WEEK THREE, DAY ONE Prayer Prayer is “two-way communication with God” and is one of the most basic and important spiritual disciplines. In scripture, Jesus is the best example that we have to follow when learning how to pray. He not only teaches us what to pray, how to pray, when to pray, and where to pray, but He models the correct attitude to take both when praying and when receiving an answer from God. Let’s take a look at the most recognized prayer that Jesus prayed, what we commonly call “The Lord’s Prayer.” For now, just read Matthew 6:5-13. Notice that Jesus describes His prayer as a model to be followed, not necessarily a script to be repeated, although it is perfectly acceptable to repeat Jesus’ prayer if your attitude is sincere and you speak the words from your heart. Over the years, believers have also developed other useful prayer guides. One of those is the “A.C.T.S.” acrostic. A Adoration (Talking about God’s character, majesty and power) C Confession (Admitting to God our sins) T Thanksgiving (Being grateful for what God has done in our life) S Supplication (requesting something of God) Notice any similarities between the ACTS acrostic and the Lord’s Prayer? By praying through the acrostic, a believer can be more thorough in their sit-down prayer time. Sometimes when you sit down to pray, you focus on just one area of prayer (like supplication or confession) and forget to be grateful and remember God’s power and majesty. The ACTS acrostic helps keep your prayer more balanced as you learn to pray. However, many times shorter, more casual, prayers that we pray throughout the day (over a meal, before a test, when you are upset at someone) seldom include more than one or two of the areas of prayer listed in the ACTS acrostic prayer guide and that’s just fine. Because every day is new, the content of your prayers will vary from day to day. Some days, you may be full of questions for God. On other days, you may just need to vent to Him about the things that you are going through. Sometimes, things will be going so well that all you want to do is give God compliments and thanks. As long as you approach God with the attitude illustrated in Jesus’ prayer, there is really no wrong way to pray. The important thing is that you pray. Pray: In your prayer time today, follow Jesus’ prayer as a framework for your own thoughts or practice following the ACTS acrostic as a prayer guide. FOR FURTHER STUDY: Study Matthew 6:9-13 as individual verses.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 14:53:51 +0000
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