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Do you find the wheels spinning when you sit down to pray for five or 10 minutes?  Are you distracted, thinking of other things?

Or do you stare at the four walls, wondering what it is you should pray about?

Last week’s post on How to make time for a consistent prayer life addressed the issue of creatively carving out a slice of time for prayer.

This week, I’m sharing a little nugget that has been of great use to me over the years to keep me on track and focused with my prayers!

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Acrostics are the bomb

Ask my kids – I hardly remember anything.  Last week we played Life (the board game – although I admit to sometimes feeling like I’m playing at life and losing) and I forgot which direction my car was supposed to go – right IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME.

Mom brain..  Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Which is why I totally believe in this acrostic method – because I have literally implemented it for over 15 years.

That’s when you know it works.

This little formula that I learned years ago is from the publication, “Our Daily Bread”.  It’s called “ACTS”:

Adoration

Confession

Thanksgiving

Supplication

This is a simple way to remember the different categories for which to pray.

Adoration

“Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”

Beginning your prayer by first centering yourself on the fact that God is the all-powerful “I AM” has a way of changing your focus from “I need” to “He IS”.

After all,

Prayer to the:

Wonderful Counsellor

Mighty God

Everlasting Father

Prince of Peace!

Step back and think about that for a minute.

Realigning your perspective according to the God of the universe has a tendency to change how you pray.

Remember, His ways are higher than your ways – His purposes greater than yours.

If you need help recalling the attributes of God, you can access this nifty pack of forty free downloadable cards from my friend, Arabah Joy!  It has been so helpful to keep me centered on God’s character.

It’s also a good idea to read about the character of God every so often.

One book I reference is “The Attributes of God”  by A. W. Tozer.  This book will enlarge your view of God.  (More on this next week when I share my very favorite prayer resources!)

“The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them.” ~Psalm 111:2

God desires a relationship with you.  In order to have that, you must learn Who He is.

Confession

“And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”

 

When I was in high school, I heard a man of God speak regarding the purity of the Holy Spirit and the depravity of mankind.

He mentioned how we sin without even realizing it, and if we don’t examine ourselves before God on a daily basis, those sins can turn into a twisting, choking vine that distorts our view of God and gets our focus on ourselves.

He suggested sitting down and writing out a list of all the sins we’d committed in the past 24 hours, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal our true unrighteousness.

I took up the challenge.

That night, I filled up 2 pages of a notebook – front and back.

And I thought I’d been living a pretty godly life!

Chances are, you know when you sin most of the time.

But when you sit at the feet of our Savior and reflect on His purity and our impurity, you see the crystal clear truth.

{Mom rabbit-trail relating to the subject}

When my kids were growing up and I divvied out their chores, I expected them to do their best.

The person in charge of wiping fingerprints off walls invariably missed a few.

The kid that folded the laundry unknowingly set a booby trap for the next person searching for a towel.  Instead of getting just one towel upon opening the linen closet, you got ten.  In your face.

The dish washing kid missed the fact that she needed to wash the outsides pans, not just the insides.

Did I get mad when these things happened?

Um.  Perhaps a few times.

But I learned to have grace and practiced that most of the time, because I didn’t want to discourage them from doing their jobs.  I wanted them to be just a bit better each time.

And they were.

This is how God is with us.

Like a wise father, gently correcting, He shows us our faults, forgives us again, and expects better of us next time.

Because His boundless mercies, new every morning –

never

run

out.

It is often hard for us to grasp this concept of God forgiving us over and over and over

and over.

But you love your child, right?  You forgive him, correct?

And so does our mighty, faithful, holy God.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” ~Ephesians 2:4

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; GREAT is Your faithfulness.” ~Lamentations 3:22-23

 

Thanksgiving

“And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them”  ~ Matthew 26:27

 

(Even Jesus gave thanks.)

This is pretty self-explanatory but sometimes we get so down on life that we forget there really are a million things for which to be thankful!

Do you have shoes?  Give thanks.

Did you wake up this morning?  Give thanks.

Did you get to eat yesterday?  Give thanks.

You get the point.  There are a lot of obvious things to be thankful for, but if you sit and think about it, you’ll realize even more.

And above all, don’t forget to daily thank Christ for His sacrifice on the cross for your sins!

Supplication

“Give us this day our daily bread”

 

This is where you pray for your family, friends, husband, and any other needs.

I keep a simple notebook for this very reason, and it’s full of names, needs, and dates for every day of the week.

You can do this too.

Purchase a plain, lined notebook (it doesn’t have to have a calendar) and begin filling in names.  You can add these names as you go along, but I would just put a few on each page and leave space for answers.  Write the date you began praying and the date you got an answer.

Simple!  If you want a clearer idea of how to do this (my personal method), you can read that here.

Next week, I’m going to share my favorite books and resources on prayer.  Things I’ve drawn from for several years.  It’s because of these resources that my prayer life has grown.

Friend, let me know how you’re doing with your prayer life this week.  Have you found the prayer series helpful so far?  Do you implement the ACTS acrostic already?  Let me know your thoughts, and what you’d like to know about building a stronger prayer life!

Can’t control your temper?

In Count to Nine, moms discover a Scripturally sound, methodical approach for taming the temper. Ruthie Gray, mother of four and grandparent of two, gently guides frazzled mothers of all ages toward God’s Word, His view on anger, and the nine steps to overcoming wrath.

In this ebook, you will learn

*The surprising reasons behind your anger

*The mind-blowing truth of God’s view on anger

*One eye-opening tactic for changing your reactions

*How the staggering power of unbelief can keep you from change

*How to triumph through one key attitude adjustment

*How to gain victory over a life-long stronghold

*And much, much more!

The author, Ruthie Gray, transparently shares her own motherhood struggles, instantly connecting with moms through her “been there” approach. Moms will find victory, new hope, and support through this encouraging method of actionable Scripture verses and Scripture prayers.

Dear mom, isn’t it time for you to Count to Nine?