The ACTS Model Prayer and Jacob's Prayer in Genesis 32

The ACTS model for prayer is a summary of elements commonly found in prayers within the Bible. ACTS stands for:

• Adoration [Psa 150]

 

• Confession [1 Jn 1:9]

 

• Thanksgiving [1 Thess 5:18]
  
  
• Supplication [Phil 4:6]

 

This model for prayer is based on the principles found in the Lord's Prayer (and other prayers in Scripture) as well as the specific verses mentioned above.

 

To employ this model for prayer, it is helpful to ask the following questions:

 

·      What is one thing that you know about God that you should love Him for?

 

·      What sin or sins have you done today that you need to confess and ask God forgiveness for?

 

·      What is something you have done–or something that has been done for you–that you can thank God for?

 

·      What is one thing that you or someone else needs that you can ask God for? 

 

Jacob's prayer in Genesis 32 is the longest prayer recorded in the book of Genesis. It contains all the elements from the ACTS model. Here is the text of that prayer:

 

⁹ And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹² But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” 

Verse 9 is "adoration," verse 10 is "confession/thanksgiving," and verse 11 is supplication, with verse 12 claiming a specific promise from God's Word.