Simple A.C.T.S. of prayer

Posted by rayhilton on Jul 6, 2010 in Daily Bread | 1 comment

My daughter is an amazing little lady. At four, she has an infinite imagination, great pitch control and an ear for music, improv skills, good comedic timing, and a big heart for God in a little person. Our time with her is always precious, especially the time we spend with her at night before bedtime, which has become an important teaching time.

Several months ago, we started to move away from the singsong prayers and tried adding a little more meaning and understanding to what she was praying. That’s not to say that praying for safety from annoying bed bugs is a silly meaningless prayer. Hearing such a prayer come from such a little, innocent person is incredibly sweet because it is the beginning of the connection with the Father that we hope she will have. To add that meat to her prayers, we started using the ACTS model to prayer. That is Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (or intercession). Doing this has changed the way she prays. Though her vocabulary may still be very elementary, there is so much power in each word she says. When we first started using this model, we began with repetition. She would simply repeat a line of prayer from one of us. Over time, we moved on to keywords and she begins to pray whatever is on her little heart, whether it be a good night’s sleep, a booboo on her leg, or safe travel for Nana and Bob-Bob coming home from vacation. Her prayers are becoming her very own.

When I said that this time has become an important teaching moment, I should have been clear and noted that I am the student. Through my little girl, God is teaching me how to pray. It’s amazing what God show us through such small, high on life, simple people. And it’s not just my daughter. Working VBX or in children’s church, has taught me that often I over complicate my relationship with God and realize that I need to get back to the basics. Like with my prayer time.

A – Psalm 19
C – Psalm 32:2-5
T – Psalm 100
S – Luke 11:9-13