Prayer
ACTS Prayer Model
Many people feel that they don’t pray enough. Others have very little organization or consistency in their prayer life. I have found that when I use an “outline” for my prayers, I am able to concentrate more and I am more likely to pray. The popular outline that I use is ACTS-- Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. Below are a few simple resources that you can print and put in your own prayer guide.
Adoration is praising God for who He is. It's easy to start with adoration, then slip into thanksgiving. However, simply praising God for His attributes is an important and powerful part of prayer. View or download the one page guide at the bottom of this page to focus your prayers of adoration. Use the list of the Psalms by Topic (see attachments below) to find Psalms of Adoration.
Confession is agreeing with God about your sin. The one page guide (attached below) will help you evaluate your life and allow God to point out areas of disobedience. God loves us and wants the best for us, but sin gets in the way of that. Use this guide each time you pray to let God help you become more like Him.
Thanksgiving is simply thanking God for His provision. This category of prayer is not too hard for most of us. Thank God for all that you have to enjoy and for what he is doing in your life.
Supplication is a fancy word for praying for yourself and others. Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us to approach the throne of God with boldness or confidence. God wants to hear about our needs, and He wants to answer our requests. In scripture we are clearly told to ask (Matt. 7:7) and we are told that we sometimes do not have God’s help because we don’t ask.
The following are several resources you can add to your own prayer guide. View and download them at the bottom of this page:
Praying for your Husband: a sample from For the Family by Sylvia Gunter
Praying for your Wife: a sample from For the Family by Sylvia Gunter
Prayers for a Daughter: Nine scripture passages converted into prayers for a daughter
Prayers for Your Friends: 16 passages that you can pray for your neighbors, small group members and church members.
Praying the SHEMA: Many Jews pray the Shema every morning and every evening. Use this worksheet to learn the Shema in English and Hebrew. Consider teaching your children to pray the Bedtime Shema for Young Children
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. (Deut. 4:6, Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:37-39)
Teach them to pray at bedtime: Praised is the Lord by day and praised by night, praised when we lie down and praised when we rise up. I place my spirit in His care, when I wake as when I sleep. God is with me, I shall not fear, body and spirit in His keep.
View and Print the Complete Prayer Manual
The 50 page Prayer Manual is available below. Click the link below to view and print the manual in Adobe Acrobat Format.
To complete your manual, you will need to go to an office supply store and purchase a three ring binder, a total of 13 tabs dividers, and a hand-held three-hole punch. The first page of the manual explains where to place the dividers.
The Father's Business at http://www.thefathersbusiness.com/
Features Sylvia Gunter's prayer resources. Prayer Portions is a 366 page resources with many prayer ideas and written prayers. Your prayer time will never lack a fresh idea or topic. For the Family is a smaller resources with prayer for spouses and children.