Prayer is simply conversation with God, and we are always welcome to approach the great God of the universe for a personal audience. But every time I ask a group, "How many of you feel good about your prayer life?" no more than one or two hands go up. Such negative feelings spring from our good motives. We want to draw close to God, but we also want to do things correctly -- and often we're not sure about how to pray. We are in good company! Even the disciples who spent lots of time with Jesus had to ask, "Lord, teach us to pray." And Jesus responded to their yearning by giving the model prayer that we call the Lord's Prayer.
The disciples' request reminds us that praying is something we can learn to do. Many of us are helped by having models for our praying. One simple and widely known model is built on the acronym ACTS:
A - Adoration (worship, praise)
C - Confession
T - Thanksgiving
S - Supplication (requests)
We begin by adoring God, acknowledging who God is. Then we confess our failures and our need for God and ask for forgiveness. Next we express thanks, acknowledging God as the source of all we have, all our blessings. Finally, we ask God for what we need and want. This model can help us to pray more freely by giving us a way to search our hearts for what we want to say to God.
Another pattern for our praying can help us as we pray for others. We often say, "God bless you," which is a sort of prayer. This phrase draws on biblical blessings such as Numbers 6:24-26. Dr. Alvin VanderGriend has created a helpful model that can guide us in praying for others by building on the word B-L-E-S-S:*
B - Body. Pray for health/healing, for "daily bread"/physical needs to be met.
L - Labors. Pray for God's help in the person's work, school, daily tasks.
E - Emotional needs. Pray for comfort, reassurance, hope, joy, peace, etc.
S - Social needs. Pray for healthy relationships with family, friends, associates.
S - Spiritual needs. Pray for continually deepening relationship with God.
Patterns like these can encourage us to exercise the privilege of prayer and to pray more freely and faithfully. Several meditations in this issue discuss prayer. You may want to read the meditations for September 3, 17, 19, 22, 26, and 29 and October 2, 11, 15, and 19 before answering the reflection questions below.
Questions for Reflection:
- What is your first memory of praying? Who taught you to pray?
- What questions about prayer do you share with the writers in this issue? Where does your experience mirror theirs? Where does yours differ?
- What settings or situations move you to prayer?
- Do you have a special place where you go to pray? What might be the advantages of having a special prayer place?
- What people and situations do you want to bring to God today in prayer?
*The B.L.E.S.S. acronym is adapted from Dr. VanderGriend's book, Love to Pray: A 40-Day Devotional for Deepening Your Prayer Life, and is used by permission.
-- Mary Lou Redding
From The Upper Room® daily devotional guide, September/October 2004. Copyright ©2004 The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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