Prayer

Prayer

Introduction – There are two very common questions when it comes to prayer. The first question is why do you pray and the second one is how do you pray.  These are questions Jesus disciples asked, too(Luke 11). Does one pray to change the mind of God, or so that we can get what we want or need, or do we pray so that we can hear what God has to say?  In this chapter we will explore how to prayer through a method called ACTS. There are multiple ways to pray, and this is just one method. We want to encourage you to explore other methods and find what works for you. From there we will explore a little bit of why we pray.

A.C.T.S –

Adoration – This is where we become familiar with who God is and what His characteristics are.  God is someone who is holy, forgiving, gracious, righteous and many other things.  All of these attributes are a part of God’s character and adoration is simply praising God for who He is.  Adoration is more than just telling God who is, which is important, but it is us realizing who God is and aligning ourselves with who He is and having God change us.  

Confession – Confession is more than just saying I am sorry but is moving from also doing something about it. It is about allowing God to change our character and allowing Him to have more control of our lives.  One of the most famous confessions of the Bible is found in Psalms 51, where King David confesses his affair with Bathsheba.  Confession is seeking Gods mercy and realizing that our words and actions have consequences and accepting those consequences. Confession is also seeking God’s forgiveness, so that our actions will not be held against us by God.  It doesn’t let us off the hook for those consequences, but confession and forgiveness brings us back into right relationship with God and we have nothing to hide from God.  

Thanksgiving – Whether we do this through song, writing, or spoken word it is telling God and the world what we are thankful for.  Prayer teaches us humility and grace, because in it we realize that we do not have it all together and we cannot do it by ourselves. A prayer of thanksgiving allows us to be reflective and think on how God has worked in our lives over a period of time. It helps broaden our view and when we are in the middle of living life and getting bogged down, a time of reflection and thanksgiving will remind us how God has been there before and will be again. Thanksgiving is a reminder that God’s grace is perfect and new every morning and we can be grateful for what God has done for us.  

Supplication – This is where we tell God what we need. God is the giver of all good and perfect gives and sometimes we receive those gifts, is if we go and ask for them.  Just a reminder, God is not Santa Clause and is not there to give us our every want and desire.  God wants to provide for our every need in this life and the only way He can do this is if we spend time with Him in prayer talking to Him and listening to what He has to say.

Why do we pray? – Knowing how to pray is one thing, but we all have to answer a question of why do we pray.  Is it so we can dictate the will of God and to get what we want? Or do we pray so that we may hear from God? To paraphrase a quote from C.S. Lewis, “I pray not to change the mind of God, but so God can change me.” We believe there are several reason to pray and want to take a moment to explore a few.

We pray to communicate to God – God wants and desires to be in communication with us.  Prayer is a way where we can communicate with God and He with us.  Whether it is us telling Him how our day is or asking for guidance, God wants to hear from us.  Prayer is also about listening.  How else are we supposed to here from God unless we take time to be quite and listen?  God may speak through that audible voice or through our conscience or through His word.  This allows God to build us up and to share the areas where we need to change and He gives us the power to change through prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit.

We pray to build our faith – We all submit to someone’s authority, whether it is ours, Gods, or someone else’s.  When we pray, we are admitting that we do not have it all together and we are submitting to God’s authority in our life.  This is a realization that God is the King of the Universe and we are His creation. We are taking the problem out of our hands and bringing it to the only one who can truly do something about it. And as we see God provide and answer prayer it will only build our faith all the more.

We pray to be in community with others – Prayer is something we can do with other believers and a way where we can intercede for each other.  Whether we are praying for peoples healing (James 5:13-20) or life struggles, prayer is something that can unite each other as fellow believers.  We can share life with each other through prayer for each other and we can intercede on someone else’s behalf.

We pray to be a part of God’s ministry – Many people struggle with prayer because they cannot wrap their minds around why God would change our circumstances based on us coming to Him. Why not just do what He is going to do anyway? The answer lies in realizing that God wants us to pray to give us the opportunity to participate in His ministry. This is why we preach the Gospel, serve the poor, and love our neighbor. Yes, God could do all those things and does not need us be He gives a chance to be a part of what He is doing in our world. Prayer is another part of this. God allows our prayers to change our circumstances because it gives us the chance to participate in His ministry.

Application

1. Spend some time with your discipler this week going through the ACTS model of prayer. Take some time to discuss any other models of prayer you would like to try and spend some time using those.

2. Commit to making prayer a more regular part of your daily life. With your discipler set some goals to be engaged in prayer and keep track of how you are doing.

3. As we discussed above, prayer helps us form Christian community. Take sometime this week to pray with some others. You may have to initiate the conversation and ask how you can pray for them.

4.  Explore different of prayers in the Bible such as ones of lamenting or prayers for healing, or of desperation. How are each of these important to the faith?

Discussion Questions

1.  Do you struggle with prayer, seeing God as a genie to grant your every wish? Or do you tend to struggle with why God would answer prayer at all?

2.  Read Psalm 51 together and discuss this passage. What do you observe about how David confesses? What would you like to adopt as a part of your own prayer of confession?

  

3.  How much of prayer is talking about or to God, and how much of it is listening? What are ways you can listen to God? What does it sound like or look like when God has spoken to you?

4.  Do you believe your prayers can change the circumstances around you? Why or why not? How does seeing prayer as participating in God’s ministry tie the two together?