“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:7-8
A tool to help you to pray (A.C.T.S.)
A (adoration):
C (confession):
T (thanksgiving):
S (supplication or intercession):
In our acronym, we come to the section of asking God about our needs. Notice that this is the last element of prayer. Most people will come to God with their requests first. How different it would be if you began your prayer with adoring God first and praising Him. When you begin with God by rehearsing His goodness, His faithfulness, and His power, your perspective will be changed. When you come to God with your needs, you acknowledge several qualities about God and yourself:
• Your inadequacy versus God’s sufficiency
• Your dependency versus God’s independency
• Your lack of resources versus God’s riches
Requests to bring to God:
• Spiritual, mental, physical, emotional needs
• Deliverance from temptation
• Your enemies
2 comments:
Donald,
Thank you for laying out the ACTS way to pray. I am a pastor as well and am working on the theology of prayer for my church. Yes, how our prayer lives would change when asking our people how can we pray for them, the responses would be, I pray to walk closer to Jesus, know God. But, folks jump head first into needs. I hope and pray God is highly exalted and lives transformed through the power of God working in prayer. Thank you brother! Casey
Thanks Casey. I will be praying for you as you lead your church into a theology of prayer. Our emphasis this year is on prayer, and I teach on it once a month throughout this year. I really believe that God would do so much through our churches if we were on our knees more. Take care.
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