People have made suggestions throughout the history of the church for how to make prayer a vital and regular part of our lives. Many tools have been devised. While tools and formulas for prayer can be helpful, they can sometimes become a distraction from a personal encounter with God.
We must understand and remember that the goal of prayer is not about learning three important methods for manipulating God or six things we can do to get God on our side. The goal of prayer is a personal, intimate, dynamic and growing relationship with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is the means by which God embraces us as we reach out for His embrace.
Prayer is a relationship with God rather than a perfunctory performance for Him. Our prayer life involves a lifelong journey with highs and lows, mountaintops and rugged valleys. If Bible study and prayer are not supposed to be obligatory disciplines performed mechanically, how can prayer formulas and evaluations be part of the plan? Should we evaluate the content of our communication with God? If so, how can we use a prayer formula to check our own spiritual vital signs?
In learning to focus my conversations with God on things that bring Him pleasure, I have sometimes used an easy to remember acronym for prayer known as ACTS. This model seeks to subdivide prayer time into four distinctly important areas of focus. These aspects of prayer are presented throughout scripture when God’s people pray. As you come to God in prayer presenting your whole body, mind and soul in an ACT of worship, you can learn to focus your attention on the things that bring God pleasure:
ACTS =
Adoration +
Confession+
Thanksgiving +
Supplication
PRAY is another acronym designed to cover the basics of a biblical prayer life:
PRAY =
Praise +
Repentance +
Asking for others +
Your own needs
Obviously, understanding what each of the words in these acronyms encompasses is important.
Many people have come up with personalized ways of defining the parameters of their own prayer life. A friend who serves on the foreign mission field uses his hand as he prays to remind him of what he needs to include in his prayers. He starts with his little finger and offers worship, adoration, consecration and confession. The ring finger reminds him to pray for those in authority. When he comes to the middle finger, he prays for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers. The index or pointer finger focuses his prayers for individual brothers and sisters in Christ. The thumb represents praying for his own needs last.
Each of these tools provides simple, memorable reminders of different aspects of biblical prayer. The lists are not exactly the same, but each one suggests ways to make our prayer life more meaningful and effective.
When I check my spiritual vital signs with one of these tools, I often discover that one area of my prayer life has become stronger than the others or one or more areas has become weak or nonexistent. Depending on my circumstances, the pendulum can swing from a heart full of thanksgiving to an overwhelming sense of unmet needs. My prayers tend to become more about me and what I desire rather than what brings God pleasure.
While God does not command us to include every kind of prayer in every prayer we make, all of the elements described in the prayer formulas are encouraged in Scripture. Our overall conversations with God should include all of these elements. The emphasis may be in particular areas at particular times in our lives, but we need to consciously practice including all of these elements.
We must always remember that the goal of our prayer life is growing intimate communication with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is to be a time of refreshment and preparation for effective service, not a dreaded time of stressful posturing and manipulation. God is our daddy, and we need to crave His presence and learn to truly rest in Him. Prayer is a time to tune our lives to God’s purposes. Too often, I find myself wanting to inform God of what I desire.
I believe that prayer tools can be beneficial if we use them occasionally to check our spiritual pulse. Checking our pulse involves determining if our prayer life reflects the Bible’s teaching on prayer. The Bible directs us in how to bring pleasure to our loving Heavenly Father. If the spiritual pulse is weak, use the tools to bring it back to a healthy rhythm.
I must emphasize again, however, that prayer is not intended to be a self-conscious activity. While it is good to check your pulse occasionally, it would be mentally unhealthy to live with a finger on your pulse continually. Obsession with sticking to a detailed formula removes the focus from God and back to us and our performance.
We need to focus on God and lose ourselves in intimate fellowship with Him. We must spend more time listening to God and then obeying Him if we want to have a meaningful relationship with Him. Are your prayers about what pleases Him? Are you listening?
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