More ACTS- Supplication (How to Ask)
In the ACTS prayer format, the “S” stands for “supplication”. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication)
Basically, supplication simply means- asking God for something.
It could be asking Him for stuff, for something to happen in your life- or someone else’s life. We all need to ask God for something, sometimes.
Here are some tips on supplication:
1) God doesn’t give report cards- your format for asking doesn’t determine whether He listens to your prayer
2) However, God isn’t too interested in giving you stuff just to encourage your greed or keep you up with the Joneses
3) Just ask. Be honest. Be polite. (Ask just like you would ask a friend for something.)
4) Then let God decide what to do with your request. (He’s going to decide anyway, so you might as well just relax.)
5) Sometimes you don’t know what to ask for- you just know something needs to happen in your life (or in the life of someone you care about). In those cases, tell God that you don’t know what to pray for, but let him know you trust the Holy Spirit to help. (Check Romans 8:26, 27 to see how the Bible explains that.)
6) One very helpful way to pray is to ask God to give you a Scripture to pray regarding the need.
For instance, if you are concerned about your temper- Galatians 5:22,23 talks about “the fruit of the Spirit” being “love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, meekness, and self-control”. Ask God to help the Fruit of the Spirit to grow in your life.
You find a Scripture to pray by praying about it- ask God to show it to you. In some way, He will bring just the right Scripture to your attention. It will be through your reading the Bible where something will jump out at you. Or a friend will share a Scripture with you. Or it will be in the Sunday sermon. Something will happen. Just watch.
Supplication is part of a good relationship with God. So- ask.
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