Prayer | doyouknowwhy

Prayer

Prayer is the opportunity to communicate with the God who created the entire Universe out of nothing! Most of us so often take this fact for granted. Think about the person you would consider the most important person in the world. The person that comes to mind for me is the President of the United States. What if you had their direct line and could call them anytime, and they would always answer? Now think about having this opportunity with the God of the Universe. Realize that everyone alive, over 6 billion people, could pray to God simultaneously, and He would be no more overwhelmed, then if there were only one person praying.

You may feel similar to some who don’t feel they are very good at praying, and wonder how to pray. An acronym I was told to effectively help remember different aspects of prayer is acts - A.C.T.S. An easy way to remember is to think of the title for the New Testament book of Acts. The acronym A.C.T.S. stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

A Adoration – Our recognition of who God is, His power, His forgiveness, His grace and Mercy, and our love and reverence for the creator of the Universe.

C Confession – Our recognition of our sins and transgressions before God, and agreeing with him about our sins.

T Thanksgiving – Our recognition of the undeserved generosity of God through His gifts, both material and immaterial, which he has provided for us, and our thankfulness to Him for these gifts.

S Supplication – Our requests to God, both requests about ourselves and those we make on behalf of others.

In regards to prayer, you may have thought the following:

“If God knows everything and will exercise His will anyway, what is the purpose in praying?”

While the supplication aspect of prayer pertains to our requests to God, you may be surprised to learn that when we pray the primary purpose of prayer isn't to get what we want. The primary purpose of prayer is to align our thinking with God, recognize that God is the provider or everything, and keep us focusing on His will rather than our own. Prayer focuses our hearts toward God, and demonstrates our reliance on Him and recognition of His authority in our lives.

As with everything regarding the Bible, when we look to gain greater knowledge, it’s important to make sure the information we are relying on to form our conclusions lines up with the Bible. Again, Acts 17:11

Acts 17:11 “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true”.

It is important to remember with prayer that God does not always answer in our time, nor in the way that we want Him to. God knows everything, He sees the entire picture, and He has all knowledge and all wisdom to be able to make the absolute best decision. When thinking about God answering prayer, we need to remember that the answer may not be “Yes”, and it may not be “No”. The answer may simply be, “Not now”.

Something else to consider. When Jesus was God in human flesh, He prayed to God the Father. If Jesus as God in human flesh and prayed to God the Father, how much more do we need to be praying to God?

12 Bible Verses to Show How Jesus Prayed

http://ipost.christianpost.com/post/12-bible-verses-to-show-how-jesus-prayed

10 Bible Verses that Teach Us How Jesus Prayed

www.crosswalk.com/blogs/kelly-balarie/10-bible-verses-how-jesus-prayed.html

Jesus Praying

www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/jesus-praying.htm

Prayer – Does it make any difference? – Philip Yancey

A great quote from near the top of page 24,

“I need the corrective vision of prayer because all day long I will lose sight of God’s perspective.”

Preview of the book:

https://books.google.com/books?id=qc1EeG8FVaIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Paul Washer - The Importance of Prayer for Christians