The ACTS Prayer

If you were to ask random people to define prayer, some would say: “Asking God for stuff.” While that is part of prayer, there is much more to it.

When it comes to prayer, I like the ACTS model of prayer. ACTs refers to Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication.

Adoration

Adoring God is praising him in prayer. The Psalms are full of these phrases of adoration. The point is that we are in relationship with God and adoration is an important part of relational communication.

Confession

Do we have to still confess if we are already baptized Christians? Yes! It is not about confessing out of fear but out of a desire to maintain a healthy relationship. We sin by both what we do and what we neglect to do.

Thanksgiving

Can you imagine if people always asked us for things but never thank us for what we have already done for them? That’s what many Christians do to God. Take some time to thank God for the things he has done for us.

Supplication

Supplication is a fancy word for asking God for help. Christians tend to fall into two extremes. They either equate prayer with only asking for things or they believe it is unspiritual to ever ask for things. Both are wrong. The Bible (including the Lord’s Prayer) tells us to ask for things, including things concerning ourselves.

Have you ever prayed an ACTS prayer? If not, try it today.