Quote

The needed change within us is God's work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job, and only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God: it is a grace that is given.

Richard J. Foster

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Richard J. Foster
Within
Earn
Jobs
Righteousness
Given
Kingdom
Cannot
Kingdoms
Change
Demand
Work
Inside
Needed
Grace
Attain

More quotes by Richard J. Foster

Image
Fasting reminds us that we are sustained by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Food does not sustain us God sustains us.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Each activity of daily life in which we stretch ourselves on behalf of others is a prayer in action.
Richard J. Foster
Image
To pray is to change. This is a great grace. How good of God to provide a path whereby our lives can be taken over by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Simplicity is freedom.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Simplicity enables us to live lives of integrity in the face of the terrible realities of our global village.
Richard J. Foster
Image
The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the pure from the impure. God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Spiritual direction involves a process through which one person helps another person understand what God is doing and saying.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Simplicity, then, is getting in touch with the divine center
Richard J. Foster
Image
You see, we need instruction on how to possess money without being possessed by money. We need help to learn how to own things without treasuring them. We need the discipline that will allow us to live simply while managing great wealth and power.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Absolute freedom is absolute nonsense! We gain freedom in anything through commitment, discipline, and fixed habit.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes. To think we have it is sure evidence that we don't.
Richard J. Foster
Image
The discovery of God lies in the daily and the ordinary, not in the spectacular and the heroic. If we cannot find God in the routines of home and shop, then we will not find Him at all.
Richard J. Foster
Image
In the spiritual life only one thing produces genuine joy and that is obedience.
Richard J. Foster
Image
One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless. We are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others. If we are silent, who will take control? God will take control, but we will never let him take control until we trust him. Silence is intimately related to trust.
Richard J. Foster
Image
In spiritual direction there is absolutely no domination or control.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Forms and rituals do not produce worship, nor does the disuse of forms and rituals. We can use all the right techniques and methods, we can have the best possible liturgy, but we have not worshiped the Lord until Spirit touches spirit.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Real prayer comes not from gritting our teeth but from falling in love.
Richard J. Foster
Image
Go another step. Try to live one entire day without words at all. Do it not as a law, but as an experiment. Note your feelings of helplessness and excessive dependence upon words to communicate. Try to find new ways to relate to tohers that are not dependent upon words. Enjoy, savor the day. Learn from it.
Richard J. Foster
Image
When the poor farmer of India is unable to buy a gallon of gasoline to run his simple water pump because the world's demand has priced him out of the market, who is to blame?
Richard J. Foster
Image
Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation. He mourns that we do not draw near to Him. He grieves that we have forgotten Him. He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence.
Richard J. Foster