A Quiet Time With God--The Lord's Prayer--ACTS

When Jesus' disciples saw Him praying, they knew they were seeing something important, something special. The had seen Jesus going off by himself to commune with His Father, and they wanted to learn how to pray also. So, they asked Him. This request of the disciples is written in Luke 11:1-4:

1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

2He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation. "

Now, we know that Jesus taught in parables--stories so that people could understand what He was telling them based on their own experiences.

This prayer has been used over and over--said just as is--and there is nothing wrong with that--as long as we stop and think what each sentence means to us personally in our relationship with God. I know that growing up, we always said this prayer at the end of each church service. This became more of a memorization habit rather than a true prayer. We were just saying the words with no thoughts, no feelings--just words said out our memory bank.

Peggy left a comment on my previous post regarding the ACTS prayer pattern. And yes, Peggy, that is exactly what I was doing!! I will often take a Scripture, read it, reread it, ponder over it and then pray the Scripture in my own words using the ACTS prayer pattern.

What is this-the ACTS prayer pattern? It is very simple to remember:

A-----Adoration:

Come to the Lord, praising Him for who He is, awesome, mighty, powerful, creator of the universe--however you are feeling that is wonderful about God to you today. Tell Him how much He means to you and how much you love Him!

C-----Confession:

Confess your sins to God. Ask Him for forgiveness, repent.

T-----Thanksgiving:

Thank God for all the blessings He has bestowed upon you. Tell Him how grateful you are and given Him a great big 'Thank You"!!

S------Supplication:

Tell God what is on your mind, your concerns, your needs, what areas you
need help in. Ask Him questions about what is going on in your life at the present time. Pray for others, asking God about the needs and concerns need to be met in their lives.

Jesus often went off alone, to a quiet place, early in the morning. I, myself, am a morning person. I am at my freshest early in the morning, there are no distractions, no one vying for my attention. So, my quiet time is in the morning, before I ever start my day. I've tried to have my quiet time at the end of the day, and I, unfortunately, have a tendency to doze off in the middle of my prayer time.

So, here are our assignments for today:

• Determine when your freshest time of the day is and commit this time to the LORD.

Any of you who know me, know that I am definitely a morning person. My time of arrival
at my work is 7 a.m. However, I arise usually between 4:30 and 6 a.m. I am at my
freshest, and this is my time to devote to my "quiet time", my time to spend uninterrupted
with God, talking with Him, listening to Him. I have committed this time to Him, and Him
alone. This begins as a discipline that soon becomes a wonderful habit to look forward to.
And remember, if you don't show up, God is still there waiting for you!! As Firefly stated
in her comment, He is just waiting for you to arrive, and He will reap great blessings in
your life!

• Find one of your favorite Scriptures--read it, reread it, ponder over this and write a prayer to God using the ACTS prayer pattern.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so
that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit....

Roman 15:13

My Father, I know that You are Lord over all, capable of all things great and small. My
praise is for You and You alone. You are the God of hope, joy, peace, love, kindness,
patience. Am I deserving of all of this from You? And yet, You still love me. How can I
even begin to thank you for your love and kindness? Still my heart this morning and
fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I am able to show Your love, Your hope, Your
peace to everyone I encounter today.

I confess to You, LORD!! You know my sins--and yet You still love me! I confess to You
my anger towards others who have caused pain in the life of my children. I have forgiven,
but yet sometimes these emotions come flooding back to me, and I need to go back and
forgive yet again. Please help me to forgive so that You may forgive me of my sins.

And today, Lord, I thank you. I thank you for loving me, for guiding and directing me--
always towards You, focusing on You--giving me the strength to carry on. I thank you
for providing for me, even when I was far from you, You still provided my daily needs.
You have bestowed blessing upon blessing upon me--my spiritual family, my children,
and more than anything else, Your own Son--Jesus. Where would I be without You in
my life? I, thank you, Jesus, for sacrificing Your life for me--yes, for me--so unworthy,
so sinful, and yet You still saw me, loved me and gave Yourself for me.

Today, Lord, I ask you to help me to see others as You see them, not as I see them--just
as you see me--not the person that I am, but the person that I can and will become
in You. Let Your hope overflow in me so that others will come to You and feel Your
love and peace in their lives.

I pray for my children, particularly my son at this time. He is so full of anger, self doubt,
and letting the past control his life. Please help me to help him let go of this so that he,
too, can come to you and feel your love and peace in his life. I know that you can move
mountains, and I am humbly asking you to soften his hardened heart. I commit myself
and my son to You because only You can do this in Him, and I need your help, power,
might and strength.

I also pray for my friend, Linda, suffering from so much back pain. Please heal her,
Lord. Ease her pain. Guide with Your wisdom all that are caring for her in this time
so that she may recover and continue in Your work. And again, a thanks--thank you for
sending Linda into my life and for her obeying You--guiding me back to You. I will never
turn my face from You again.

All of this I pray in Jesus' most Precious Name,

Amen.

• Using "The Lord's Prayer" as a model, take each line and write what this means to you personally.

Our Father in Heaven: My Father--You reign above me, You created the
universe and all is in Your control.

Hallowed be Your Name: You are Holy, wise, loving, mighty to save.

Your Kingdom come: May Your Kingdom reign here on earth as well as in
Heaven. May we always look ahead and focus towards
the day when Jesus comes again.

Your will be done: May Your will control my life, not my own. May I always
look to You for answers and guidance.

On earth as it is in
Heaven: Let Your will reign here on earth, God. Make Your will known
to us. Help us to become more Christ-like--day by day,
moment by moment--as we will be in Heaven.

Give us this day our
daily bread: Please provide for us our needs for this day and this day
alone, just as You did for the Israelites. Help me not to
worry or be concerned about tomorrow knowing that You
will provide for me day by day.

Forgive us our sins: Forgive us of our sins as we confess to you, O LORD. Help
us to repent and mend our ways so that we may be Holy in
Your sight. Cleanse my heart, mind and soul of all I confess
to You.

As we forgive those who
have sinned against us: Help me to forgive those who have sinned against me. Help
me to completely forgive, and when I realize that I have not
to willingly come back to You for the help and guidance
that I need.

Lead us not into
temptation: Help me to stay away from people, places and things that
may lead me astray from Your will in my life.

But, deliver us from evil: Help me to realize when the evil one is at work in my life
and to seek You even more fervently during these times
so that You may guide, direct and deliver me. Keep me
safe in Your loving arms and embrace.

Amen: So be it--Your Will be done.

• Write a list of the things you have talked with God about today.

Joy
Peace
Love
Hope
Trust
Forgiveness
Anger
Control issues
The Lord's Prayer and what it means to me
Healing for my son and Linda

Tomorrow, I'll share some of of my own journalings, how to find your own quiet place (if you don't have an idea of this already) and committing this time and place to God.

Beth

A Quiet Time With God--Where I Came From--Where I Am Now--Shared Journalings

If you have read my warmharte post, you will know that I am a day behind.

In order for you to understand why this study is important to me, I want to share with you where I came from.

I was raised in a church that was very concerned with the legalities of religion, what was appropriate and not appropriate for their particular denomination.

Yes, I knew all the facts, I knew that Jesus had come, lived, suffered and died for me. But, I did not have a relationship with Him. All I had were the facts.

When I started attending the church I now go to (thank you, Linda!), I would be walking down a hallway and hear someone say, "I'll be praying about that", or I would walk into the restroom and find two or more people praying together, very fervently.

I didn't understand this--in the church I came from, we did not pray! Only the pastor of the church prayed at the end of the service, and this was a very generalized prayer.

I did not understand why these people were offering to pray for one another, praying together in what seemed (at the time) to be inappropriate places, and most of all, I just didn't know how to pray!

I remember when my mother passed away, the pastor came to our home and he offered to pray with us. This was not a pray for comfort, for help in our grieving. He simply asked for God to be with us. At the time, I thought to myself that this was a rather trite prayer--asking God to be with us--wasn't He already with us always?

So, I needed to learn to pray. In this, I am still a "baby", moving on up to toddler--just still taking my faltering steps. But, I am learning.

I have edited the previous post and shared some of my journalings from Wednesday. I ask you to read what I have written and please share with me. As I stated earlier, I am in the early stages of learning, and I would love to know what you think.

I'll be back later today to move on to the second part of how I am learning to have a quiet time with God.

Have a blessed day!

Beth

A Quiet Time With God--The Beginning

Before we begin, I just want to make this perfectly clear. I am far from an expert on prayer. I have been wanting to enhance my prayer life, my time with God. So, I did some reading on this subject and just wanted to share with you what I have learned.

Also, if you haven't read the previous post, you might want to go back and look it over before beginning today.

Now, are we all ready to begin? Do you have your Bible, a small notebook, a pen or pencil and yourself? Okay--here we go!!




We are all on a spiritual journey, and we are all on different places in our walk with our Lord. Some of us are baby Christians, some are toddlers taking their first wobbly steps, some are in their teens, and some are mature adults.

But, whatever level we are one in our own personal life, I think that each of use realize and understand that the most intimate communion with God comes through prayer.

The apostle Paul knew this when he wrote:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with Thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus."

Phillippians 4:6-7

So, how do we accomplish this? How do we achieve this peace? How do we learn to talk with God, a quiet time with God every day--a time that we look forward to and don't try to squeeze into our busy schedules. This is what we are going to discover together over the next several days.

In my readings, I have discovered the fact that if we want the best information about any subject, we need to go to an expert in that particular field. If we want to become good at something--a sport, playing the piano. and yes, praying, we need to practice.

In order to learn to pray effectively, consistently, have that quiet time with God every day in our lives, we need to practice and discipline ourselves. Most importantly, we need to study the expert in this field.

We need to look at the person of Jesus Christ. No one has ever prayed more fervently, had more intimate conversations with His Father, or understood the power of prayer more than Jesus. He is the expert of prayer. We are going to examine how Jesus prayed and learn how to apply this to our own lives.

God is willing, ready and able. He is waiting for us to come to into His presence expectantly every day--with an attitude of worship, faith in Him, trust in Him, hope in Him, love for Him--just waiting for us to speak intimately with Him.

No concern of ours is too small or too big for God to handle. We are HIS children, and He wants to hear from us. Think of your own children--are you happy when you pick up the phone and hear their voice? Does it make you feel joyful when you are able to give your children a gift--something they have been longing to have?

Now, apply your own feelings about your children to God's feelings about His children. How much greater joy will God receive when we speak to God, come to Him with our praise, our thanks, our needs and concerns--no matter how great or small.

Paul writes in Romans 8:16-17:

"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit
that we are God's children.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs--
heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,
if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that

we may share in His glory."

This is an absolute promise from God. He will cover us with His blessings because we are His children, sons and daughters of the King, and heirs to His Kingdom!

Now, it's time to journal for today:

• Reread the above Scriptures and describe how these verses speak to you personally about each and every need in your life.

Just reading these verses from Phillippians gives me peace. Knowing that I can take my
anxieties, my cares and concerns, my needs (no matter how great or small) to God,
present them to Him, knowing He is in control (no, not me!) relieves me and brings me
tranquility and peace. Sometimes, I will go over and over things in my own mind,
discussing whatever the problem or need is with others, and in my head I already am
telling myself, "I know, I know what the answer is." I have presented this to God already
and He has answered me. It's a matter of moving my head knowledge to my heart.

• Read Psalm 86:5-7. If you don't have a Bible, I have these verses here for you. Meditate on these verses and express in your journal about this makes you feel, knowing that God will answer you.

I feel a great sense of relief!! Knowing that God hears me, will answer me (maybe not in
the way I expected), and knowing beyond a doubt that His will is what is perfect and best
for me. I know that whatever is on my mind, I can bring to Him (He knows
already, anway!) in prayer, and He will embrace me, cry with me, laugh with me, and see
me through. He has never let me go--even when I was far from Him. I am His child and
He loves me always.

• Write a prayer of thanks to God for what you are learning from His Word.

My Father---I thank you for your Word, where I can go in any circumstance in my life,
and learn what You have spoken. There is much in your Word that I do not truly
understand. Please open my heart and mind to your teachings, so that I may follow
You more closely.

• Write your prayers to God, asking Him questions, telling Him your needs, your fears, any concerns you may have.

Abba--I love you. You are mighty and powerful and hold the entire world in Your hands.
I confess to you my sins, some of which I have committed knowingly, and some unknow-
ingly. Please forgive me and help me to learn to have faith and trust in You completely.
Help me to surrender my total life to You, not holding back any part, not even the
smallest part. I want to be totally Yours in all ways.

Help me to find the quiet time to spend with You, not squeezing You in at the end of my
busy day when I am too tired to listen to what You have to say to me.

I pray for my children who do not know You. I fear for them, Lord. Please let them see
You shining in my life, see the changes You have made in me, and bring them to You.

Please help me to bring my anxieties, concerns and fears to You before they overwhelm
me, not after!! Help me to seek You more and more each moment of my life.

• Write a list of what you have talked with God about today.

Trust
Confidence
Surrender
My children
God's Word
Fear, anxieties
Feeling overwhelmed

I'll be back tomorrow to share my journalings with you. If you are participating in this with me, please let me know. Your journals are your own private communion with God, but if you have anything you would like to share, please do so by either linking to your own blog or leaving a comment.

Then, on Friday, we'll move on to your own personal quiet place with God and how He will be waiting for you to come and meet Him there.

Have a blessed day!

Beth