“Heart speaks to heart.”  John Henry Newman

OPENING PRAYER

1.  The Abba Prayer
         Warming the heart
         God longs to commune with us.
         “It is the heart that prays, it is to the voice of the heart that God listens, and it is the                   heart that answers.”  Jean-Nicholas Grou

2.  Abba—Our Father
         Jesus was the first one in Jewish history to use “Father” to describe God
         Further, He taught us to use “Father” to address God
         And He used the familiar, intimate equivalent of “Daddy”

3.  Prayer of the lips, mind, heart
         The Holy Spirit is the initiator of the prayer of the heart
         He also prays it, and sustains it—groanings too deep for words
         Romans 8:17-26

4.  How the Holy Spirit prays the Prayer of the Heart
         Rhema
                  a special word spoken to us by the Spirit directly
                  a special illumination of the scripture
                  a special word spoken to us by another
                  a special prayer language—speaking in tongues
                  “resting” in the Spirit—slain in the Spirit
                  Holy Laughter

5.  Prayer is both asking and receiving—active and passive
         A warming of the heart

6.  Response to the Prayer of the Heart
         Developing a familiar friendship with Christ.
         Love—the response of the heart to the overwhelming goodness of God
         Special names:  Abba Father, My Well Beloved
         Speak love and compassion to the Father
         Go to sleep in prayer
         Ask God to kindle a fire of love (for Him) within you.

Stand in the drenching rain of the Father.

A Guided Meditation

Closing Prayer
Abba, dear Abba, you know that the language of love does not come easily to me. I can talk of courage and faith and a whole host of other things more readily than I can of love.  In some ways it is easier to give up my body to be burned than to love.
O wine of my heart, intoxicate me with your love.
For Jesus’ sake.  – Amen  (Richard Foster)





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