How to Pray

We want to help you in cultivating a prayer life that helps you know, love, and obey God above all else. One way of doing that is by using the acronym “ACTS”: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.

The ACTS way to pray isn’t a “silver bullet” formula. Rather, it is a guide to help you grow a balanced and focused prayer life in your relationship with God that orients your life toward him and cultivates intimacy with him.

Adoration

Adoration focuses on who God is and what he has done in the gospel. This is a space for us to remember God’s goodness, holiness, power, etc., and what he has done for us through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. Sometimes, adoration may be challenging for us, but before we get to the “what” of our specific requests, we must remember the “who” that we address in our prayers. As we remember the wonder of our God and the riches of his grace toward us, we orient all our prayers to him. In fact, as we adore him in all his glory, we orient our whole lives to him.

Confession

Confession is our response to the uncovering of who we are and what we have done. When we step into the light of God’s glory, we see with clarity how we fall incredibly short of it. And when we recognize the gap between how we should be and how we have been, we remember God’s love for us and let his kindness lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Confession is a great privilege, because the Bible teaches that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 ESV).

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a humble response to the generosity of God, acknowledging that every good and perfect gift comes from him. God loves us and lavishes good gifts on us—in our yesterdays, today, and for all our tomorrows. Thanksgiving recognizes that all we are and all we have is because of him. Gratitude puts us in the right frame of mind to make requests, because it leads us to consider what God has done and what he is able to do.

Supplication

Supplication just means “asking.” Jesus told us to “ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7), and he modeled for us how to ask in a way that is submissive and surrendered to God’s good purposes. God delights to give and bless. Asking glorifies him as we trust him in every area of our lives. Asking humbles us. Asking opens the door for greater faith and draws us deep into the arms of our good God, whose faithfulness and love never end.