The A.C.T.S. of Prayer (4.13.14)

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results - James 5:16

Prayer is just lovingly, reverently talking to GOD. 

Have you ever heard of the A.C.T.S. of prayer? 

Each letter stands for one kind of prayer. It is not the only or "right" prayer model, but it can help remind us of some of the basic things to cover when we approach our Heavenly Father in prayer.  The A.C.T.S. are:

A = Adoration (praise)
C = Confession (of sins)
T = Thanksgiving (being grateful to God)
S = Supplication (requests)

GOD, our Creator, is wonderful; and He deserves our praise! That is why it’s good to start by praising Him. It also gives us a right perspective -- GOD’s greatness and power compared to our smallness. Jesus began The Lord's Prayer by acknowledging GOD's fatherly love, goodness and His rule over the earth: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven....." - Matthew 6:9-13.

Everyone has sinned and have fallen short of GOD’s glorious standard - Romans 3:23; Your sins have cut you off from GOD - Isaiah 59:2, but we want to be close to Him!  If we confess our sins to the Lord, He is faithful and just to forgive us - 1 John 1:9. Holding onto our sins builds a barrier between us and GOD. Confessing and repenting of them breaks down that wall.

How has GOD blessed you? 

How has He shown His love for you? 

Of course, we are thankful for His blessings. But we can even be grateful for our "perceived" problems and hardships.  Because He can use those to bring us closer to Him. The Bible tells us to "be thankful in all circumstances, for this is GOD’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus - 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Jesus taught us that we can ask for what we need, and to be persistent in asking: keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you - Luke 11:9.  We can trust that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us - 1 John 5:14.

The Gospels record Jesus turning to the Father in prayer, time after time, day after day. We are to follow His example and pray without ceasing - 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

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Have a Blessed Palm Sunday!

- Marilyn Chaney