Luke 11:1
One 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."
I remember the day it clicked for me. I was in middle school, and our very small youth group was being visited by the senior pastor to teach us about prayer. At that time, I had my normal go-to prayers in case my parents made me pray before dinner (e.g. “Rub-a-dub-dub, thank God for the grub...”), but that’s really where it ended. My pastor spoke about prayer in a way that made me think he actually felt a personal connection to Jesus while he prayed. He then proceeded to teach us a timeless acrostic for prayer: A-C-T-S (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). The last three letters of the acrostic made sense to me, but the thought of “adoring” God during prayer was a new idea. He went on to explain that the process of adoration in prayer is simply telling God who He is so you can remember what He has done in your life. Savior, Father, Healer, Friend, Redeemer, Messiah... all these words are titles for our God. By declaring them to Jesus during prayer, we build an intimate connection with Him and remember all He has done to express His undying love for us. It’s a personal experience much like when a little girl gets excited and yells, "Daddy!" when her father returns home from work. She is declaring to him who he is in her life, and the emotional connection between the two continues to grow. Simply put, prayer is our love language with God. Every good relationship flows from good communication!
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When thinking about who God is in your life, what names or titles would you ascribe to Him?
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Take a minute right now to pray and tell Jesus what He means to you. See how long you can simply adore Him in prayer with no other agenda.
Memorize Psalm 27:8 this week.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.
David Hausknecht
Middle School Director