For a lot of people, prayer basically means asking God for things. For others, it might even be defined more nebulously as "expressing your thoughts to the heavens." But, for the Christian, prayer is a lot more than just asking God for things. As we read the prayers recorded in the Bible, and various teachings on prayer in the Bible, we can see that there is a lot more to prayer than just "asking". Certainly people prayed for God to do certain things or provide them with certain things, but they also used prayer to express thanks to God and to praise and worship God. Sometimes people's prayers are primarily about confession of sin. And there are many other examples.
In order
to highlight the different aspects of prayer, someone (I don't know who) came
up with the acronym of "A.C.T.S.".
I think this one is pretty well known in many Christian circles, where
A=adoration (praise), C=confession, T=thanksgiving, S=supplication
(asking). It's quite a useful
acronym. One of my Bible study teachers
in college modified this a bit to the acronym "TACSI" (pronounced
"taxi") where the I=intercession.
This latter acronym was to help emphasize the difference between asking
for things (supplication) and praying for others (intercession). There's a lot more to it than that, but that
is for a future discussion.
Anyway,
over the years I have had quite a few occasions to teach on the topic of prayer
and, through my own personal study, I realized that there were additional
"types" of prayer. I tried to
come up with a new acronym that could incorporate these additional types of
prayer to help people remember them. At
one point I had settled on "TACL RIC" but I always thought it was a
bit too goofy. Eventually, I have
settled on "APPLE PIES", which I would like to briefly present
here. This acronym outlines seven
"types" of prayer and two important characteristics of prayer. I thought it might be useful to anyone who is
trying to learn more about prayer. It's
easy to remember the acronym, but remembering what each letter stands for does
take a bit more work than ACTS!
Personally, though, I've found it quite useful in my own prayer
life. So, here is the brief definition
of each word in the acronym, along with a few relevant scripture passages:
A:
Appreciation
Showing
appreciation by giving thanks to God for the things He has done.
Ps 95:2, Phil 4:6, I Thes 5:18
P:
Praise
Praising
God for His character.
Ps 100:4, Ps 103, Heb 13:15
P:
Posture
Physical
- and mental - posture in prayer.
Physically kneeling in prayer is obviously not required but should not
be ignored, and should be coupled with the critical character of humility.
Ps 95:6, Is 6:5, Eph 3:14
L:
Listening
Being
still before God and listening for His guidance.
Eccl 5:1-2, Jn 10:27, Js 1:19
E:
Examination & Confession
Asking
God to examine your heart and confessing sin.
Often coupled with listening.
I Jn 1:9,
Ps 32:1-3, Ps 139:23-24
P:
Petition
Asking
God for what is on your heart.
Matt 7:7-11, Jn 16:23-24, Js 5:17-18
I:
Intercession
Seeking
that God would intervene for others.
Ex 32:9-14, Luke 10:2, Col 1:9-12
E:
Expectation
Pray
with faith. Pray with the expectation
that God hears and will answer.
Jas 1:5-8, Dan 3:16-18, Ps 103:2
S:
Submission/Commitment
Yielding
to God's will or expressing to God what you are going to do in response to
God's goodness.
I Sam 1:11, Jn 6:66-69, Ps 37:4
There is a lot than can be said about each of these nine types
and characteristics of prayer, and I hope to expand on these in the
future. But, if you want a quick example
of how these different types of prayer can come together in a single prayer,
read Neh 1:4-11. I count at least seven
of the nine entries all packed into these eight verses (and the remaining two of
the nine are implied). I encourage you
to see if you can identify all nine.
I'll put together a more detailed review of this passage in the future.
This is presented under CC BY 4.0. You have the right to distribute this in any
manner, modify it, etc. I only ask that
you acknowledge your sources.
