The Means of Grace

  • Richard Foster
  • Jul 11, 2010
  • Series: Lost

The Means of Grace

Richard Foster

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

2 Peter 3:18

 

 

I. The INTENTIONAL Means of Grace

1. Meditation - The ability to hear God's voice and obey His word.

Ps. 119:78

2. Prayer - The interactive conversation with God about what we are doing together.

Matt. 6:5-15

3. Fasting - The voluntary denial of an otherwise normal function for the sake of intense spiritual activity.

Matt. 6:16-18

4. Study  - The process whereby the mind takes on an order conforming to the order of whatever it concentrates upon.

2 Tim. 2:15

5. Simplicity - An inward reality that results in an outward life style.

Matt. 6:22-24

6. Solitude - The creation of an open, empty space in which we can be found by God and by which we are freed from competing loyalties.

Mark 6:31

7. Submission - Learning to let go of the everlasting burden of always needing to get our own way.

Eph. 5:21

8. Service - The many little deaths of going beyond ourselves.

John 13:1-16

9. Worship - The glorious experience of the Shekanyah of God.

John 4:23

10. Guidance - The experience of knowing in our lives an interactive friendship with God.

Acts 15:28

11. Confession - To experience of knowing in our lives an interactive friendship with God.

Acts 15:28

12. Celebration - The life of "walking and leaping and praising God."

Phil. 4:4

 

 

II. The INSTRUMENTAL Means of Grace

1. Baptism - Our immersion into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Rom. 6:1-4

2. Eucharist - An ever-deepening, ever-fuller feeding on Jesus Christ, our life.

1 Cor. 11:23-26

3. The Proclamation of the Word - The grace whereby God takes our words and animates them with his life and power.

Rom. 10:14-15

4. Intercessory Prayer - When we love people we desire for them far more than it is in our power to give, which leads us to prayer.

Col. 1:9-14

5. The Laying on of Hands - The principle of contact and transmittal of God's love and power.

Heb. 6:2, 1 Tim. 4:14

6. Anointing with Oil - The application of physical means for the healing of physical and spiritual needs.

James 5:14

7. Gospel Order - Mutual subordination out of reverence for Christ.

Eph. 5:21

 

 

III. The EXPERIENTIAL Means of Grace

1. Ecstatic Experiences: visions, dreams, prophesy, glossolalia, etc. - Such experiences are not given solely (or even primarily) for the purpose of spiritual ecstacy, but for our formation into Christlikeness.

Rom. 12, 1 Cor. 12, Eph. 4

2. Our Interactions with the Movement of the Spirit - Through this interactive relationship we have worked within us a dependent, responsive spirit that is "willing and obedient."

Isaiah 1:19, Rom 8:14

3. Trials that produce a Patient Endurance - Each time we face difficulties in the power of the Holy Spirit, we deepen in the cardinal virtue of fortitude.

James 1:2

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.renovare.org/

 

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