The ACTS of Prayer

Good morning!

Yeah, that's a weird title for the post, right?

Many people, both Christian and non-Christian, are intimidated by prayer.  Let's break this down.

First of all, the unbeliever, the non-Christian:
God promises to hear only one prayer from the unbeliever and that prayer is the prayer where the person confesses his/her sin and invites Jesus in as Savior.  At that point, of course, the unbeliever immediately, supernaturally, eternally becomes a believer, a child of God.
Does God hear other prayers from unbelievers?  Yes, of course He does.  Does he answer them by granting the petitions/requests?  Yes, sometimes, He does.  However, He does not promise to do so.

For the Christian, you are His very own beloved.  He not only hears you but he answers you.  It may not be the answer you were expecting.  We'll talk more about that tomorrow.

But, what are the ACTS of prayer?  These letters represent an acronymn which reminds the believer of the key components of prayer.  You will find all of them in The Lord's Prayer, in Matthew 6:9-13.  This was a prayer that The Lord gave to us as a model for us to use; but, there was one of the letters He never had to pray.  Can you guess which letter it is?  :)  Let's see.

The A stands for adoration.  We should spend some time in our day adoring our God, praising Him for who He is, for His various characteristics/attributes such as:  holy, unchangeable, unchanging, all-knowing, ever-present, merciful, loving, just, indescribable, unfathomable!  Our God is amazing!  He loves to be praised!  I believe that God has given us many prayer models for this in the book of Psalms.  Some of the best examples are:  Psalms 100, 103 and 104.  Jesus modeled this in The Lord's Prayer when He prayed:  "hallowed be thy Name" and "for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever!"

The C stands for confession.  We should regularly be examining our heart before God and confessing our shortcomings to Him.  "Why should we do this", you may ask, "when all of our sins are forgiven?"  There are several reasons, which could make an entire blog post.  So, I am not going to go off in that direction this morning.  But, let me give you just one reason, for now.  God calls us to confess our sins to Him on an ongoing basis because doing so acknowledges our dependence and constant need for more of Him.  Although the believer's sins are forgiven - - - past, present and future - - - we cannot achieve our goal of becoming more like Christ on our own.  We still dwell in our mortal bodies for now.  The Apostle Paul was so anguished over his sin that he exclaimed, "O wretched man that I am!  Who shall deliver me from this body of death?"  (Romans 7:24)  Our flesh still wars continually with our redeemed spirit.  We get dirty, spiritually, and need to "get clean"!  Only by confessing our sins to Father and by receiving His assurance of forgiveness can we walk in true freedom, pressing on to become more and more like our Savior.
By the way, did you guess it?  This is the only one that Jesus did not have to pray, because He was perfectly sinless.  However, He modeled it for us when He prayed:  "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us".  The ancient word "trespass" basically means "wrongs".  We should ask to be forgiven of our "wrongs" as we forgive those who "wrong" us.

The T stands for thanksgiving.  There are also many psalms of thanksgiving (#s 111, 113, 138...), which goes hand-in-hand with adoration.  It just naturally follows.  Also, the apostle Paul is always thanking God for the young churches, to whom he writes his letters.  We must always be mindful to thank God for everything.  Yes, you read that right.  We sometimes forget to thank Him for the "good gifts", but almost never want to praise Him for the not-so-"good" gifts, right?  What does the Scripture say, though?  In  I Thessalonians 5:18, we read that we are to "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God concerning you."  That really flies in the face of popular wisdom, doesn't it?  The natural tendency of humans is to rail against God when things don't "go our way".  Remember Job's wife?  She unwisely recommended that he go ahead and curse God for his misfortunes and then just die.  This is recorded in Job 2:9-10.  Instead, he told her that she was talking like one of the godless women, and he responded by making a strong statement of his faith in God, thereby maintaining his integrity as a Jehovah-follower.
Even though it does not always seem like it, God brings all things to us for our good AND for His glory!  We, at those difficult times, must trust Him as Job did, because we never know what is going on behind the spiritual scenes.  Our job is not to know all or to understand all; our job is to trust and thank Him in all things.  God IS good, ALL the time.

The S stands for the most "popular" aspect of prayer and that is the big, fancy word "supplication".  (Well, "gimme, gimme, gimme" just did not fit in the acronym!)  Most of the time, when people pray, they are praying out of desperation:  "God, please deliver me from this awful situation!"  They treat God like some big "genie in the sky".  Even some Christians make this the cornerstone of their prayer life, and this does dishonor to our great God!  It is not wrong to ask God for things;  but, it is wrong to limit your prayer life to this aspect.
Now, on a more positive note, Jesus said that "it your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom". (Luke 12:32)  In other words, God wants to give us good things.  And, He wants us to ask Him.  Again, Jesus said, "ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you..."  In another place, He said, "if you ask anything in my name believing, you will receive it"  (Mark 11:24 and similarly Matthew 21:22.)  This is why Christians often close their prayers with "In Jesus' name, Amen".
There is one important thing to remember here, in conjunction with these verses. Jesus gave us the key in the Lord's Prayer when He prayed, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven".  The umbrella overarching and undergirding all of our prayers of supplication should be that God's will will be done in any given circumstance, that He will receive the glory and honor in every situation.  This desire should supercede any other earthly desire for which we pray.
Supplication does not mean only asking God's favor for ourselves, but also for others and their needs.
Jesus modeled this in The Lord's Prayer when He prayed:  "Give us this day our daily bread", "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil".

I hope that this little ACTS tool will help you as you live out this admonition from Paul:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV "

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Dear Jesus, I praise You today for who You are, although my understanding of you is so grossly imperfect and incomplete.  The fact that You chose to love us poor, lowly people amazes me.  Thank you for your incomprehensible love, made manifest in your redemption of us, The Otherwise Irredeemable..  Thank you for redeeming me, so unworthy.  Thank you for using me and my brothers and sisters to expand Your kingdom, Father!  May Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven! O Lord, you know our needs even before we ask, but I ask that You meet our every need today, beginning with our extreme need for "more of You".  Let every word we speak, every move we make today be done as a praise offering to You.  May every thought we think today be brought into conformity with Your will, and may every action we take today glorify You!  I lift up to You today, Lord, all those who are in need of a direct touch from You, whether that be a rescue, a healing, or whatever the need may be.  In particular today, I pray for the persecuted church around the world, but particularly in the Middle East, as they find themselves in the nexus of  jihad.  I also pray for Israel, even at this moment being attacked by rockets, fired from Gaza and other Palestinian-controlled governments.  Supernaturally protect those who are Your own, and call out of blindness and apostasy Your chosen people, Israel.  Teach us to pray, Lord!  Teach us to pray!  
In Jesus' name, Amen.