Jul. 2, 2008 - The Names of God
Recently, our pastor preached a sermon on prayer. He mentioned about praying the format of A.C.T.S. I have heard this format countless times in my life but have never really stuck with intentionally praying exactly this way.
In case you are not familiar with praying ACTS:
A - Adoration (praising God for who He is)
C - Confession (of sins)
T - Thanksgiving
S - Supplication (presenting requests)
A few weeks ago, I decided to teach the kids to pray this way. It has brought me into a deeper understanding of God and who He is. I highly recommend that you give this a try. I've changed the order of the letters. I use this for presenting specific requests to God. Here are a couple of examples:
(1) We would like more children.
C - Confession - Hopefully we have already confessed our sins immediately upon realization. If so, we pray "Search us, God. Make us aware of our secret sins....."
A - Adoration - We choose a name or character of God that corresponds with the request we want to present. "God, you are the Creator and sustainer of life......"
T - Thanksgiving - "Thank you for the 4 children you have given us so far......" If we cannot think of an answered prayer that corresponds with our new request, then I have the children look for evidence in God's Word, an example where God answered a similar prayer for someone else"
S - Supplication - "Bless us with more children"
(2) A teen friend asked for prayer during a week of "boot camp". Each day we prayed something different. One day it was for peace among the teammates.
C - Confession
A - Adoration - God, you are Jehovah-Shalom, a God of peace....
T - Thanksgiving - Thank you for the peaceful country you have chosen us to live in.....
S - Supplication - Bless Sarah with peace among her team. Give each a spirit of cooperation....
I found a Names of God wall chart that I would like to purchase. It would be great to have on hand for prayer. There are quite a few books and studies on the topic, as well. If you're familiar with any that you highly recommend, let me know!
Comments
Jul. 3, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by 40winkzzz
I think the way you are relating each step to your specific request is great!!!
So instead of praying ACTS, you are praying CATS! We taught the ACTS prayer to our Kids' Club kids during our week on prayer, but one of my co-leaders taught them CATS as well, b/c that is the order in which she prays. So I decided to tell the kids that if the devil is trying to keep them from prayer, they need to do the SCAT prayer (Jas 4:7)! :-)
Jul. 31, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by foxvalleyfamily
I have heard about ACTS before, too - but I prefer your way better. ;-)
Thanks for sharing this!
Michelle
Aug. 3, 2008 - I was just random blogging....
Posted by OldPathsMom
And I have to tel you that I really enjoyed this post on prayer. We too are praying for another child and the Lord has really been opening my eyes to not only how I've been praying about it but also my motivation for it. God bless you.
May. 17, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Our preacher taught us to P.R.A.Y. P=praise (like your adoration) R=ready yourself/repent A=ask Y=yield to what He has to tell you. They both sound pretty similar and really help when you are down and struggeling with what to say of how to say it. Just thought I would share it.
God Bless!
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