The primary object of prayer is to know God better.
We and our needs should come second.
(Missionary Florence Allshorn, 1887-1950)
The A-C-T-S Model
I wrote this remembering a New Year’s Eve watchnight worship service in Philadelphia. The service started at 10 pm and ended after midnight. We reviewed the old year together, confessed our failings, and prepared for the new year, seeking Jesus’ blessing and renewing our covenant to follow Him. We began with Psalm 141:1-2
I call to You, LORD, come quickly to me. Hear me when I call to You. May my prayer be set before You like incense. The lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
Then our service followed the A-C-T-S model of prayer, devoting time to: Adoring God, Confessing sin, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
I often use A-C-T-S myself. The Lord does not require us to approach Him according to any rigid formula. The Scriptures show us over 600 prayers that we can use word for word or to teach us how best to communicate with God. Jesus’ model prayer for us (The Lord’s Prayer) includes Adoration, Confession, and Supplication.1 And the rest of Scripture teems with Thanksgiving. The A-C-T-S pattern can keep us from praying only “gimme, gimme” requests that focus only on our wants. In The Lord’s Prayer, Christ teaches us to prayer for others also.
Recent counselees and men in prison were unfamiliar with the A-C-T-S model, so I explained it to them. I also used it at a women’s Bible study. Maybe this article will help you or others you know. If so, please pass it on.
Adoring the Lord
Christians praise God because we prize Him. So I often begin my prayer time by appreciating God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) for all He is to us and all He does for us. I want to admire and exalt the Lord and stand with awe and wonder before Him. “For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.”2
So, here I am to worship,
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You’re my God!
You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy,
Altogether wonderful to me!3
All the Bible points us to Christ. So we praise God especially for Jesus’ sinless life as our substitute, His atoning death in our place on the cross, and His victorious resurrection over guilt, and darkness, and the grave. Christ’s resurrection brings His followers newness of life here and now, daily mercies, and the guarantee of Jesus’ return to consummate our salvation and our future resurrection. The Lord doesn’t need our praise, approval, and gratitude, but He deserves and delights in our admiration.
Take us away with You, Savior. We rejoice and delight in You.
We will praise Your love and adore You! (Song of Songs 1:4)
Some form of the word “praise” is used 152 times in Psalms and it is a central theme of that book. 44 times “praise” appears with singing or song, so I often mix singing with my praying. Scripture says that the Lord draws near as we adore Him. He is holy and enthroned on our praises.4 Admiring God is the most significant activity we can engage in. It will occupy Christ’s people in the new heaven and new earth too. A voice from heaven’s throne, said: “Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, both small and great!”5
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. (Psalm 95:1-2)
Confession of Sin
Confession means being honest with God, getting real, agreeing with the Lord about the bad we have done (accidental or intentional) and the good we have left undone. We grieve God by our wrong thoughts, words, and deeds. We make Him saddest for failing to love our loving Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And failing to loving our neighbors as God has first loved us.
Scripture says to Jesus’ followers: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make the Lord out to be a liar and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)
As we confess, we also ask the Lord to help us throw off our old sinful ways one step at a time.6 We desire wrong things and deceive ourselves. So we ask God to renew our hearts, minds, and lives, helping us to live in His new ways which are always best for us. Holy Spirit has given us new birth to make us like Jesus—compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, and patient.7 God didn’t save us to go back to our own selfish ways, but to mold us into Christ-likeness day by day, so that we show the family resemblance.8
Ezra chapter 9, Nehemiah chapter 9, and Daniel chapter 9 all contain prayers of confession that I use to guide my prayers to our Heavenly Father. Seven Psalms are Psalms of Confession (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142) and have been used by Christians since New Testament times. Confession keeps us honest as we come into God’s presence and live before Him moment by moment. We need that. Jesus will never disown His true followers, but we must confess and renounce our sin to restore our fellowship with Him after we have wandered.9
Christians don’t keep on confessing our wrongs because we lose our salvation when we sin. John Blanchard says, “God has never torn up a Christian’s birth certificate… It is possible for us to fall in grace, but not to fall from God’s grace.” Jesus saves permanently and to the uttermost those who come to God through Him because He always lives to intercede for us. We confess our wrongs to our Heavenly Father as we return to Him who loves us so amazingly! He will always receive and restore us.
Finally, I confessed all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And You forgave me! All my guilt is gone. (Psalm 32:5 NLT)
To be continued.
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 Matt 6:5-15. 2 Rom 11:36. 3 From a song by Tim Hughes, 2000. 4 Ps 22:3. 5 Rev 19:5. 6 Heb 12:1-3; Eph 4:22–24. 7 Eph 2:10; Col 3:12. 8 Rom 8:29. 9 Luke 15:11-31; Psalm 51; Prov 28:13; 2 Cor 7:10.