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The acrostic ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. What would happen if each were removed from devotions? (For example, what would happen if adoration were removed from your prayers?)
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Being grateful is for our benefit not for God’s benefit. When we practice gratefulness our brain produces serotonin which is good for our physical, emotional and mental well being. Removing gratefulness from our daily prayer may increase our risk of physical, emotional and mental well being. Essentially, gratefulness is a daily supplement guarding against sickness. May I also include guarding it is a spiritual protection.
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In an already very anxious world, removing Thanksgiving/Gratitude would just make us even more unstable. Anxiety cannot reside where gratitude exists. Joy and Thanksgiving are the life blood for the believer to walk in wholeness. 1 Thess 5 says that God’s will in our life is to rejoice, pray, and get thankful.
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Without thanksgiving, we may become entitled and not realize that all good things are gifts from God.
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Our default is to treat God like Santa Claus. We give him a list of things we want, but we have no relationship or reverence for Him. ACT is essential if we are to incorporate supplication. Otherwise, there is no true relationship.
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Each section helps balance the entire prayer. If you remove one, then your focus becomes heavier on the remaining parts (ie. if you over focus on supplication, then your prayer becomes more focused on you than God).