Dan Crowley: Hi. My name is Dan Crowley and I'm the spiritual formation pastor here at Sandler's Church. Today, I wanna talk with you about prayer. Why we pray? What is prayer?
And really a way, an easy way, in which you can learn how to engage God in prayer. But let's start with what is prayer. Prayer is simply just having a conversation with God. See, we talk with God like we would anyone we love. And like any relationship, communication is key.
See God is always communicating with us. He communicates to us in his word, the Bible. And in the Bible, God has shared with us what is most important to him. And he continues to communicate with us through others, our experiences and in times of simply being quiet with him. Prayer then is our chance to talk with God.
We share with him what's on our mind and heart and prayer also reveals what's truly important to us. Also like any good relational conversation, there's a structure to it. We talk. We listen. We wait and give space, for one another.
Sometimes there's no words to say. We just need to be quiet and be present to one another. It's sort of like talking with my wife. If I just talk and don't listen, listen to what she's saying as well as to what she's not saying, if I don't leave space for processing and responding, if at times I fail just to be still and be present to her, then it's most often not a very fruitful conversation. It's called one-sided communication.
It's me being selfish and self centered. And it means I'm simply talking to her and not actually having a conversation with her. Likewise, when we talk with God it's good to have some structure that helps us in our communication with him, especially when talking with God since we don't often hear audibly from him. So having structure, it helps us. It guides us.
It guides our conversation with him. That's where the acronym ACTS comes into play. ACTS, a c t s. It stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Adoration, it simply means loving God for who he is.
Confession, admitting when we've made a mistake and coming back to the relationship. Thanksgiving, specifically thanking God for all he's done or for anything he's done for that matter. Supplication, asking God on behalf of another or for ourselves. In a minute, I'm gonna share with you a bit more about each of these practices and model how we can engage with them. But for now, let's prepare our hearts and minds as we enter into a time of worship.
Singer 1: And I will make room for you want to, to do whatever you want to. And I will make room for you,
Dan Crowley: And this time, I wanna talk with you about the first two letters of the acronym. The a in our acronym stands for adoration. Adoration. Loving God for who he is is simply expressing to God what you love about God. Intentionally telling God what you see in him as being amazing, beautiful, good, etcetera.
Don't we do this all the time in other areas of our lives? We tell those we love in our close relationship what we love about them. Our spouse, our kids, family, friends. We also talk about the things we love like the food we eat, the entertainment we watch, the sports teams we root for, the things we enjoy about nature, the beach, the mountains, the desert, and so on. So why why would we not take the time to tell God what we love about him?
There's so much we can say about him. His majesty, his sovereignty, power and strength, his creativity, the wonder or the mystery of God. The list goes on and on. So when we engage in adoration we're simply telling God what we love about him. Next, the c in our acronym stands for confession.
Confession. It's admitting where we've made a mistake or mistakes and returning to God. Just like telling someone you love you're sorry, that you recognize you've made a mistake, that what you did maybe was hurtful to them and has caused a fracture in the relationship, and that you want to make things right. It's the same in our relationship with God. Confession lets God know that we know we've made a mistake, that we're sorry for what we've done, and that our desire is for things to be right again.
And more than that, it's acknowledging that we need Jesus to make things right. Because if we can make our relationship with God right on our own, then why would we need Jesus? See, confession is a demonstration of our belief that only Jesus, his sinless life, his crucifixion on the cross, and his defeat over death through his resurrection from the grave, that and only that can repair our relationship with God. So confession is both admitting our mistakes and doing what we can to repair the relationship. I just returned from an amazing 2 week trip to Israel.
Seeing the places where God's grand story came to life, seeing the places where Jesus walked and ministered to others, spending 2 weeks with my wife and several friends. And true to form, this trip was filled with such a wide variety of experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant alike. So let me share with you very personal prayers of both adoration and confession to God based upon my travel experiences. God, I love you. I love not just the way you provide for me, but also the way you watch over me.
I love your generosity towards me and sovereignty over my life and in the lives of those that got to travel with me, as well as the lives of those I left at home and in the world around me. I love how you met me in my travels regardless of where I was and regardless of what I was doing. You routinely provided for my every need, especially in ways that surprised me. God I love that about you. God I love your creativity.
Then I look around and see the world you have made. I love the beauty of your creation. The warmth of the sun and the magnificent display of colors as it sets in the evening. I love the cool of the night. How you've hung the stars and the moon.
How they dazzle in the night sky. Each day different one from the next. I love your creativity in the landscapes that surrounded me from the mountains to the beach to the valleys to the desert. I marvel at the beauty of your artistry, your creativity that is always on display and pointing me back to you. Lord, I love that you were the one constant in my life.
That as time move forward and even as the enjoyable experiences came to an end, as my health and energy ebbed and flowed that you, oh God, you alone were constant from one day to the next. I love that even in times of turmoil or disruption when things seem to be changing so rapidly, I love you God that you were consistent, faithful and true. That you are my constant peace and my trustworthy companion. I love that I was able to count on you God. God, show me the ways in which I drifted from you throughout my travels.
Showing the mistakes I made either knowingly or unknowingly, especially those that are hidden deep within me that were triggered by the events and interactions with those I traveled with as well as those I met along the way. And show me those things that are buried deep within me, those things that are hidden from me that I might confess those too and return to a more intimate relationship with you. God, show me my thoughts that I might take them captive and make them align with who you are and what you're about in me and the world around me. Lord, I'm sorry for the times when my thinking has been out of alignment with you and your word. Lord, I'm sorry for the times that caused me to be distant from those I love and my travel companions.
Lord, I'm sorry for the times that caused me to be distracted from you and all that you were trying to show me. God, show me my heart. Those things that I felt that have come from a broken place within me that I might pursue forgiveness and reconciliation with you and others. That I might seek healing and wholeness. God please forgive me for what I thought, felt and done.
I recognize my need for Jesus, his perfect life, his death on the cross, his victory over death through his resurrection from the grave, that you would place my mistakes upon him, that I might have a real relationship with you. I ask all this in Jesus name. Amen.
Singer 2: Else. Nothing else. Nothing else for 2. I'm caught up in your presence, and I just wanna sit here at your feet. I'm caught up in this holy moment.
I never won't leave.
Singer 1: And I'm not here for
Dan Crowley: Continuing on in our acronym, the t stands for thanksgiving or thankfulness. Thanksgiving, just as the word implies, is giving god our specific thanks for all he has done for us. You know, when I was a kid, my parents taught me to say thank you. That didn't always mean so much to me until I got older and understood their sacrifice and their gifts from a parent's point of view. Nonetheless, I learned to recognize what they had done through the practice of simply saying thank you.
So So when I finally matured and understood it from a grown up perspective, its meaningfulness was exponentially greater. Likewise, we may not always understand what God has done for us, as well as what he's given to us. Regardless, we give him our thanks so that eventually, our hearts are moved in more meaningful ways. Also, when we thank God, we want to be specific about that for which we're thankful. If I was thanking you for being a part of this time and just said, well, thanks for that or thanks, it may not have as much meaning as if I said something like, thank you for taking the time to listen and engage with my teaching.
Just knowing that you are a part of what I prepared and presented here is incredibly meaningful to me. Truly, I'm thankful for you. Do you see the difference? Remember, Thanksgiving is simply thanking God in specific ways for what he's done. Finally, the s in our acronym stands for supplication.
Supplication, it literally means asking for something on behalf of someone and or for yourself. And when we pray prayers of supplication, we pray to God, the one who can truly supplement our needs. It's sort of like taking vitamins or supplements. When we take them, we're asking them to give us something our body needs, and that something that we might not get through our normal intake of food. In this example, we're looking for added nourishment from our supplements.
Likewise, when we pray prayers of supplication, we're asking God to supplement a need. We recognize a need or a deficiency, whether it's a need we see for someone else or a need we recognize for ourselves, and we ask God to supplement that need by filling in the gap. So, supplication is simply asking God to supplement ours or someone else's need. Returning to my recent experience as I traveled through Israel, listen now as I share a personal and very specific prayers of thanksgiving and supplication. God, thank you for the amazing trip I just got to take.
To walk the land and be amongst the people was incredibly amazing and deeply spiritual. I'm so incredibly grateful for how you provide the gift of time to be there and away from the office. The money to pay for all that it costs, the health and the energy to sustain my travels, and the intimate connections I built with old and new friends alike. It was such a tremendous gift to me. Thank you, God.
God, as I look back upon our travels, I recognize that some have become sick since returning home, and that some are still without their luggage. God, I ask that you would bring healing to those who are still not well, that you would strengthen their bodies and provide for them recovery, that they would recover well and quickly. And that in their sickness, you would give them time and space to be perceptive and receptive of your ministry to them. God, I also ask that you intervene with the systems that have control over the missing luggage, that you would help the workers and the processes to locate and return the misplaced luggage to its rightful owners swiftly and with great care. And, God, I ask that you would meet my friends and their frustration and upset, that you would give them peace and grow their faith, that you would help them to move with kindness and gentleness as they work with those who are helping them, and that you would help them to exercise patience as they wait.
Finally, god, I ask for myself. I believe you gave me so much during my travels. You impressed upon my mind, my heart, my soul, things that you want to use for my formation. Some of which I recognize and others of which I don't. God, would you help me to both understand what I received and to be transformed as I reflect on my time and experiences as I traveled through Israel, that I would unearth these rich treasures that you implanted within me, and that I would know how to apply them to my everyday walk with you.
God, that my life would be a grand display of your workmanship for your glory, for my joy, and for the blessing of others. I ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen.
Singer 1: Spirit out. Your spirit out. Oh, holy anointing. The power of your presence, pour your spirit out. Pour your spirit