A Masterclass on Prayer
The Book - Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard J. Foster
Each book on prayer that I have read this year becomes my new favorite. I don’t know how the next one could possibly top the previous, but it does. This month Richard Foster’s book easily became my new favorite.
I had previously read his book The Celebration of Discipline, so I was familiar with his style. (I highly recommend that book too!) Foster’s book on prayer, though, blew me away. I loved how approachable and encouraging his writing felt. Foster’s love for God is apparent with every word he writes. His sincere desire for everyone to have a close, personal relationship with God through prayer is felt with every chapter. Throughout, Foster emphasizes the greatest commandment, which Jesus tells us:
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:37-40).
Loving God grows our love for others. We grow to love God more by knowing Him better. We grow in relationship with Him by spending time with Him: studying His Word and praying. However, prayer can take on many different forms.
Foster structured his book into three parts: 1) Moving Inward: Seeking the Transformation We Need, 2) Moving Upward: Seeking the Intimacy We Need, and 3) Moving Outward: Seeking the Ministry We Need. Foster sums up this three-fold structure by saying:
“We saw some of the ways God’s loving friendship draws us inward into the transformation we need: changing us, molding us, forming us. We were invited upward into the intimacy we ended: adoring God, resting in God, listening to God. We heard the call outward into the ministry we need: healing the sick, suffering with the broken, interceding for the world.” (255)
Within each section, Foster includes seven different types of prayer that align with each purpose. For the purposes of this blog, I will highlight one from each section that stood out to me. I would highly encourage you to read Foster’s book for yourself. It was truly a masterclass on prayer.
The Prayer of Relinquishment
The first prayer we will consider is the Prayer of Relinquishment. This prayer deals with the topic of the will – your will versus the will of God. Foster writes, “In the beginning our will is in struggle with God’s will…We expect God to perform like a magician or shower us with blessings like Father Christmas. We major in instant solutions and manipulative prayers” (47). No one likes to think they are treating God like He’s the genie in the lamp, but if we really consider it, are we?
Foster likens this prayer to an early developmental phase of praying. He writes, “In time, however, we begin to enter into a grace-filled releasing of our will and a flowing into the will of the Father. It is the Prayer of Relinquishment that moves us from the struggling to the releasing” (47). Struggle is a necessary aspect of this prayer. We may wrestle with God. Goodness knows we are in good company; Jesus Himself wrestled in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified (Matt. 26). But there is a releasing, a relinquishment of our will as we bow in submission to God’s will.
The “giving up” of our will can be through trusting submission or hopeless submission. Foster talks about the dangers of resignation, or the giving up without hope. For the sake of transparency, this is where I struggle. There have been things I have prayed about for years, and I have given up without hope more than once when God has not answered. Other times I wonder why I should even bother praying about a particular situation. This prayer particularly convicted me with how I view God and His working in my life and in the world.
The Prayer of Relinquishment is very specifically “a release with hope” (52). We still confidently trust in God and who we know Him to be. We trust in His loving kindness, grace, and mercy. We trust Him to be God, the ultimate power and authority over all things. Foster writes, “...frequently we hold on so tightly to the good that we do know that we cannot receive the greater good that we do not know. God has to help us let go of our tiny vision in order to release the greater good he has in store for us” (53). The relinquishment of our will for the will of God is always for our benefit.
As we relinquish more of ourselves to God through prayer, “[new] graces emerge: new ability to cast all our care upon God, new joy at the success of others, new hope in a God who is good” (54). Relinquishment is not easy, but it is not hopeless either. By learning to surrender ourselves moment by moment into God’s care, we can be led more by Him in each of those moments.
The beauty of this is that God can and will do more than we can possibly imagine.
The Prayer of Adoration
Next we will look at the Prayer of Adoration. Foster defines adoration as “the spontaneous yearning of the heart to worship, honor, magnify, and bless God” (81). In this prayer, we seek nothing for ourselves; rather, we love God for Himself.
Foster tells us that this prayer consists of both thanksgiving and praise. He writes, “...in thanksgiving we give glory to God for what he has done for us, in praise we give glory to God for who he is in himself” (83). The two aspects weave together into a flawlessly beautiful expression of adoration.
We can easily be overwhelmed by the frustrations and disappointments of life, so that the prayer of adoration can be drowned out by daily worries. We can also be caught up in discontentment, always on the lookout for more or better. This, too, can make it difficult to express thanksgiving or praise.
This makes me think of days when I am teaching. Many times I’ll come home frustrated by the latest directive from “on high”, repeated behaviors that keep me from being able to do my job, or simply the “one more thing” that has been put on my plate that is already overflowing. Being held accountable for that which is entirely outside of my sphere of influence is downright exhausting. That last thing on my radar is how I can adore God for His goodness, because I am struggling to see any kind of goodness at all.
Foster recommends that we start small. He writes, “We learn about the goodness of God not by contemplating the goodness of God but by watching a butterfly” (87). With regular practice, he says that we will grow to “experience pleasures rather than merely scrutinize them” (88). Adoration will begin to flow in time.
We can also add in the practice of gratitude. You can look up the statistics for yourself, but the regular practice of gratitude is enormous in its benefits – not the least of which is magnifying and glorifying God. In this practice, you give thanks for the simple gifts and pleasures that have come your way. These can absolutely be small things, too. For example, I could say I am grateful for:
the sparkling water I drank in the heat of the afternoon.
my dog excitedly greeting me and following me around as soon as I got home.
the whir of the fan stirring the air.
None of these things is world-changing, but they are all perspective-changing. When I am caught in a negative spiral, gratitude can help me turn my attention to the One who gives all good gifts. (On a side note, I would recommend reading Ann Voskamp’s 1000 Gifts for more about this practice.)
The Prayer of Adoration is God-focused prayer that magnifies and celebrates who He is. It helps us put God, ourselves, and our daily lives into the proper perspective.
The Prayer of the Ordinary
Lastly, we will ponder the Prayer of the Ordinary. Foster tells us, “We pray the ordinary in three ways: first, by turning ordinary experiences of life into prayer; second by seeing God in the ordinary experiences of life; and third, by praying throughout the ordinary experiences of life” (169). In essence, we must understand that there is something of the sacred in every ordinary moment.
Truly, this makes sense. The majority of our lives is spent in the ordinary and routine of each day: washing the dishes, going to work, making dinner, helping kids with homework, etc. This is where we are to meet God: “The discovery of God lies in the daily and the ordinary, not in the spectacular and the heroic” (Foster, 171). Every moment of our day is an opportunity to become “prayer in action.” Foster describes this as “[the] work of our hands and of our minds is acted out prayer, a love offering to the living God” (172). All that we do can be turned to worship of the Father (Col. 3:23).
In each ordinary moment, we can turn our actions into prayer, see God in those moments, or pray to God through them. (Another book I would highly recommend here is Phylicia Masonheimer’s Every Home a Foundation.)
I cannot fully express how Foster’s book has changed my perception of prayer. It is a book I will need to reread many times, but I am encouraged to continue my efforts in prayer. More and more, I am seeing how I can approach God the Father and Jesus, my Savior and Friend, in every moment of my day, big or small, important or insignificant. God is in the midst of it all with me. I pray that this truth is one you come to know as well.
A Practice - Prayer in Play
When was the last time you played? This may make you think of childhood play, things like games of make-believe, freeze tag, coloring or painting, and more. We’ll get to what it might look like for adults in a couple of paragraphs.
When I think of play, I think of my dog pouncing on her yellow squeaky ball as soon as she wakes up. The amount of energy she has first thing in the morning is something to behold. I think of my little cousins spreading all the toys out in clearly delineated patterns (at least to them) at their grandma’s office and happily lying on the floor to color pictures. The minute you walk through the door, they are going to be asking for your attention to whatever they’ve created or are doing.
But what is play? According to doctor and researcher Stuart Brown, play is “intensely pleasurable. It energizes us and enlivens us. It eases our burdens. It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities” (Play, 4). Activities that fall into the category of play are things that are “apparently” purposeless, inherently attractive, relieve you of a sense of time, make you less self-conscious, and more.
In adulthood, play may take on many different forms. I’ll use Brown’s names for the following examples. For instance, some may be drawn toward jokes (the joker). Others may like to dance or swim or walk or any other preferred movement (the kinesthete). Some might explore their world; this could be done physically or even mentally through research (the explorer). Competitive play is an option (the competitor). Those who enjoy planning and organizing events could experience it as play (the director). Did you ever collect something when you were young? I collected the Sunday comics from the newspaper every week (the collector). Others are artists or creators (the artist/creator), and still others tell stories (the storyteller). Which of these appeals most to you?
Personally, I find running or walking (especially in nature) to be particularly enjoyable experiences. I love art and creating things, even if I’m not very good. The times when I pull out all my painting supplies and make a glorious mess are absolutely some of my best days. Just last week, I was working on outlining a new fiction story that I’m planning, and I was in such a flow state that I lost hours to the project. Each of these is an example of play. They are things I enjoy, times when I can just be.
It might seem odd to consider this in light of prayer, but I want you to think about how play is an inherent drive in the developing human. This is something God has placed in us. He is our ultimate Creator. Just think of the imagination it took to create something like the sea pig. Go ahead, look it up. We are made in His image, which includes being given the gift of imagination. This is not something that just ends with childhood. It is something that breathes life and joy into the often mundane and frustrating aspects of life.
For play to become prayer, the first thing you’ll need to do is to actually give yourself permission to play. Then invite Jesus into the experience with you. Enjoy it with Him. I invited Him on my long run the other day, and I didn’t say much to Him, but I know He was with me. At the end, reflect back on the experience. After my run, I truly had the best day. I felt light, I was more creative, and I experienced God in the ordinary better than on other days.
MaryKate Morse writes, “I believe play can draw us back into Jesus’ love. Combining prayer with play reminds us of our status as Jesus’ little children and helps us remember and know his love” (121). Play can help us remember that we are God’s children and can approach Him as beloved children. This is not meant to trivialize God or our relationship with Him; rather, I hope this practice helps you remember how loved and free you are to approach God in every moment of your day
