What is Prayer?
Prayer is a way to communicate with God. To some religions or sects, it is structured or organized words, sentences, and paragraphs that direct its conversation to God. To others, it is just like talking to a superior individual (like a priest), a father, or even a friend. Some prayers are formal, conventional, and some are relaxed. However way it is done; prayer is a way to connect to God. And, by connecting to God, you can relay your message or tell Him what your heart desires. You can ask, plead, request, or open your heart to Him.
When Do You Pray?
You can pray anytime. You can pray when you are sad, desperate, anxious, hopeless, or scared. You can pray when you need, want, or desire something to have or to happen. You can pray when you are thankful, or when you want to ask for forgiveness, or even if you’re going to worship God.
How Do You Pray?
Prayer is an art. You have to be creative. You have to learn how to pray with love and passion. You have to desire to communicate understandably. You have to pray with the heart because this is the way that your prayer will be heard and answered.
A.C.T.S.
A.C.T.S. is an acronym for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
Adoration: Per Wikipedia, “Adoration is a sign of devotion to and worship of Jesus Christ.” It is showing respect, awe, and reverence to the one that is Supreme and worthy of such praise.
When you start with Adoration, you utter words such as praise, worship, love, and adore. We use words and passages from the Bible to exalt and worship His name.
As we adore God, we claim His Kingship on earth and in our lives. We validate His holiness, His Divinity, His power, and His greatness.
Psalm 95:6
“Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.”
Psalm 99:5
“Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He.”
Jeremiah 20:13
“Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.”
Hebrews 12:28-29
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’”
Confession: a Confession is an act of revealing one’s iniquities with the desire for atonement.
You use phrases such as “I am sorry,” “I regret,” “I repent.” And, when you confess, you do it with heartfelt remorse and desire to make up for the wrong you have done. As you confess your sins to God, you must also be confident that God will indeed forgive you for your wrong ways. As the Bible said,
Isaiah 43:25
“I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
Psalm 103:23
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases…”
Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving or thankfulness is the act of being appreciative or grateful for something good or positive that one has obtained, whether material or non-material.
Phrases such as “thank you,” “I am grateful,” “I appreciate,” “I am glad or happy,” are used to proclaim thankfulness to God.
1 Chronicles 16:34
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Colossians 3:17
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:15
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”
Supplication: The Dictionary defines Supplication as “the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.”
Supplication is the time in prayer where you ask or make a request to God for something that you wish or want. You ask in the most humble and unassuming way. You ask with love and respect without expecting that your request will be given precisely or exactly as you want it. And, whether or not God gives you want you prayed for, be thankful always.
Philippians 4:6
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
Psalm 86:6
“Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; And give heed to the voice of my supplications!”
Psalm 130:2
“Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.”
God Hears
God hears our prayers. He wants, needs, and yearns our prayers. God listens and answers. He answers “yes,” “no,” or “not now but in my time,” because God knows what you need, not what you think you need.
Bell in Heaven
As I was growing up, I believed that each one of us has a bell in heaven. When we pray, our bell in heaven starts to ring. That ring is said to be a beautiful sound in God’s ears. God is sad when our bell is quiet. For Him, it meant we had forgotten Him.
ACTS, CATS, TACS, STAC
ACTS is an organized or structured way of praying to God. You start with Adoration, then Confession and Thanksgiving, and end with Supplication. However, you can do them in any other way. Do it whatever way is comfortable or makes sense to you. It doesn’t matter how you start and end your prayer. What matters is that YOU PRAY!
The Lord is always waiting for our bells in heaven to ring. When that bell rings, He becomes jubilant. God wants to hear our voices. He wants to know what we want and need. He wants to listen to our prayers, and He cannot wait to answer them.
And, whatever answer He gives you, believe and be assured that it is one that the Lord knows is BEST for you.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
