You may be familiar with using the acronym ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication). I like that, although I feel adoration and thanksgiving should merge. I also believe that prayer should be in response to the word of God, and that should shape our prayers. Although I often just ream off a large number of requests, it is better to listen to God first.
Martin Luther has a good four-stage structure to his prayers in response to Scripture. He says we should treat the Bible in a fourfold way:
- A school book which we listen to - Meditate on what the Bible is teaching and instructing you.
- A song book from which we praise God - Give thanks for what the passage teaches.
- A penitential book which prompts our confession - Repent and ask for forgiveness for not responding rightly to what the passage has taught you.
- A prayer book which helps us to know what to ask for - Make supplications for yourself and the whole world to
Although, he also says we should hold to this structure loosely and "if in the midst of such thoughts the Holy Spirit begins to preach in your heart with rich, enlightening thoughts, honor him by letting go of the written scheme" (p. 16, A Practical Way to Pray).
Interesting thought.
ReplyDeleteOften, I have been reading scripture and realized I was offering the Lord's words back to Him as a prayer because I had no words of my own.
It is good to be cautious about doing this as a mindlessly repetitive religious exercise, though.
Heather
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! I often think it is a great blessing that God has provided us with Psalms for just that sort of occasion.
But thankfully, he is also gracious enough to hear our own prayers and our own concerns, and would actually be offended if we held back from bringing those to him too.
Got to love praying to our Father!