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The ACTS of Praying

24 Wednesday Feb 2021

Posted by Jeremy McGarity in grow, Prayer

≈ 1 Comment

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Challenge, hearing God, Prayer

Do you pray? According to The Pew Research Foundation, 64% of Americans do not. But, my question is not for them, it is for you. Do you pray? How often, how long? My guess is if people were to answer I’d have responses from prayer warriors and prayer beginners and even those who have lost that praying feeling.

Here’s the reality, praying can be challenging for even the most seasoned Christian. This is why we launched the 10 Minute Prayer Challenge on Sunday. When a national survey was conducted from thousands of Christians the question was asked, “What is the biggest disappointment in your Christian journey?” 86% of the respondents said, “My prayer life.”

Many respondents said they just don’t know where to start, what to say, or how to go about it. They end up feeling like it’s a waste of time trying to think of things to pray or say. Or, they feel like they pray the same general things and the redundancy just causes them to quit after a while.

I think we want to be more connected to the Lord, we want to dig deeper in our faith and sense a closeness to the Lord like David in Psalms. But, there’s something I believe that hinders most Christians. It is the ideal over the real. Too many Christians think that in order to have a genuine prayer life or a genuine prayer experience that it must be INTENSE.

Some people think if they’re not crying or screaming or sweating they must not be serious about prayer. The truth is, God is looking for consistency over intensity. To be sure, there may be times of intensity, but that is the exception, not the rule. When the Apostle Paul said, “Pray continually,” (1 Thes. 5:17) he was thinking of consistency not intensity.

The key to understanding how to be consistent is found in ACTS. Not the book of Acts but the prayer pattern known as A.C.T.S. This is a pattern that has been utilized by countless Christians over the years to help jump start their prayer life and help them stay consistent. The pattern is this:

A-doration
C-onfession
T-hanksgiving
S-upplication

When it comes to the 10 Minute Prayer Challenge, take 2 minutes on each of these prayer categories. Literally, you can put your stopwatch to it. You’ll be encouraged at how fast the time goes by and it will be a catalyst to more time spent in prayer over the year.

When beginning the ACTS prayer pattern, make sure to start with 2 minutes of clearing your mind. Have a notepad or a phone app with you to mark down the “to do” tasks and other distractions that come to your mind. That way it is captured and it won’t be a mental distraction. This may take longer than 2 minutes, but make sure you take time to quiet your mind and heart as it says in Psalm 131:2.

Adoration is simply worshipping God. Take time to focus on His greatness. Acknowledge Him as the Creator of the Universe and the One who created you. You might pray some of the psalms. Many of the psalms are simply prayers of King David. We can recite those same heartfelt prayers. Or, you might sing or listen to some worship songs. The goal is to put your heart and mind in a place of worship.

Confession is simply admitting what we’ve done wrong. We need a clean slate every day. We need to confess sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of commission are the ones we know we did wrong. Sins of omission are the ones we committed and didn’t realize. We simply come to the Lord in prayer and admit we’ve done some things we realize and we may have done some things we did not realize and we ask for His forgiveness. During this time, God may bring to mind people we need to reach out to and apologize with a call or a text. 

Thanksgiving is self-explanatory. We need to take time to be thankful for what God has done and for what He will do. We need to be thankful for the people and the things in our life. This is one of the healthiest things you can do mentally. A plethora of scientific studies have shown the incredible health benefits of having an attitude of gratitude. God told us this thousands of years ago and I’m so glad science is beginning to figure it out too.

Supplication is simply asking God. After you’ve taken time to worship God, confess sin, and give thanks, it’s OKAY to get out the “shopping list.” And let me encourage you … BE SPECIFIC. Have a prayer journal or app. Write down specifically what you’re asking God for. It is such an encouragement to your faith when God specifically answers your request. Write down the answer, the date, and any other details of God’s answers. You will be able to return to this time and time again to encourage your faith when you need it.

2 minutes: Clear your mind

2 minutes: Adoration
2 minutes: Confession
2 minutes: Thanksgiving
2 minutes: Supplication =
10 minutes of consistency in prayer.

By praying the pattern of ACTS you begin to develop a consistency in your prayer life that will absolutely deepen your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly you will never be the same … now that is INTENSE.

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Keep Praying!

16 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Jeremy McGarity in Challenge, Christian Habits, Prayer

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

hearing God

What have YOU been praying for in this season? Every week, I sit down to pray with many others at our church to pray over our people and their prayer requests. One prayer request that is very common comes from people looking to God for wisdom and direction. 

As you grow in your spiritual walk, over time you will become more and more certain of when a thought is either yours, from God, or from Satan. That’s right, Satan throws his two cents in there too! Differentiating God’s and Satan’s voice is easier than you think!

When the enemy tries to talk to you, it’s called temptation.
When God talks to you, it’s called inspiration. 

That leave’s our voice in the mix. And I don’t know about you, but sometimes I mix up my desires and God’s will. A lot of people do this because we want to do what we want to do, and we hope God agrees with it. The better way to go about discerning between God’s voice and our own voice is to simply ask, “God, what do you want me to do?” 

Now it’s not a big deal if you’re just trying to figure out where to eat after service. But, it’s an issue if you’re talking about who you’re going to marry, a career change, or a big move. We can trust that God has our best interests in mind, and He wants to speak to us!

Here are three ways you can double-check to see if you’re on track to hearing God clearly!

  1. Does it agree with the Bible? Your situation is not a surprise to God. He’s known it and He’s seen it before. He’s given us His Word to help us line up truth against lies. It says in Luke 21:33, that “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.” God will never give you an idea or tell you to do something that contradicts His Word.
     
    When you’re wondering if a thought or idea is from God, the best place to start is always His Word. It is the primary way He has chosen to communicate with us. Many people tend to use it as a last resort, your prayer life will take on new meaning when you go to the Bible first.
  2. Will it help my growth as a Christian? The reality is that we have a ton of freedom in Christ! But in that freedom, we want to be growing in a direction that makes us more like Jesus Christ. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 6:12.

    You say, “I am allowed to do anything” – but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.

    If you’re struggling with a decision that doesn’t go against the Bible but it may not be helpful to your walk with Jesus Christ it’s important to check it up against this test.  Seek God’s wisdom even for something that isn’t bad for you … but may not be wise either. 
  3. The Jerk Test. Ideas from God don’t cause people to act like jerks. So, if someone ever tells you that “God told them to do this or that ” and they’re acting like a complete jerk, then you know that idea did not come from God. God isn’t going to tell you to do something if it makes you act like a jerk. There are a lot of things going on in our world that people blame on God, yet Scripture reminds us in Proverbs 19:3

“People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the LORD.” Don’t use the “God told me” card and then act the opposite of Jesus Christ.

I want to encourage you to continue praying! Continue reaching out to your small group, mentors, and church family. I’m certain that God wants to direct, guide, and show you what He has for you in this life. He’s got plans for you even if we in San Diego are in the purple tier, red tier, or have torn down the tiers, God has a plan and He will come through for you. Keep praying, keep hoping, keep on keeping on!

I want to continue praying for you too. Send your prayer requests by filling out a Connection Card at SkylineChurch.org. Or download our APP and send in your request there. AND, if you believe God has answered your prayers and given you the wisdom to make a decision, we want to celebrate with you! Fill out the same connection card and tell us about your Praise Reports! 

God bless you, friend! May God give you wisdom as you prayerfully seek to be more like Jesus Christ. 

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Hearing From God

10 Friday May 2013

Posted by Jeremy McGarity in Uncategorized

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Church, fun, hearing God, jeremy mcgarity, Jesus, seven san diego church

It can be fuzzy, silence or loud… how should we CRANK IT UP????!!!!

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Celebrating my friend and mentor Tom Mercer @theoikosmovement and 38 years of ministry @highdesertchurch . Tom has recently handed off the leadership of HDC to @toddarnett . I am so grateful for Tom. This is a group pastors and leaders, some of whom were in our @tm.churches mentor group that Tom led for over 12 years … driving down from the High Desert, 3 hours each way to help all of us learn and grow as leaders. We love you Tom!
Here we go again. The vaccines.  Here we go again. A virus.
Still celebrating Sunday’s 93 Baptisms… notice… ALWAYS smiles from people after being baptized— “There’s joy in the Lord!” No matter how dark our culture gets- the Light of Jesus Christ our Savior will shine through!
93 lives committing to follow Christ! What a day @skylinechurch baptisms and summer nights celebration.
Summer Break-ing
Proud of my boy @aidan_mcgarity now on to @mastersuniversity
There’s just something special about a sunset ride in San Diego. #Mt.Laguna #corralcanyon do you ride? Let me know - let’s get a group together. #ridersforChrist #ktm #ktm500exc #adventureriders #adventureriderssandiego
Slow Grow
St. Louis. great conference, for the most part, @wesleyanchurch lots still to change but a lot of good came out of this gathering as well. This is a movement (denomination) committed to the primacy of the Lord Jesus Christ and the inerrancy of Scripture! Two non-negotiables for me, for @skylinechurch and many other churches. Glad to see the WC reaffirm this at general conference. Also, catching a Cardinals game was a nice side benefit as well as seeing an the actual Red Bird when we arrived in STL. And the Gateway Arch is truly amazing… a marvel of engineering genius.

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