ACTS

Can you believe Thanksgiving is in two days?!? Time really does fly. Soon it will be 2010...incredible. I have so much to be thankful for and am so looking forward to spending time with family and friends over the next few days...and eating a LOT of yummy home-cooked food. Woo hoo!

During this season of thanks, I am reminded even more than usual how God has blessed me, which in turn makes me consider my relationship with God and where it ranks in my life priority-wise. Suffice it to say, it's not always where it should be. Quiet time, prayer - I struggle to be consistent. I mentioned in an earlier post that I have, of late, been using my morning rush-hour commute for prayer time, but even with that I often give in to the temptation to just turn on the radio and listen to music or mindless morning talk shows. When I do make time for prayer, I find that my day is better for it. Logically, this realization should take away the struggle - if you find something that makes your day better, why wouldn't you want to do it? - but it just doesn't work like that for some reason, at least not for me.

All of this leads me to the point of my post: ACTS. I have realized lately that a lot of times when I pray, I seem to go straight to the requests: Lord, thank you for this day and your many blessings; please do this, help me with that, be with this person, etc. Our pastor told us about the ACTS acronym for prayer, and it has been such a big help for me, I thought I'd share it (though many of you probably already know it): A-Adoration, C-Confession, T-Thanksgiving, S-Supplication. To me, this puts all the elements of prayer into the right order. First we should acknowledge and tell God how much we adore him and all the ways that he is truly the most beautiful, powerful, loving, perfect Holy of Holies. Then we should confess to God that we are sinners and be real and honest about our shortcomings and our need for God's forgiveness. Then we can express our thanks for the fact that He chooses to bless us, forgive us, and provide for us despite those shortcomings. And finally, we can approach God and share with him our desires and needs and the desires and needs of others. This simple guideline has really changed the way I understand and experience prayer. I hope it touches you as well!

Happy Thanksgiving!!