CoffeeSwirls

Praying A.C.T.S.

Coffeeswirls Weekly Bible - Week 20

I go to a men's group at church every Thursday from 9:00 p.m. until it's over. That can make for some late evenings, but it's always worth a little less sleep. We usually discuss Biblical matters, and had been going through Ephesians until we began to focus more on our own current events. Health concerns, legal matters, praying for (and rejoicing) financial matters and being better husbands and fathers are all common topics of discussion. We compare our reading of the Word and keep each other accountable. Iron sharpens iron, you know.

One way that Ken has sharpened us all is in his "pattern" he follows for prayer, following the acronym of ACTS. I'm not sure that "pattern" or "template" are good descriptors for his method, but those are the best things I can think of. I've been using this... pattern... for the last week and I must say that I believe it to be very reverent. I'll break it down for you:

• Adoration is the first step. I spend a healthy amount of time ascribing glory to God. He is so full of wonder and joy that I often just keep going on this theme! Of course, in ascribing glory to God, I am not adding to His glory, for He has glory in abundance. What this time is, though, is recognizing the majesty of the Lord, for He alone is worthy of our praise.
• Confession follows this. After proclaiming God's glory, I feel a stronger sense of unworthiness to even pray to God, much less develop a relationship with Him. The beauty of the relationship in the fact that He is a forgiving God. Day after day I fail Him and day after day, he renews me.
• Thanks are offered up to the Lord for all that He has done for me. I am not a rich man. I am not wise or especially talented. The family, home, job, health, peace and all of the other gifts He gives me are all given to me by Him, for without His grace, I am nothing. Have you ever thanked God for the very fact that you can hear a songbird? Have you thanked Him for the difficulties in your life? It's very liberating, I must say! And what's this about thanks for difficulties? When Moses was a shepherd all of those years, have you ever considered that time to be a training for him to lead the Israelites for forty years?
• Supplication is the last stage of the prayer. This is the time when we ask God for help with all matters great and small. And by the time you get to this step of the prayer, you often find that there is so much in your life to be thankful for and there is so much that the Lord does for you, that this part is amended. I often go back to the earlier stages as I pray. I may have some issue to pray about, but I have just given Him so much praise that it seems odd to beg for a morsel of a blessing in a small matter. It's like the saying goes, "Don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff." Don't get me wrong, I give this step it's due, but by the time I get there, it doesn't seem to be as important as it was when I first went to my knees.

How about you? Do you have any particular formula you like to follow in prayer or do you prefer more of a free-flowing time in conversation with God? Until Ken shared that method with us, I was more of a free-flowing worshiper. Structure isn't important to prayer, but I have found that I praise God all the more for using this pattern. It helps keep my eyes up on Him rather than down at my troubles. I end up placing so many of them at His feet that my burden seems lighter.