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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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ACTS is a good framework for prayer. We use it a lot in our ministry to help teach others how to pray. Without adoration we can forget about who God is and his character, which is so essential to our faith. Without confession we can forget to be self-reflective and pride can easily take root in our hearts. It’s away for us to course correct and if we don’t take the time to do that regularly it can be devastating. It is easier to fix something when it is small before you get way off course. Without thanksgiving we can begin to feel entitled and then we live expectant of things to happen in a certain way because we feel it is owed to us. Supplication allows us to make our requests known. Without making the requests we can often become careless in our faith and sometimes fail to see the way God has worked because we haven’t been specific.
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It’s good to have a simple model to base prayer on.
I’ll cover Supplication here. If we are to pray constantly, supplication is used to keep us reliant on God throughout our day. This is a powerful thing to do, and will help to keep us humble.
Without supplication we will become self-reliant, and forget to give God the glory for everything He does.
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If we were to remove, the acrostic ACTS then our devotional time would not be effective. You have to recognize God for who He is, so that you can confess your sins (be humble), then you can give Him thanks for His mercy and grace, with our hearts we can pray earnestly to Him knowing that he loves, hears, and cares for us.
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Without adoration I would lose that sense of wonder that our marvellous God cares enough to listen to me. Without confession I’m holding back the very part of my life that I most need to bring him. Without thanksgiving I would lose a sense of gratefulness for all of the blessing in this life. Without supplication I will lose the belief that God is interested in and will answer my prayers.
What an empty faith and tired relationship that would be.
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Without adoration, our prayers might feel more like business deals and less like a connection with God. This could make us less aware of how great God is and weaken our relationship with Him.