Our Pattern for Prayer
I. This is a template to understanding the basics of prayer from what Jesus taught.
(Matthew 6:7-15, Luke 11:1-13)
1. Acknowledgement for who God is, this worship as worth ship: Praise and adoration of Him who is worthy of eternal praise (Is. 6:1-8, Rev. 4,5)
2. Response of our personal adjustment.
a. Recognition of God's Person, purpose, provision, and Presence.
b. Confession: cleansing; commitment of all to God.
c. Petition: Asking and receiving God's offer of grace and help, as He promised.
d. Response: Letting God be God to us, in us, and through us.
3. Communion with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, three as One.
4. Intersession: Ministering before, and with God, for others.
5. Thanksgiving: Honoring God with our trust and obedience.
II. Prayer as A.C.T.S.
A = ADORATION. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Not as duty, but desire; not as law, but love; not as demand, but delight; not as necessity, but privilege; not as ritual, but relationship; not in order to, but because of.
C = CONFESSION. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
T = THANKSGIVING. For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
S = SUPPLICATION.
a. Petition. Give us today this daily bread . . . Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
b. Intercession. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen means so let it be! It is an affirmation of the goodness and power of God who has heard and is acting upon the prayer offered with thanks giving!
