ACTS Prayer Model

Today in Sunday School we talked about the ACTS model of prayer. Adoration - Confession - Thanksgiving - Supplication. I think it was mostly review for most of them, but I'm still trying to calibrate myself to their needs and level. We looked up some bible verses dealing with adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication and they all pretty much did better than I did at getting to the verse rapidly. Following are the notes for today:

Each week in church, we repeat the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This is not because these are magic words, as if this is the only prayer we can or should pray. Jesus gave it to his disciples as a model for prayers – so they could learn to pray like this. Look at the pieces of this prayer.

The first and last lines are adoration. They tell of God’s greatness.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name... For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.

The middle of the prayer contains a confession.

And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

The middle of the prayer is also a set of supplications, or requests, made in a humble, thankful tone

Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.

So, the four pieces of this prayer are:

Adoration – tell how God is great and how you love Him.

Confession – admit what you’ve done wrong

Thanksgiving – thank God for doing good things for you and others

Supplication – ask God for good things for others, then for yourself.

We call this the ACTS model of prayer. The first letters remind us of the four parts of a good prayer. Check out the following verses about each of these four parts of a good prayer. There are, of course, many many other verses about these topics, but these are good starting points.

Adoration (Isaiah 6:3, Psalm 95:3-5, 1Samuel 2:1-3, 1Chronicles 29:11, Psalm 29)

Confession (Isaiah 6:5, 2Samuel 24:10, Ezra 9:6, Psalm 32:5, 1Corinthians 15:9)

Thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4, Matthew 15:36, Romans 1:21-22, Revelation 11:17)

Supplication (Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 18:19, James 5:17-18)