Adoration (ACTS)
There are many ways to pray, and over the next few weeks I am going to remind us of an old acronym that has been a great tool for me and many over the years. ACTS: A=Adoration, C=Confession, T=Thanksgiving, S=Supplication. These 4 words will help remind us of all what God desires of us in prayer. So often we get focused on our needs for the day and forget just to spend time in God’s presence adoring Him. Sometimes we even forget to confess sin and leave a bunch of sin and junk between us and God which can break our fellowship. And perhaps you are like me and forget to be grateful, or say “I am grateful Lord, BUT… “ If I am being honest, I think we all get stuck in one mode of prayer the most - supplication - we ask for things more than anything else. I think we do this, because we tend to be a busy people. Our lives are full of running around getting the kids here or there, attending events, and working a lot just to make ends meet. So if we are fitting prayer in, it feels like it needs to count for something, and adoration, confession, and thanksgiving can be the first things to go - especially if our hearts and minds are moving at the pace of our flurry of activity.
So today is the day to focus on ADORATION. So why should we focus on adoration at all? God already knows who He is … why do I need to take time to tell Him? God knows it’s not His heart that needs to be reminded. We need it. We are forgetful creatures who so easily get lost in the day. We need reminding! We need to know that God is in charge and sovereign over all of life, we need to know that He is good even when life is hurting us again. We need to know that His character is full of love and justice, and in Him there is no darkness at all. These and a thousand other things will keep our hearts and minds in love with the God who is who He says He is. This constant refocusing on God and His glory will rework the pathways in our brain to believe and rest in these truths so that our very bones, our core, our guts no longer question the truth. The truth actually washes our minds from the junk we have collected from the day, all the lies that the world and the enemy are trying to shove down our throats. So then In the times that we must run mad with busy, we will NOT lose track of what is most important. We will remember that we really do want to live for God and His glory, just as Jesus always did. So now the question is … what do we need to actually change our trajectory?
We need to confess our lack of attention, turn away from it, and start fresh. This small act of repentance sets us on the path to reordering our mind to focus less on ourselves and instead aligning our mind with Jesus. Jesus always said and did exactly what the Father told Him to do. He always glorified God. We are called to be like Him in obedience but also glorifying. But we are far from His perfection! So our repentance will probably need to be done over and over again… because we will never find ourselves perfect on this side of heaven. Don’t let this discourage you though, it is just a simple act of saying ‘yes’ to Jesus again and again. Just quickly lay it down before the cross, ask for forgiveness, and refocus. We have a gracious God who loves to give us many chances. He loves to see us choosing Him again and again. So don’t waste time beating yourself up. Just keep pressing in, try again, confess and repent as many times as you need to begin to make adoration a habit. And before you know it - it will be your hearts greatest pleasure. We are made to worship … and if we are not worshiping Jesus … we are definitely worshiping something else.
God is worthy of our time, attention, and our praise! Since He is indeed the Creator of all, the Sustainer of all, and the only One who can actually change us in the midst of our circumstances. let your heart be refreshed as you focus on His glory!
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Adoration:
To adore God means that we are tuning our hearts to His glory. He is different than we are, His wholeness and beauty are completely set apart from us. He is a Trinity, God the Father, Jesus our Savior, and Holy Spirit our Comforter. Our deepest need is to spend time looking at His perfection and setting our hearts on His character. As we do this we are aligning ourselves with the truth of who He says He is, not who we want Him to be. He is the only One in all the universe that is worthy of this kind of attention. Let your heart be opened to His greatness, let your mind and body be overwhelmed by his beauty. He is a God to be awed above all things, but He is also our Daddy who longs to hear his kids excitedly say how much we love Him. Feel free to let your posture reflect what your heart is feeling, consider bowing down, raising your hands, kneeling in humility, imagining yourself before His throne, and listening for His voice as He shares His love and pleasure with you.
Pray through Psalm 145
Here are some ideas to help you focus on adoring God - Father, Son and Spirit - these are just some of
His attributes and character:
Only True God Life Eternal Light Creator Freedom Good Truth Holy Justice Sovereign
Mighty All-powerful Shepherd All-knowing Trustworthy Everywhere-present Triune All-wise
Savior King Lord Patient Awesome Glorious Caring Pure Deserving of Worship
Beautiful Gentle Kind Joy Comforter Peace Compassionate Merciful Loving Grace-filled
Giver of Joy Magnificent Giver of Peace Generous Faithful Steadfast Slow to anger Perfection