In 1883 a periodical called The Continent published a model of prayer that some of us have come to know and, maybe, even use. It is the acronym, ACTS -- Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. The structure was designed to have us approach God with reverence (adoration), repent from our sin (confession), remember His blessings (thanksgiving), and finally make our requests known (supplication). It's not biblical ... as a mandate, that is.
Jesus started His famous prayer with the addressee -- "Our Father, who art in heaven" (Matt 6:9-13). So starting with recognizing to whom you are speaking is just a standard means of addressing. But if you look at Daniel's prayer in Daniel 9, he does follow this ACTS pattern (again, not by way of mandate, but simply that we can see). Daniel's prayer begins with "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments ..." (Dan 9:4). Adoration. But adoration of God's greatness pushes Daniel directly into Confession. He confesses for 10 verses, in fact, often bouncing off of God's character. "Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame" (Dan 9:7). "To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him" (Dan 9:9). That sort of thing. He confesses the sins of his people and includes himself in it all ... for 10 verses (Dan 9:5-14). (That is, confession seems to be a big thing here, at least for Daniel.) After a lengthy confession, Daniel thanks God for what He has done. "And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day" (Dan 9:15). Thanksgiving. And based on God's greatness and God's goodness, Daniel can bring his requests. "O, my God, incline Your ear and hear!" (Dan 9:18-19). You might note that his requests are specifically "not on account of any merits of our own" (Dan 9:18) and specifically "For Your own sake, O my God" (Dan 9:19).
This outline -- ACTS -- isn't a biblical mandate, but it might be a helpful guide when you pray. And, let's be honest, anything that helps us pray more is a good thing, isn't it? After all, the command is to "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17).
3 comments:
One of the Bible studies I'm in starts each week using the ACTS outline. It's a good reminder of what is most important when we pray.
We too often are scatterbrained in our prayer that we lose track and give up. Having models like ACTS or the Lord's Prayer helps us to order our thoughts. Any aids that are biblically based are good.
I learned of ACTS as a new Christian and have generally used that prayer format ever since, finding it very functional. I will admit that the instances when I jump right to “supplication” are more frequent than they should be--but at least I always follow those requests with that all-important “thanksgiving”!
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