The Prayers of that Great Cloud of Witnesses
ACTS: A Prayer Workout (Part 4)
“At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’. -I Kings 3:5
God appeared to the young King Solomon and gave him an opportunity we would all love to have. If the Lord told you to ask whatever you wanted, what would you pray for?
One of the traditions of the church I pastored in urban Los Angeles was a regular time during each Sunday service for “The Prayers of the People.” A lay leader would stand at the lectern and ask people to stand and share prayers that were on their hearts. Inevitably, congregants would stand and share concerns for the physical health of relatives. Rarely would the requests be personal, but when they were, they focused on physical needs, relationship issues, or business goals. Of course, we feel these needs deeply, and God knows we need our “daily bread,” but are there greater gifts we could be seeking for the God of all creation?
Today’s post is the fourth and final article on a method of prayer known by the acronym “ACTS.” I recommend ACTS as a prayer workout because many people whom I would like to emulate in prayer have found that regular practice of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication in their morning routine focuses their minds, reduces their sense of guilt, and increases their enjoyment of life and their ability to makegoodhappen. This post focuses on the “Supplication.” Adoration, Confession, and Thanksgiving focus what we ask for in prayer. Jesus urged his followers to seek first the kingdom and its righteousness and then all of the things we so often prayer for - food, clothing, health - will be added as well.
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary, 1773
To SU’PPLICATE. v.n. [supplier, French supplico, Latin from supplex.]
To implore; to entreat; to petition submissively and humbly.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Contemporary
The minister reminded his flock that God is a being to be obeyed and worshipped always and not just someone to be supplicated in times of trouble.
More recent uses of Supplication:
The windows do away with the plaintive or supplicating figures more common to Christian stained glass. —Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2023
Now, finally, Farley, as chief of Ford for barely half a year, has come to supplicate before the narrative. —Dale Buss, Forbes, 1 June 2021
Young King Solomon responded to God’s offer by asking for the wisdom needed to fulfill his calling. This prayer request was exactly what God was looking for. The story continues:
So God said to him, ‘Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for – both wealth and honour – so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.’ -I Kings 3: 11-14
Jesus’ followers have the same opportunity that Solomon had. Jesus urged us to ask for what we need.
‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.’ -Matthew 7:7-8
So, what should we ask for after Adoration, Confession, and Prayer? Let’s take Paul’s prayers as our example:
For wisdom, in the spirit of Young Solomon:
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you might know him better…” -Ephesians 1:15-17
For spiritual health:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. -Colossians 1:9-11
Not only for personal desires but for all Jesus-followers to be aligned with God’s will and grow in their relationship with Christ.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. -Eph. 3:14-19
Practice spending the first half of your “supplications” with such prayers. Watch how God will answer!
I love these ‘supplication’ suggestions