Prayer

When we pray, we must first remember who God is: our Creator, Sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth who sustains all things by the word of His power. Second we must remember we are His creatures, wholly dependent on Him for our existence and all other good things.

In the interest of having a structure to our prayers and having the right priorities in prayer, many believers have found it helpful to structure their prayers around the ACTS acrostic. In this acrostic, prayer has four major components: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication.

Adoration is the process of expressing our love for our Creator and our awe at His majestic character. In his infinite wisdom God has given us an entire book of inspired prayers in the bible - the book of Psalms. Just as the Psalmist, we should also make a point to declare God is Holy, to exalt God’s might and power and adore Him for his steadfast love.

When we come in prayer we must recognize we are sinners in need of salvation. The only one through whom we have salvation is Jesus Christ. He lived a sinless and blameless life and died on the cross making propitiation for the sins of the world so that by faith in him we can be saved. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9

Third, we should always remember to give thanks when we pray. We must remember God’s mercy and grace towards us in salvation, thank him for the spiritual blessings we have in Jesus Christ and His daily provision for our earthly needs. This realization calls for an attitude of thanksgiving.

Supplication is humbly presenting our requests to the Lord. The bible tells us in Hebrews 7:25 that when we pray, Jesus is also praying with us and for us. The mediating work of Jesus guarantees that the Father not only hears us but he answers us according to His holy sovereign will. With this in mind, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” - Hebrews 4:16

Having learned all this, let us take care to pray regularly so that God will be glorified through our lives. - Dana M Capatina