Prayer

In the Gospels, it is often mentioned that Jesus went away from the disciples and the larger crowds to pray.  Prayer undergirded all that Jesus did---so much that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.  We find in Matthew 6 an example of what we now call the Lord’s Prayer---something that we pray regularly in worship and need to use as an example of the way we should pray.

We often teach our young kids to pray using the ACTS as an acronym: “A” standing for Adoration; “C” standing for Confession; “T” standing for Thanksgiving; and “S” standing for Supplication.  We can apply this acronym to the familiar phrases of the Lord’s Prayer:

Adoration:  We simply express to our Lord how much we adore him as in the phrase “hallowed be thy name.”  When we pray, we need to remember to take time simply to adore our Creator.  As Psalm 100 says, “it is He that has made us, and not we ourselves….”

Confession:  The scriptures remind us that we are sinners and we stand in the need of confessing those sins to God himself.  In the Lord’s Prayer, we state “forgive us our trespasses…”  We “trespass” against all of the things that we know are pure, holy, and godly when we sin.  So, as we adore the holiness of God, we must confess to Him that we have fallen from the image in which He has made us.

Thanksgiving:  Simply put, all that we are and all that we have and all that we hope to be is bound up in the provision of our God.  We need to thank him continuously.  When we think about the fact that the Lord’s Prayer begins with “Our Father,” that in itself is reason enough to give Him thanks.  Paul says we can now call Him “abba,” daddy—and that he has given us all that we need.  Give thanks and praise to His name!

Supplication: Even though God knows all that we need before we ask, we are still told to “keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on seeking” and God will give!  In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “give us this day our daily bread.”  We ask for daily provision—believing and celebrating in advance that God will provide exactly what we need when we need it.  An important part of supplication is to pray for the needs of others.

When we pray, we need also to pray for wisdom and discernment so that we might hear how God is calling us to serve him.  So prayer underlines as that we do as members of the body of Christ.  Prayer helps us discern how we might honor him with our presence, what kind of gifts we will give to him, how we will be involved in service, and how we might give witness to the goodness of God in all of the world.

Join one another as we re-commit ourselves to be people of prayer.  Please look at this example of the commitment card which we will all receive on the Sunday morning that we consider how we can support the church with our prayers.

o    I will pray daily for my church, its pastors and staff, and the concerns of the congregation as I am made aware of them.
o    I am committed to a time of Intercessory Prayer on Sunday afternoons at the Church.
o    I am willing to help send out cards and make phone calls to let people know that members of Garner UMC are praying for them.
o    I am willing to help with other aspects of the prayer ministry of Garner United Methodist Church.
o    I offer this idea as a way to enhance the prayer ministry of my church: