The Acts Prayer is a prayer rooted in Scripture.
It is a simple yet theologically rich prayer,
And was used by Christians in the late 19th century,
But popularised at the end of the last century as a way of bringing everything to God.
It's a prayer I learned in Sunday school as a young boy,
And still gives that great structure to my prayers now.
ACTS is an acronym which stands for Adoration,
Confession,
Thanksgiving,
Supplication.
So what I want to do is guide us through a simple ACTS prayer.
If you find yourself walking,
Carry on walking.
If you find yourself seated,
Get yourself comfortable,
And start to slow down your breathing.
Your mind may already be wandering.
Your mind may already be thinking,
Let's just get this done so I can carry on with the rest of my day.
Acknowledge those thoughts and say thank you.
And as you breathe,
Slowly,
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth,
You'll start to feel those feelings of urgency slip away as you enter God's presence.
And as you enter God's presence,
You'll realise that this is the best place to be,
Right here,
Right now.
And that sense of urgency to do the things that you wanted to do subsides as you realise you're in the presence of God.
So let's start our prayer with Adoration.
Father,
You are a good,
Good father.
You love your children.
You love me.
You are love.
There is no greater love than you.
And in your own words,
Just take a few moments to bring your adoration to God.
Tell him how great he is.
And let us come now to see confession.
Lord God,
We know that we are not perfect creatures.
We fall short every day.
We are new creations in you.
You have given us a new spirit of obedience.
The Holy Spirit lives within us.
And yet,
We still fall.
We confess where we have been too proud.
We confess where we have been selfish.
We confess where we haven't put you first.
And ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything that you need to confess to God right now.
Which brings us on to Tea for Thanksgiving.
Thank you,
God,
That you have forgiven our sins.
Thank you,
God,
That when we confess our sins to you,
You remove them as far as the East is from the West.
God,
We have so much to be thankful for.
So why don't you take some time now to thank God for the little things in your life.
Thank you,
God,
For green tea.
Thank you,
God,
For the sunshine and the rain.
Take a minute to thank God for some of the big things he has done in your life and he has blessed you with.
Whatever comes to mind that you are grateful for,
Give him thanks.
And 2S for supplication.
This is where we can bring our requests to God with thanksgiving.
Bring our requests for little things,
For big things,
Things for ourselves,
Things for other people.
Maybe healing,
Maybe financial blessing,
Maybe the healing of a broken relationship.
Come now and present your requests to God.
And as we think about bringing this time of prayer to a close,
Take time to acknowledge God.
Thank him for his presence with you.
And as you open your eyes,
Or if you've been out on a walk,
Bring your attention back to your surroundings and thank yourself for spending this time in prayer.
Have a blessed day.
