More on Prayer

I’m sitting her mulling over again the sermon we listened to on Sunday so I thought I’d jot down a few more notes for y’all as I remember them.

When God first got a grip on me some 30 years ago (man am I really that old?) I remember learning the A.C.T.S. way of praying. It’s sort of patterned after the Lord’s Prayer, though not in order, and goes like this:

A=Adoration (praise to God for who He is)

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

C=Confession (admitting and turning away from your sins)

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

T=Thanking (thanking God for what He has done)

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.

S=Supplication (asking for specific requests)

Give us this day our daily bread.

Like I said, it’s not exact but you get the idea and remembering ACTS as you pray will help you to make sure that you kind of cover all the bases and not spend the entire time of prayer saying “gimme, gimme”.

Of course, Piper, in the sermon, went through those things with different words and without the fun acronym to remember them: Petition, Praise, Confession and Thanksgiving - I think those were the words he used. But then he added an additional one that sort of surprised me - complain.

Hmmm… complain to God? Now that was an interesting concept. And he actually spent some time talking about it as sort of a disclaimer. First, having a complaining heart toward God is not acceptable - in fact it’s sin at the core.

As a bible believer who takes God at His word, I believe He is sovereign - a big word for saying He’s got it all planned out perfectly - and there is nothing (yes I said NOTHING) that is not part of the big plan because if there was that would mean He can’t be God - because He wouldn’t be in control of all. (Wow -that’s heavy - maybe a whole separate blog post?)

Anyway, so to have a whining, complaining heart toward Him would mean that I don’t really believe that He’s in control and has the best in mind, etc.

But, the fact is, we complain and actually some of the most godly men in the bible complain, a lot. David, for instance, a “man after God’s own heart” is often found complaining in the Psalms. So it’s there as an example and, hey, God knows that we’re complaining anyway so why not come clean with it in our praying too?

The problem is, what does that really look like? Because after I get past the “prayer speak” (you know what I mean - your voice changes when you pray especially out loud - you want to sound “holy” or whatever. I do it too.) and get real with God I end up in the “gimme gimme” mode most of the time. Then I feel guilty that I’m now going to complain to Him too??

I want to be real with God in my praying, to feel so comfortable with who He is that I naturally bring it all to Him like a child bringing something to his mother who he trusts completely. Yet I know too that He is God and as such commands respect and awe from me too. I believe this will be the challenge as I bring my complaint before Him in honesty but with reverence and respect.

Anyway, I’m a little off topic but over all it’s good to be reminded of the various aspects of prayer to help me to keep focused and balanced as I pray.

So help me here - what does it “look” like when you pray intentionally? Not the quick “bless this food” type prayer but the ones where you sit down, heart and bible open, and pour out to God?

***Updated - make sure you check out this post of a cutie saying the Lord’s Prayer - just adorable!****

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