A. C. T. S PRAYER

AAdoration

Dear God, I love you. I trust you and you are myshepherd and king. I know that you are all loving and all caring. You are my salvation.

CContrition

Please forgive me for all of the times that I hurtothers. Help me to forgive those who have hurt me. Lord, I want to be a better person, with your grace. 

TThanks

Thank you, Lord, for all that you do for me. Thankyou for dying on the cross to save me from my sins. Thank you for my family and my friends. Thank you for the chance to learn and to get a good education. Thank you for giving me clothes to wear and food to eat. Thank you for everything.

SSupplication

Please, Lord, help me to be a better person. Help me to be more loving and caring. Help me to be able to do well in school. Help me to get into the high school of my choice. Help me to understand what the teachers are teaching. Please bless my family and my friends. Help them to get what they want in life. Amen.

The ACTS Prayer

Adoration

"Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise Thee." Psalms 63:3

Adoration is to adore God, to worship him and to fulfil the commandment to love him with all of our

heart, mind and soul. As we spend time in adoration, we praise God for who He is - our Creator, our

Sustainer and our Redeemer.

When we focus our attention on the One who can meet our needs, it takes our eyes off circumstances

and allows us to experience God's sufficiency and peace.

“Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his

acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet…

harp and lyre… tambourine and dancing… strings and flute… clash of cymbals resounding. Let

everything that has breath praise the Lord. PRAISE THE LORD.”

Confession

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he

is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." I Jn 1:8-9

Confession allows us to clear away the things in the relationship between you and God which are

displeasing to Him. All of us have sinned, and the Holy Spirit will reveal areas in our life that are not

pleasing to Him. Take some time to confess those sins. If the Spirit reveals sin in your life, name that sin

specifically and repent. This involves a change in your attitude and an active move on your part to no

longer indulge in that sin.

Then thank God for forgiving your sin on the basis of His promise in I John 1:9, "If we confess our

sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Finally, and most importantly, ask God to fill (control and empower) you by His Holy Spirit.

Sometimes confession involves restitution or making things right with friend you have wronged. If the

Holy Spirit reveals this in your life, do not hesitate to obey.

Thanksgiving

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1 Thess. 5:18

Thanksgiving allows us to thank God for what he has done for us, and through us, right now, just as

Adoration is to praise God for who he is, in his pre-existent and eternal Being. Whereas adoration is to

praise him for his character, thanksgiving is thanking him for his actions toward us.

Each day God is blessing us! Every moment we can recall the wonderful things that God has done

for us, and the gifts that we have been given. We need to be constantly thanking God for his blessings.

"He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me." Psalm 50:23

Supplication

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present

your requests to God.” Phillippians 4:6

Finally we come to ask God for our needs and the needs of others.

PRAY FOR OTHERS. In the epistles of St Paul, we read of him praying for those he has led to faith,

and asking them also to pray for him. So, you too can pray for other Christians, and encourage them to

pray for you. Pray for your familiy members, and for neighbours and friends. It's also good to pray for

those who don't know Jesus to come to faith - many Christians have come to believe in Christ through

the prayers of others.

PRAY FOR WORLD ISSUES. For peace in difficult situations, for leaders and those in influential

positions, for global issues such as care of God's environment, justice for the poor, relief of suffering in

less developed countries, and other issues that come to you.

PRAY FOR YOUR OWN NEEDS. It’s easy to neglect this, but Jesus encourages us to do so in the Lord's

Prayer - the model for prayer that He gave us.

"No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." Psalm 84:11

Practical Helps for God time

* Set a time. The same time every day is the best way to establish a lasting habit. When

will you devote time to your relationship with Jesus every day?

* Set a place. The same place each day is also instrumental in establishing a disciplined

time with God. Where will you meet alone with the Lord?

* Avoid distractions. What are the things that could distract you from following through

with your desire to focus only on God? TV? Music? Visitors? Phone calls? The

refrigerator? Whatever it is, how will you avoid this distraction?

* Set reasonable goals. You may know someone who spends an hour a day with the Lord, or

another who reads through the Bible completely in a year. But these goals may not be

reasonable for you to start out with. Perhaps at a later time these would be good goals

for you! Be realistic! What can you pretty much guarantee you would do each day?

The idea is to be successful at reaching your goal with consistency. Maybe 20 minutes of

Bible reading and prayer, maybe 30 minutes? What can and will work for you?

* Have someone hold you accountable. It is always helpful to have another Christian know

your goal and be praying for you that you will reach it. They could even call you daily

or intermittently for a while to ask you if you spent time with Christ.-

Adoration: praise Jesus for one or several of His attributes (e.g., sovereign, gracious, holy, perfect, merciful, all knowing, loving, just, powerful, ever present, creative) both generally or as it applies to your circumstances. "Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies." - Psalm 36:5

Confession: tell Jesus what you have done wrong and why, apologize to Him, seek forgiveness, and thank Him for it. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9

Thanksgiving: express your gratitude to Jesus for His love, mercy, grace, leading, sustenance, discipline, and blessing. "Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men" - Psalm 107:15

Supplication: ask Jesus to guide, heal, protect, comfort, sustain, or provide for you, or intercede for someone else. "...Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." - 1 Chronicles 4:10.

Instructions:

ADORATION: Begin the prayer by adoring God. Praise and worship HIM. This is a time for telling God what He means to you and how much you love Him. This is not the same as Thanksgiving where you thank God for all He has done, but a time to tell God how magnificent/holy/glorious He is, to focus solely on Him, to tell Him all the wondrous beautiful things about Him you love. King David was a great worshipper of god and a man God Himself stated was after His own heart, read Psalms for great examples of adoration. (Psalm 8: O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth, who hast set Thy glory above the heavens! Heb 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name.)

        CONFESSION: This is when we confess our all our sins to God.  Unconfessed sin creates a barrier between you and God and can hinder your prayers. Begin by confessing your sin to Him with an apologetic and repentant heart (to repent is to stop and turn 180 degrees from). Ask God to bring to mind any sins you may not be aware of so that you may repent and confess. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness I John 1:8-9. Often times the feeling of a weight lifting will follow this step. Important: Nothing can separate you from the love of God. But we can separate ourselves from the love of God just as Adam and Eve ran and hid from the Presence of God after their sin in the Garden-Notice God called after them, He did not wait for them to come to Him.  Are you willing to come out of religiosity, and truly follow Him?

        THANKSGIV ING: This is where we count our blessings, thanking and praising God for all He has given us and done for us in life. You may begin with the basics such as family, friends, food, shelter, safety, jobs, health, healing. Thank Him for hearing your prayers and for forgiving your sins, for His all-consuming love for you. Thank Him for His promises, for the glory of His handiwork, for His promises to you (if you don't know them, start looking them up). Follow Paul's advice, Ephesians 5:20 ..giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

         SUPPLICATION: This is also known as Intercession. This is the phase of prayer where we come to the Father asking God to supply needs for ourselves and others. Be specific in your prayers. For example, instead of asking for God to bless your family, ask Him to help your son focus in math class and to give his teacher the wisdom she needs to present the information in a way he can digest, etc. If you feel led to pray for a certain person but don't know exactly what that person needs, ask God to lead you in prayer. He will.

    Remember, prayer is an act of communing with God. It is about communication. It is about relationship with the Father. Use these steps to help you obtain that but don't feel you must adhere to any rigid rules. Also don't forget that communication is a two way street, that means you have to listen as well. You may not hear at first but with practice you begin to feel God speaking to your heart.