Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed: Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him (Jesus) authority over all people to give eternal life to all those You have given Him. Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. I (Jesus) have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do. (John 17:1-4)
More About Knowing God
J. I. Packer writes: We are cruel to ourselves trying to live in this world without knowing the God whose world it is and who runs it… We must turn knowledge about the Lord into knowledge of Him. We turn each truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and thanksgiving.1
Alistair Begg reminds us that Christianity involves personally knowing God (Father, Son, and Spirit) as our Creator, Savior, and Guide. Knowing the Lord engages our minds, stirs our hearts, and transforms our lives.2 How do we gain it?
- By listening to what God says (learning the Bible)3
- By engaging the Lord in conversation (prayer)4
- By spending time in His company (devotional life)5
- By gathering with others who know Jesus (worship and fellowship)6
- By trusting and obeying Christ (walking with Him)7
- Knowing God is dynamic and ongoing, not a one-time thing. All along our journey with the Lord, we should saying with Paul: “I want to know Christ.”8
It’s always right to come back to God for the first time or the millionth time.
Last time, we introduced the A-C-T-S model of prayer—Adoring God, Confessing sin, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Here we complete that article. If you missed it, you can read Knowing God Through Prayer (A-C-T-S) Part 1
Thanksgiving
Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness… Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 2:6-7, 3:15)
Thanksgiving is the attitude and activity of expressing appreciation and indebtedness to the Lord. Christ has blessed us so richly without our deserving anything. So let’s remember afresh every day that He is the Author and Source of all good things we enjoy. Let’s remember not to take His blessings and benefits for granted.
The Lord has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy… He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else… Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (Acts 14:17, 17:25; James 1:17)
I want to be child-like and thank Jesus for every good thing I can think of, for every way that He loves us, protects us, and cares for us. “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.”9 Gratefulness honors the Lord, and it’s healthy for our souls too. As we mature in Christ, we learn to thank Him for both joyful and sorrowful times in our lives. God is the Expert at bringing good things out of bad.10
- Even when we feel overwhelmed, we can use Psalm 5 to help us thank Christ for being our King and God who hears us. He loves us greatly and surrounds us with His favor like a shield.
- Even when feeling anxious, we can use Psalm 6 to thank Christ that He delights in mercy. He turns to us and saves us because of His unfailing love. He accepts us and will defeat all His and all our enemies.
- Even when feeling frustrated, we can use Psalm 16 to help us thank Christ that He keeps us safe, treasures us, and makes us secure. The Lord will not abandon us in the grave but will fill us with joy and eternal pleasures in His presence.
Using the Psalms as our guide, we never run out of fuel for thanksgiving!
Supplication (Requests)
This is the part of prayer that comes easiest to most of us. Asking God for the fruit of the Holy Spirit, for His intervention on our or others’ behalf, for strength and wisdom for difficult responsibilities. Any and every legitimate thing we need or want His help with falls under this heading. Scripture teaches what to pray for.
1. My first request is often that God help me to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love my neighbor as myself.11
2. When my faith is weak, I pray the six-word prayer: “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”12
3. I ask God to help me seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and to trust Him to supply all my other needs.13
4. I ask Christ to help me to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.14
I often ask Christ to supply the needs of my family, friends, enemies, Christian workers and missionaries, government leaders, believers around the world (especially persecuted ones), and other people I know of with special needs.
I ask the Lord to save those who are not yet converted, to grow all Jesus’ followers in Christ-likeness, and to enable believers to reach out and serve others for Christ. We are not to hog God’s blessings for ourselves. I ask the Lord to give us daily bread and all other necessities, daily pardon, and daily deliverance from temptation, evil, and Satan.15
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6)
Let’s ask the Lord for His help with everything that causes us anxiety, fear, or worry—big and small things. Our Heavenly Father loves it when we ask for His help; we honor Him by asking. Scripture says: “Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.”16
Wrap Up
I’m not trying to make this complicated. Prayer is heartfelt conversation with God. Adam and Eve talked with the Lord in Eden. And the Book of Revelation closes begging Christ to return again to rescue us from this present evil age and bring us into the Best Garden.
I love to pray and echo Fanny Crosby’s song, “Draw Me Nearer:”
Oh, the pure delight of a single hour that before Your throne I spend.
Then I kneel in prayer, and with You, my God, I commune as friend with Friend!
I don’t give prayer the priority that Christ deserves. Missionary Samuel Zwemer (1867–1952) called prayer “the gymnasium of the soul” and reminded us that we need to stay in spiritual shape by praying more and better. We will never regret it, but we will be blessed! If we pray 1% better every day (quality and/or time), we can make big progress in knowing God personally.
Prayer
Lord, help us spend time and energy with You in the prayer gymnasium from today onward. That’s the best fitness plan for glorifying You and enjoying You forever.
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 Adapted from Knowing God (1973). 2 Made For His Pleasure (1996, p. 221). 3 Ps 19:7-14. 4 Acts 12:1-18. 5 Eph 1:15-20, 3:16-19. 6 Acts 2:42-47. 7 1 Sam 15:22; Isa 1:19; Luke 6:46; John 14:15, 23; James 1:14-26. 8 1 Cor 2:2. 9 Ps 69:30. 10 Gen 50:20; Ecc 7:14; Acts 2:23. 11 Mark 12:30-31. 12 Mark 9:24. 13 Matt 6:33 Phil 4:19. 14 Micah 6:8; Deut 10:12-13; Ps 82:3-4; Prov 21:3; Isa 1:17; Hos 6:6; Amos 5:14-15; Zec 7:9-10; Matt 5:7, 23:23; Luke 11:42; James 1:27; 1 John 3:18. 15 Matt 6:11-13. 16 1 Pet 5:7.