The Four Elements of Prayer

A few weeks ago, I was reading How Do I Pray the Bible? by John Piper and he made and interesting statement about prayer.

The Scriptures either tell us something about God and Christ when we are reading so that we can praise him. Or, they tell us something about what God and Christ and the Holy Spirit have done so that we can thank him and express faith in it. Or, they tell us what God expects from us so that we can cry out for his help. Or, they tell us about something we failed to do so that we can confess our sins.

Interestingly, this aligns with the A.C.T.S. prayer acronym. A–adoration, C–confession, T–thanks, or S–supplication

This was encouraging to me because I want to honor God in my praying and if I’m left to my own patterns and habits, my prayer life will deteriorate toward the routine and repetitive. This doesn’t mean that what I’m praying is bad, it’s just that it's easy to leave out essentials that create the right disposition in me and add fullness to my praying. I seem to be regular with thanks and supplication but not with adoration and confession.  

So, as an exercise, you might want to read your Bible while looking for these four elements:

• Does the passage give us something that should create praise?

• Does the passage prompt confession by showing us where we fall short?

• Does the passage tell us what God has done so we can thank him?

• Does the passage show us where we need help so we can ask for it?