A Structure for your Prayers

— by Roland Heersink

In the last two posts, we uncovered the reason for prayer and what to pray for. But how do you pray? And how can you do that every day without falling into a rut?

God wants a relationship with you, so it’s not just about solving problems! And, as you deepen your relationship with God through prayer, it becomes easier and easier to know His will for your life and your life and your entrepreneurship.

So how do you pray? In the spirit of practical guidance—and definitely not as the only way—I’ll offer the following structure, which has been used by many leaders and saints through the ages: A-C-T-S. This is, of course, not the only way to pray and no formula guaranteeing success, but it gives a good structure which you might use each and every day.

A: Adoration

Entering your prayer time resembles entering a holy place, so it makes sense to first assume a posture of reverence and humility. After all, you are the created one and God is your Creator. You are mortal, finite, and limited; God is immortal, infinite, and unlimited.

So it makes sense to humble yourself, to place your time and talents at God’s disposal—from both your personal and work life. Start by giving everything over to Him, in worship and thanksgiving.

For some help getting started, read and reread how David led his people in prayer—a small portion of which is given here:

“Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. … Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” — 1 Chronicles 29:10…13

If you need some inspiration, I find this video helpful.

C: Confession

Once you’ve completed a period of adoration for your great God, examine yourself and consider how you may have fallen short of God’s plan.

Confession is your way of saying sorry, a way of healing the brokenness that you’ve introduced into the relationship.

Not sure about that? Then look at what the Bible says about the importance of confessing your sins:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us ... If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. — 1 John 1:9-10

T: Thankfulness

After reflecting on how great God is, and how much God has given you—family, health, work, and so much more—it’s hard not to be thankful.

Even so, the Devil wants you to think that you are missing out, how it’s not fair, and how you deserve more. Flee from that! Focus instead on what God has already given; stay close to Him and do not follow the ways of the world.

Instead, list the blessings you already have, and then, when you run out, ask God to come into your heart and show you more.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. — Philippians 4:6

S: Supplication

After preparing with the first three steps, it is time to pour out your heart and seek God’s help. Even if you don’t what to say, you may just groan before Him; He already knows your need and is glad to hear from you in whatever form it takes:

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. — Romans 8:26b

During this time, be still before God. Let your thoughts roll around in your head; don’t try to solve any problems, but just enjoy the ideas and peace that God will give.

Afterwards, thank God again and slowly return to your awakened and refreshed self. You may not have all the answers or have even heard anything, but as you repeatedly come back to God in a time of prayer, He will eventually show you His will, His way, and His plan for your life and leadership.

The above A-C-T-S structure has been found helpful by many Faith-Driven Entrepreneurs, and hopefully you find it helpful also. Next to this, the other go-to structure for praying is the example that Jesus himself gave us: The Lord’s Prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

[adoration]

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

[supplication – give us what we need so that we might help build your Kingdom]

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

[confession]

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

[supplication – keep us pure so that we might be examples to others]

Again, there is no one formula for your prayers as a Faith-Driven Entrepreneur. God values all prayer, but, as Jesus and the Bible teach, do remember that prayer is so much more than just asking for help!

Prayer: the Faith-Driven Entrepreneur’s most powerful tool

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We hope you found this set of 3 blog posts to be helpful. Each post has been abstracted from the book “Toolbox Devotions for the Faith-Driven Entrepreneur” by Roland Heersink and Dr. Szaszi Bene (Tyndale Seminary, Amsterdam). 

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