The A.C.T.S. Prayer

 

Colossians 4:2 - Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Tonight we talked to the kids about prayer.  Some people pray to God like He is an ATM machine and they can just ask for whatever they want.

But...

That's not how it works.  Paul says we are to "devote" ourselves to prayer.  To devote means to be steadfast, to endure, to courageously persist.  That doesn't sound like a "quickie" prayer said to withdrawal a few answers to me.

We talked about how some people view prayer using a pizza as well.  

• How is prayer like ordering pizza?

• How is prayer different from ordering a pizza?

• Do you think of God as a delivery person?  Why or why not?

• Is prayer like the pizza guarantee, “Delivery in 30 minutes or your pizza is free”?  Why or why not?

• What’s wrong with calling on God the way we call for pizza?

• How do you think God wants us to view prayer?

We talked about how we sometimes feel when we pray.  I threw a ball to one of the kids who threw it back to me.  Sometimes, we feel like, when we pray, God hears our prayers and answers us right away.  Then I threw the ball to another one of the kids, but not hard enough.  Sometimes, we feel like our prayers never reach God.  Next, I threw the ball to one of the kids who threw it back, but not directly to me.  Sometimes, we feel like God didn't answer our prayers the way we thought He should.

God wants us to pray sincerely, steadfastly, with thanksgiving....not just asking for "stuff" from Him.  We watched a clip from Bruce Almighty.  It's where Morgan Freeman, who plays God, is trying to teach Bruce how to pray with sincerity...and not just like a robot spouting off unemotional mechanical prayers.

Why is prayer so important?  

To illustrate this, we showed the kids a video of a pigeon.  Have you ever wondered why a pigeon walks so funny?  According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, a pigeon walks the way it does so it can see where it's going.  Because it can't adjust its focus as it moves, the pigeon actually has to bring its head to a complete stop between steps in order to refocus. This is the way it walks: head forward, stop; head back, stop.  In our Christian walk, we face the same problem as the pigeon.  We are so busy and easily distracted by the world and things around us that we have a hard time seeing while we're moving.  We also need to stop between steps--to refocus on where we are in relation to the Word and the will of God....in other words, to take the time to pray.  Our walk with the Lord needs to have a built in pattern of "stops" which enable us to see more clearly before we continue on. 

So how should we pray then?  

Next, we talked about the model of the A.C.T.S. prayer.  The "A" stands for adoration.  We should always start out our prayers praising God for His awesome attributes.  He is powerful, sovereign, awesome, mighty, loving, just, etc...  The "C" stands for confession.  Next, we should confess any sin we have in our lives that could impede our communication with God.  The "T" stands for thanksgiving.  Now it's time to thank God for all He is, does for us, gives us, etc...  The "S" stands for supplication.  Lastly, we use this time to pray for others' needs, followed by our own.  We went around the room for each of the letters and gave the kids each a chance to give an example so we were sure they understood the A.C.T.S. prayer fully.

We talked to the kids about how it takes three weeks to make or break a habit.  I jumped rope for them... not very gracefully I might add.  We talked about how, once you get into the groove of doing something, it just skips right along.  But once you stop, it takes a while to get the momentum and rhythm going again.  

We gave them each a notebook then and asked them to commit to three full weeks of praying through the A.C.T.S. prayers and recording some of their prayer time in the notebooks.  They can simply record just one word or person's name for each of the letters in the acronym A.C.T.S. on each day's journal entry.  It's their way of maintaining accountability.  On the bottom of each page, we encouraged the kids to keep track of answers to their prayers that they saw as well.  We also reminded them that God has three answers to our prayers....no, yes, and not right now.

Along with their notebooks, the kids made visuals with beads to help them remember the order of the A.C.T.S. prayer and help them not to forget any part of it while they are praying.  

We'll be checking back with the kids in a few weeks to see how their three weeks of praying went.  We offered them each a small incentive if they bring their notebooks back filled in.

Walk the Talk

Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Colossians 3:1

There are people who profess to be Christians, and may even know Scripture, but by their actions, they are denying that they truly know Christ.

Titus 1:16 - They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

What you believe has to be in direct relationship with how you live and behave.  If we share Christ's life and have been raised with Him, then we have to share His example.

Romans 8:11 - And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

We identify with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection if we are Christians.  The new life we now live is strong and powerful, but so can our remaining sin be strong and powerful as well.  However, we need nothing more than Christ alone to live that Christ-centered life.

Tonight we talked about walking our talk.  We can speak "Chriatianeze" all we want, but unless the way we live our lives reflects Christ in us, then we are just moving our lips.  Someone can go to church every Sunday and even quote Scriptures from memory, but if they are Getting drunk every Friday night and cursing and using the Lord's name in vain in every other sentence, then they are denying that they truly know and have a relationship with Christ.  And others are watching their example!

So what do we have to do to walk our talk?

Colossians 3:2 tells us we need to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things.

We put two pennies beside each other on the floor.  On top of one of the pennies, we placed a clear glass full of water.  We asked the kids to take turns looking down at the two pennies to see which one looked bigger, closer.  

As light enters the water in the glass, the speed at which it is traveling slows down.  The rounded shape of the glass (and hence, of the water) causes the light to bend outwards.  As it bends, it extends the image it surrounds outward slightly as well, making the object appear larger.  It works as a magnifier.  This experiment shows us again that things are not always as they appear.  Things were made to look bigger than they actually were.

In this life, we make a big deal out of things like electronics and "toys" and clothes and possessions.  They take up a big space in our minds—sometimes too often!  But Colossians 3:1-2 tells us, “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” When we get to heaven, the glass will be taken away.  We’ll see then how small and unimportant those things really were.

What we need to do is, once we have been made new creations in Christ, is preserve our fizz!  The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” It’s sort of like a bottle of water and a bottle of soda.

We had one of the youth open a bottle of water and pour some in a glass.  Then, with everyone as quiet as possible, we had another youth open a bottle of soda to pour some of it into another glass.  As that bottle's seal was broken, we stopped to listen.  The soda's fizz created a sort of hissing noise when the seal was broken.  The bottle of soda sounded more "alive" than the bottle of water.  In addition, once in the glass next to the water, the soda continued to "sizzle" and "sparkle".

Before we give our lives to Jesus, we’re a little like this plain water.  We look okay, but we’re kind of bland. We’re kind of boring.  After we give our lives to Jesus, we’re more like this soda pop. We sparkle.  We come alive.  If we don’t touch either for a minute or so, they look sort of the same.  They’re both clear.  The only difference is that one makes a sparkle every once in a while.

Often times in life, Christians look very much the same as other people.  But when it comes time to show the love of Jesus in our lives, we tend to sparkle.  How do we do that?  How do we get the power to look more "sparkly" than others?  God fills us with his love and power, which makes us different.  It makes us "fizz"!

If we practice setting our minds on things above and not on earthly things, we will sparkle.  So, once God fills us, one of two things can happen.  We can keep our sparkle and fizz or…what happens when we leave the cap off a bottle of soda overnight?  It loses its sparkle and fizz!  It becomes like the water again...no sparkle, no fizz.  Who wants to drink flat soda?  As Christians, we want to keep our fizz.

If we’re going to act like new creations, we have to take care to preserve our fizz and sparkle.  We have to ask for God’s protection.  The bottle cap is like God’s protection.  We have to put it on and we have to ask God to preserve our fizz for us through giving us a desire to spend more time with Him and grow in our relationship with Him.  Then, when we come into contact with people, they will not only HEAR our fizz, but they will SEE it as well!