Here is my last point: How do we pray? We could spend a long time on this – the bible is rich on this topic, but I want to hit two areas.
First, the order of prayer: I love the little acronym of how to pray
using ACTS:
·
Adoration
·
Confession
·
Thanksgiving
·
Supplication
I have a pastor friend who doesn’t agree with me. He thinks the order
should be CATS, because he wonders if God hears us if we haven’t first confessed
our sin?
I think I’m right, because of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus gave reverence
and praise to the Father first thing in the prayer. Later, He says forgive us
our sins as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us.
What say you?
Secondly, I want to talk about praying in faith. The book of James says:
James
5:15 New King James Version
(NKJV)
And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will
raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
But you might say … “I
don’t have enough faith.”
I believe you have all
the faith you need. Why? Let’s look at
Luke 17:5-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
5 And the
apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
6 So the Lord
said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry
tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey
you.
“The faith that we must have is a faith that has more to do with
what kind of
faith it is than with how much faith
there is. A small amount of faith – as much as a mustard seed (a very small seed) – can accomplish great things, if
that small amount of faith is placed in the God who can do the impossible!”
Have you seen the meme going around Facebook that shows someone
with a mustard seed balanced on his finger, saying, “Stand back! I have a
mustard seed and I’m not afraid to use it!”
I love it! I want to shout out to the world, “Stand back! I have
faith and I’m not afraid to use it!”
To Sum It Up: How do we pray? We first confess anything standing between us and God, remember His
awesome attributes, and be thankful for His past provision. Then? ... We unleash our faith!
~~~
I'm linking up to the communities at Inspire Me Monday, #TellHisStory and #TuneInThursday
I use a similar system: PART - praise, admit, request, thank. :) Regardless of the order, I'm glad God is pleased to have us enter into conversation with him. We are blessed to have a Father who wants us to commune with him as often as we will!
ReplyDeleteI grew up Free Methodist and definitely was taught and used the ACTS method of praying based on Jesus' example. He did say to pray that way. HOWEVER...does it REALLY matter????? NO!!! and yes, beginning with confessing a sin is sometime needed!! I typically save my petitions for last......i tend to do Praise/Thanks, confess, interceding/supplication.
ReplyDeleteI'm SOOOOO THANKFUL God meets us where we are. Doens't matter what order. However, now that I'm in an evangelical inter-denominational mega church (4 sites, 3 services at each site and about 350-1200 people per service) we do follow the ACTS. Our senior pastor was on the billy graham team for years so.......that's the method he teaches and that we tend to follow corporately. But let's be careful and not become legalistic either. Jesus wants us to be in fellowship with Him. That's really all that matters, right??
Lately I've been borrowing the prayers of Paul to pray...
ReplyDeleteIt helps to remember that God is our Father and He wants us to talk to Him as His children. Thanks for sharing. Blessings to you!
ReplyDeleteI love your thoughts on prayers. Such wisdom here! I am going to try and catch up on the other ones you posted. I use the acronym TRUST, which is similar. I put together a booklet on my website. T - Thankfulness R - Repent U - Uplift my request S - Sit still with God T - Take hold of God. We sure would love to have you share with us over at Grace & Truth Link-Up on Fridays.
ReplyDelete