Prayer

What is Prayer?

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you., 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

Attitude of Prayer

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 18

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth, of everything I get.’

13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me,, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Goal of Prayer

God’s Will

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

9 “Therefore, you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,

your name be honored as holy.

10 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Provision

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

11 Give us today our daily bread.

Forgiveness

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

And forgive us our debts,

Deliverance from Sin

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And do not bring us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.,

14 “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.

What are some practical ways to go about Prayer?

ACTS

Adoration

Far too many of our prayers are self centered rather than God centered. A good way to battle this is to start your prayer with adoration of the one to whom you are praying. We saw that at the beginning of the prayer in Matthew 6. Our Father in Heaven, Your name be honored as holy. Why are you praying to God to start with? Even our selfish prayers show that we know God is able this simply allows us to recognize God for who He is and place Him in proper regards in our life.

Confession

This is displayed in Matthew 6 as well when it says, “Forgive us.” This is yet another thing we like to skip over in our prayer life we want to go straight for the things we want. Scripture is clear that confession to God is a central part of the walk of a believer if that confession leads to genuine repentance in the life of a believer. Repentance should be all over our prayer life until we cease to sin. This is why we begin with adoration then confession, so that we can then ask for God’s help to enable our true repentance and on going life changing done by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes this can be difficult because maybe we do not know our specific sin and we need to be as specific as possible. Even though we may not recall exactly what we did we know our tendencies and typically once you get started you will begin recalling each of these. The goal is ultimately when you sin then and there confess it and repent. Believers never get to a point where they cease sinning in this life but the mark of a true believer is the distance in between there last sin and how quickly they acknowledge it and repent.

Thanksgiving

This is not just something we should do once a year with a turkey and football (even though I do love it). Thanksgiving should line our prayers. We should take the time to be grateful for the things we have in life as well as the things we have previously asked God to do. This is why it is good to journal your prayers because you may not remember what you ask God for so when it takes place you forget you prayed for it.

Supplication

So we have covered 3/4 of the acronym ACTS and we have not even gotten to the point we are all accustomed to. So what should that tell us? The part of our prayer life that we are good at should ultimately be the least of what we actually pray. This is again why it is important to journal your prayer life because when you take the time to write these things down you recognize way more of what God has done and who He is than what you want from Him. You eventually get to the mindset that the things you desire are not as significant as we thought when we came to God. I am not saying we never have important things to ask for but it goes back to what is said in Matthew 6 He knows what we are going to ask for before we ask for it. That does not mean we should not ask but it eases our minds because we see what God has done and we know He knows better than we do so we are confident He will see us through and give us what we need in life.