Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication

Someone invented the ACTS mnemonic to represent the four types of prayer. I freely confess (and this is not a prayer, just a confession) that most of my praying is of the latter type. I have posted previously about the New Testament pattern of supplication, which is so different from what most public praying I hear is about, which is praying for people who are sick, or for families that have suffered loss. These things are surely important, but praying for strength for other people in their Christian life is much more important.

Adoration is telling God how wonderful He is. Confession is telling Him that we aren't so wonderful. Thanksgiving is thanking Him for specific things He has done. Supplication is asking Him to do things.

My friend Bob Black once pointed out that The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) does not include thanksgiving. It does include adoration, confession, and supplication.

These four aspects, or types, of prayer aren't the whole story. They are one side of the story. Prayer must be listening to God, as well as telling Him stuff.

Rebecca had a post on how a local church should pray. Several readers added to it. See here.

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On January 2, 2011, I added this graphic to the post. You can see a larger version by using the graphic as a link.