Tag Verses

An ACTS Prayer

Todd R 5 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

There are many ways to pray, and my personal prayers are generally highly improvised, but recently something different happened.  I very rarely write (or type) out prayers, but when I was organizing a file of verses I have, I realized a sequence of them made a good prayer outline, even following the ACTS outline I learned many years ago: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

The prayer is below.  The parts in quotes are adapted from the Scriptures in the footnotes, and the parts between are where we can “improvise”, but I found that the quoted parts help create a good frame of mind for the parts in between.

The Psalm 16 reference might need some explanation.  The Psalm, written by David, references the assignment of land in Canaan among the 12 tribes of Israel.  Numbers 26:56 says, “Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller,” while the “lot” was probably something like a modern “roll of the dice.”  The verses quoted in this prayer recognize that although our circumstances, our “lot in life” are not random outcomes but chosen by our Creator.  Therefore, whatever our “lot” is, we can be thankful for it, and we can also know that our future “lot,” the things we ask for, are in His hands.

Feel free to use this yourselves and I hope it blesses you as it has me!

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

Adoration
“You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”[1]

Add your own prayers of praise!

Confession
“You are the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness[2]
Your steadfast love never ceases; your mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”[3]

Confess to the Lord, knowing that He is merciful and faithful!

Thanksgiving & Supplication
“You are my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”[4]

Thank the Lord for what He has provided for you,
then put your petitions before Him!

Closing
“I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
            in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me;
            because you are at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Amen”[5]

[1] Nehemiah 9:6
[2] Exodus 34:6
[3] Lamentations 3:22-23
[4] Psalms 16:5-6
[5] Psalms 16:7-8

Prayer: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 1 Comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” with some of my favorites on prayer, plus a bonus verse:

“Prayer is not getting man’s will done in heaven; it is getting God’s will done on earth” – Robert Law

“Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you.” – Saint Augustine

“Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.  Pray for powers equal to your tasks.” – Phillips Brooks

“We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives.” – Spurgeon, on Colossians 4:2

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” – Martin Luther

“Pray without ceasing” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Oh, Taste and See!

Todd R 1 Comment

In response to a reader suggestion, I’ve figured out what Bible verses quoted the most here and will write a series about those verses.  Today’s post is #1 of a top 10 countdown, starting with the verse quoted the least out of the 10 most quoted, Psalm 34:8.

 “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
            Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”

In my Accordance[1] Bible notes for this verse, I wrote: “God does not shower us with blessing upon blessing until we are convinced He is good and then we turn to Him.  We must learn that He is good by trusting Him and learning to walk with Him.  We learn that repentance is a good thing.”  To me, there’s a lot in this verse.

One thing is that we must be active in our relationship with God, rather than waiting around for Him to solve our problems.  We must each “taste and see,” not “wait and see.”  The Psalmist (David) is comparing knowledge of God to food spread out before us.  Unless we act and decide to eat the food, we will never truly know how good that food is.  This requires us to turn from what we would do otherwise, which may be sin, and turn to God for our refuge.  Repentance is often a requirement for learning of God’s goodness; we don’t learn about it by going our own way.  We must take steps in response to our trust in Him.

Second, we don’t learn that He is good through the experiences of other people, but through our own experience, which we can only get through acting.  Often when we ask people what something tastes like, the answer is “it tastes like chicken.”  This isn’t literally true, but it does tell us that taste is hard to accurately share with and communicate to another person.  We only really know what something tastes like through personal experience, and we can only know how good God is through personal experience.

It’s also implied that if we don’t taste of God’s goodness for ourselves, we might misunderstand it.  We might believe incorrect things about God that we pick up from other sources than Him.   Sometimes these messages come from the secular world, but sometimes they even come from within the church, because nobody and no church (and no blog!) is perfect.  We can only get perfect and pure information about God from God Himself and as you might guess, that means consistent private Bible study, prayer, and meditation.

“Tasting and seeing” is similar in the verse to “taking refuge.”  This verse means a lot to me because it can be a reminder when life isn’t going well, or if I just feel like it’s not going well, that I might need to take a different approach or get a different perspective from God.  The verse suggests that the man who does not take refuge in him is not blessed, therefore we should make sure we are taking refuge in Him.  Only by seeking out His answers to our problems can we know Him and experience His blessing, which we should value over all other kinds of blessing.

So, dear readers:

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
            Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”

[1] Bible software I use and highly recommend.  Many of my blog posts start from notes I took in Accordance.

Slow to Anger: A Quint of Verses

Todd R Leave a comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Instead of my usual “quint of quotes” here are 5 Bible verses (a quint of verses doesn’t sound as good), one from James and the others from Proverbs that expand on the idea from James.  Thanks to the ESV Study Bible notes for the idea.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” – James 1:19-20

“When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
            but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.” – Proverbs 10:19

“Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
            but a man of understanding remains silent.” – Proverbs 11:12

“A soft answer turns away wrath,
            but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

“Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
            when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.” – Proverbs 17:28

Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

Time: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 2 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection on the theme of time:

“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.” – Seneca

“You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” – Charles Buxton

“Your reality is yours. Stop wasting time looking at someone else’s reality while doing nothing about yours.” – Steve Harvey

“Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity.”- Charles Spurgeon

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” – Ephesians 5:15-16

Photo by Mark Vihtelic on Unsplash