ASK and ACTS

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” —Matthew 7:7, NLT

During one of my morning devotions recently, I was meditating on Matthew 7:7 when I saw a prayer acrostic I had never noticed before.

I saw the ASK prayer, a method Jesus introduced over two thousand years ago in the Sermon on the Mount: Ask, Seek, Knock. Perhaps you, like me, have been praying the ASK prayer daily for many years without realizing it. I knew of the ABC prayer—Ask, Believe, Claim. And over twenty-seven years ago, while reading Dorothy Eaton Watts’s book Prayer Country: A Tour Guide to the Wonders of Prayer,* I came across the ACTS prayer.

The acrostic ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. This acrostic has been such a blessing to me over the years. It has helped me to focus on adoration of God each time I pray. Over the years, I have developed A–Z names of adoration for God, beginning at the first of each month. It helps me to remember to always confess and ask for forgiveness and restoration. Thanksgiving is generally a part of my prayers, but the thanksgiving in the ACTS prayer makes me focus even more. Supplication—asking for our needs to be supplied often takes up most of our praying—but the ACTS prayer helps me to keep the balance between asking and thanking. I pray the ACTS prayer in my private devotions and in my daily joint devotions with my husband, where we share and pray one prayer. I also use it when I pray in public settings. My middle-school students enjoyed using the ACTS prayer when I introduced it in my classroom. It has also been a great blessing in women’s ministry prayer sessions.

It helps the group stay focused and listen to one another as prayer is offered. I invite you to try the ACTS prayer on your prayer journey.

Share it with your spouse, children, friends, prayer partner, and prayer groups. May your prayer experience grow stronger as you continue on your prayer journey with the ASK and ACTS prayers! Pray on, my sisters!

Claudette Garbutt-Harding

* Dorothy Eaton Watts, Prayer Country: A Tour Guide to the Wonders of Prayer (Boise, ID: Pacific Press®, 1993).