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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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At least for me, all too often, I have fallen into patterns of removing a key element of prayer. It might be that I don’t first recognize and adore who God is…or it might be that I am not strong on confession. At the end of the day, I don’t think we need to hold to a legalistic view of prayer making sure to always include all of these elements, but in order to have a complete and full picture of who God is and who he’s called us to be, we must communicate with a more full picture of prayer.
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There is no recognition of whom I am talking to, a person may as well be praying to themselves. This also knocks on the door of Idols allowing for entry to any idea to take hold.
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It would 1.) not be the complete model that Jesus provided us in the Lord’s Prayer, but it also would create a heart issue. If you take out adoration, it becomes works based because you’re doing it out of obligation. If you take out confession, you’re hiding sin. If you take out thanksgiving, you can grow bitter (especially when you go through difficult seasons). If you take out supplication, you are trying to operate on your own volition.
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There would be no acknowledgement of who God is. Then I could just talk to myself or a friend and accomplish nothing. Acknowledging who he is and his place in my life is like knocking on a friend’s door before entering their house.
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If Adoration were removed from my prayers, I would lose sight of my Creator. If Confession were removed from my prayers, then I would continue to commit the same sins over and over again without acknowledging that I have been cleansed before God. If Thanksgiving were removed from my prayers, I would heavily rely on my wisdom and self-reliance. If Supplication were removed from my prayers, I would lose time spent with my Father and forget that all I need to do is ask Him.