2. When it comes to prayer, you’ll notice that different
traditions have different tendencies
There are two different types of Prayer structured and
Spontaneous
3. Ceremonial
-background will literally have set prayers that are either read or
memorized
-These prayers were carefully constructed years ago and have a concise
precision
These churches often place a high value on what Christian history has to
offer and consider it an honor to keep alive traditions that oftentimes
connect them to centuries of believers
4. most individual prayer lives don’t live in either
extreme, but fluctuate back and forth on the
spectrum.
Some likely have times where their prayer is at
least a little structured, such as a routine of praying
before meals or a commitment to pray for your
family everyday.
5. Some likely often follow a simple formula, such as
the popular ACTS acronym: Adoration, Confession,
Thanksgiving, Supplication. I’ve seen some
Christians that are extremely structured in their
prayer life with topics picked out for each day.
6. How to walk through A.C.T.S.
Prepare yourself by focusing on a few breaths. Inhale, exhale, clear
your head. Then begin…
7. 1: Adoration: Start by praising God for who He is.
He’s gracious, just, and good through and through.
Remind yourself of his all-powerful, all-loving
character.
8. Recite Scripture you might know about Him, like
Isaiah 40:28-31 ESV
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The
Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends
of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his
understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to
the faint, and to him who has no might he increases
strength.”
9. “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young
men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the
Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up
with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be
weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
10. 2. Confession. Now, take some time to admit your
wrongdoings. Have you been gossiping? Acting
hateful towards friends or family? Struggling with
pride? Let God search your heart and point out dark
places so that His light can shine in. Confessing our
sins breaks their hold on us, and clears the way for
the forgiveness of Christ to fill us.
11. 3. Thanksgiving. Move into gratitude for every big
and little thing you can think of. Thanking God helps
us notice all the ways He is taking care of us. It
brings peace to anxious thoughts. Calling attention
to God’s faithfulness today gives us hope that it will
continue tomorrow.
12. 4. Supplication. Finally, our spirits are prepared to
ask God to meet our needs and desires. The Bible
tells us to present our requests to Him, so go for it!
He knows the longings of our hearts, but sometimes
we aren’t fully aware of them until we talk with our
Creator. What do you want God to do in your life?
Don’t hold back. Ask Him.
13. Praying through A.C.T.S. can take a few minutes or
an hour, and it’s a wonderful habit to have in your
life. Give it a try, and watch how God uses it to
bless you and others.
As I go on think on how you can add these to your
prayer life
15. One of the benefits of highly structured prayer is
that it can help you to pray in situations where you
don’t really feel like it and might have otherwise
failed to do so.
Because you have something specific you know you
want to say, you tend to follow through on praying
much more often than you would otherwise.
16. One of the advantages of the very most structured
variety of prayers, namely pre-written prayers, is
that they give you words to say that you mean when
you can’t find the words.
17. In Biblical terms, the Lord’s prayer is a good
example of a structured prayer.
Whether you think Jesus meant for us to recite the
prayer word-for-word or he just gave it as a
template, the fact is that it is a prayer that you
didn’t come up with that you have likely either
recited or modeled other prayers after.
18. Matthew 6:9-13 ESV
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we
also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
19. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do
not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses.”
20. Like most structured prayer, this prayer is
extremely short and to the point. God’s kingship is
recognized, four things are asked of him.
21. The first request of God is God-centered, namely
that his will be done. The next three deal with us,
providing for our needs, forgiving ours sins, and
keeping us from temptation/evil.
23. Prayer doesn’t have to be structured though;
sometimes you can just talk to God and tell him
what is on your mind.
The advantages of this type of prayer is that it
facilitates an active relationship between yourself
and God and is flexible enough to cover whatever
you are going through
24. Biblically speaking, an example of spontaneous
prayers come from the example of Nehemiah. When
Nehemiah learns that the wall of the city of
Jerusalem is broken and that the gates are burned
down, his response is to fast and pray (Nehemiah
1:4).
25. His prayer (verses 5-11) is a genuine, heartfelt
reaction to the state of his people and their city.
There is an honest confession of the sin of his
people, and a request for God to be with him as he
approaches the king to ask to rebuild the wall.
26. Nehemiah 1:4-11 ESV
“As soon as I heard these words I sat down and
wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting
and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O
Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God
who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those
who love him and keep his commandments,”
27. “let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to
hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray
before you day and night for the people of Israel
your servants, confessing the sins of the people of
Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and
my father’s house have sinned.”
28. “We have acted very corruptly against you and have
not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the
rules that you commanded your servant Moses.
Remember the word that you commanded your
servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will
scatter you among the peoples,”
29. “but if you return to me and keep my
commandments and do them, though your outcasts
are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I
will gather them and bring them to the place that I
have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’”
30. “They are your servants and your people, whom you
have redeemed by your great power and by your
strong hand.”
31. “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of
your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who
delight to fear your name, and give success to your
servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of
this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.”
32. Spontaneous prayer is the go-to style of prayer
when you know you have something on your heart,
something burning and needing to come out.
33. What can you learn from this?
More than anything, I hope that this study causes
you to reflect on your prayer life and to brainstorm
ways to make it more dynamic and consistent.
34. Probably the best place to start is to identify where
you normally fall on the spectrum of structured vs
spontaneous prayer. Once you’ve determined which
side you lean toward, ask what the other side has
that you could incorporate.
35. If you’re the kind of person who has a very
structured prayer life, you have lists of things to
pray for and certain days where you pray through
certain things, it might be worth trying to emulate
Nehemiah and be ready to offer up a quick prayer
right in the middle of your day.
36. If you lean toward the spontaneous side, it might be
worth trying a prayer schedule, where maybe one
day you pray for your family, the next you pray for
your unsaved friends, the next for your leaders and
so on.
37. If you want to really go crazy, try praying through
an existing prayer. The confession of sin listed
above would be a good one, or even better you
could memorize a prayer from the Bible (Ephesians
3:14-21 is a good one) and pray that.
38. Final Thoughts
There are things to be gained from both styles of
prayer and both can help you greatly in your
spiritual walk. I highly encourage you to get
creative and mix up your prayer life a little.
