Many Afflictions

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” ESV Psalm34:19

Don’t you find it difficult to pray “thy will be done” sometimes? I mean, don’t you sometimes want to pray for your own will to be done? Those were two thought provoking questions that came up in a small group bible study recently. And I think the answer is yes to both. It is difficult, especially when you find yourself overcome by some sort of affliction or hardship, to pray for anything other than relief. Yet while we should always yield to God’s will, it is not wrong to make your desires known to God in prayer.

One of the simplest definitions of prayer that I’ve seen comes from a book titled “Pray With Your Eyes Open” by Richard Platt. Dr. Platt describes prayer simply as a believer’s communication to God. Prayer is the means by which we “talk” to God. Pratt goes on to say that our prayers actually “project our faith” onto God. My observation has been that our faith shines brighter in prayer the deeper our afflictions. In the Puritan prayer “Valley of Vision” one line puts it this way, “The deeper the well, the brighter the stars.”

Christians are able to maintain their faith and project it through prayer during affliction because they know that this life is not the end. We don’t simply cease to exist when this life is over. Christians have what some have described as a “blessed hope;” a hope and faith in being united with Christ at his second coming. Peter describes the present reality of this hope this way: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1Peter 1:3) This reminds us that the Lord will ultimately deliver all his children from every affliction, though they be many, that they’ve faced on this earth.

As our discussion about prayer continued, someone reminded us of a time-tested method or system of prayer that makes it easier to yield our personal desires to God’s will. It’s called the ACTS method.

ACTS simply reminds us of four basic, orderly steps in prayer that glorify God and acknowledge him above and before our desires. The “A” stands for adoration. Hence, we should begin by praising God. The “C” stands for confession. It really is important (and biblical) to confess your sins before God and ask for his forgiveness. The “T” stands for thanksgiving. At this point, after confessing personal sins, how could you not be thankful that you worship a forgiving God? Finally, the “S” stands for supplication; this is the where you communicate your desires to God. If you follow this systematic way of praying you’ll find that your requests to God will be much more humble and your prayers will project your faith onto him.