ACTS of Prayer

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ACTS of Prayer

By Justin Ziolkowski

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, 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.  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,  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.’  They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.  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.

Nehemiah 1:4-11

It can be difficult to pray, it truly is a discipline.  Too many times when I may be faced with a crisis or something that is out of the ordinary; I just try to figure it out.  In my line of work, things can go south real quick.  A machine stops working, production is stopped, money is not being made; and it needs to be fixed right away.  It is easy to panic and just start working, hoping that I can fix it quickly.  This not only happens at work, it happens at home, dealing with other people, or any other stress that happens in life.  Although it may seem like a virtue to react like this, it really isn’t.  Proverbs 3:5-6 states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (ESV).  My understanding is flawed, and I have to trust God in everything I do.  Once I learn to accept this, it becomes much easier to pray.  Nehemiah seems to be very disciplined in this.  He hears devastating news, then he fasts and prays.  He is seeking after God’s answer because he knows that his own answer is not going to work.  He knows that God’s plan is the best plan, even if it doesn’t come right away.

How do we pray?  I hear a lot of different things; some good, and some not so good.  I have people say, “don’t pray that you get something.”  Well, if I need a kidney; I’m going to pray for that.  Another person may say, “it’s just a conversation with God.”  True, but a conversation with my boss is going to sound different than a conversation with my wife.  There are times I get distracted when I pray.  I try to pray on the drive to work.  I’ll get distracted by the radio, or my mind wanders down some rabbit trail and my thoughts don’t resemble prayer at all.  On Sunday, we talked about a basic formula for prayer.  I’ve heard it many times since I was in middle school.  It can be summed up in the acronym ACTS.  It stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.  Nehemiah’s prayer resembles this pattern when he is seeking God’s guidance on how to deal with the city wall around Jerusalem that was destroyed.  When Nehemiah addresses God, he uses the word Yahweh.  God has many names, but this one was used intentionally by Nehemiah because it relates to God’s covenant with His people.  Nehemiah is acknowledging that the Jewish people belong to Him and Him alone.  Not only that, there is a recognition of God’s sovereignty and steadfastness.  Later on, Nehemiah confesses sin; not only his own, but those of God’s people.  Daniel and Ezra, 100 years before, also did this (Dan. 9:4-6; Ezra 9:6-15).  Their prayers are very similar to Nehemiah’s.  These three men not only acknowledge God’s attributes and confess sin; but they are showing thankfulness in doing so.  They are thankful for God’s sovereignty, His steadfastness, and His mercy.  After this comes the request.  But his request is not of selfish gain, but what God has put on his heart.  He knows God’s people are suffering, so he asks God for help and guidance.  When we trust in God and are in tune with Him, we are surprised what we pray for because it doesn’t come from what we necessarily want, but what God wants us to pray for.

Throughout the week ask yourself:

1.     Am I depending on God or myself when situations arise?

2.     How can I apply ACTS to my prayer life?