Grocery List Prayer

To save trips and money, I make a grocery list and go to the store once a week. When we use all the ketchup and there is only an inch of milk left in the gallon, I put them on 

the grocery list. A number of years ago, I noticed my prayer time was like a grocery list. I

went to God always wanting. My prayers were one-sided conversations. 

I bought a book on prayer and found a system called ACTS. The A is for adoration. This starts prayer with a God focus instead of me focus. The C signifies confession, a part of prayer most of us would like to skip. But, I have found admitting sin is very freeing. My Lord is forgiving and patient with me. The T stands for thanksgiving. Thanking God is something to do everyday not just on national holidays. Finally, S is for supplication. I generally pray for others, then my family and myself. This order helps me to adjust my prayers to thinking of God, others and myself.

I recently found a prayer tool on the Navigators website. It uses the five fingers on your hand as an aspect of prayer. The five topics are: confession, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. Each part has a scripture with it. You can find this one page PDF file, “Getting a Grip on Prayer”, at this link: Navigator Prayer Tool.

I pray you will find one of these methods helpful in keeping your prayer from being a grocery list, me-centered petition and rather be an intimate time with the God of the universe.