How to Pray

Morning, folks!

I was somewhat hoping that we’d wake up this morning and find out that yesterday’s mid-April snow storm was only a dream… It would certainly make more sense! But alas, my window view confirmed that we indeed got snow in April!

It’s definitely weird seeing snow on the ground when I was running around in shorts the other day, but that’s the Midwest for ya!

FITNESS

I’m actually sore from yesterday’s workout, (that’s what happens when you don’t stretch properly), so I opted for 40 minutes of cardio instead. I did the same workout as last time I was on the elliptical, which was the “cardio interval” program. I learned today that you can increase the resistance of the overall program by pushing the up arrow for resistance once you’ve selected the program you want. Wow! This is great because I get bored with workouts easily, and even though I repeat some of the same pre-programmed workouts, I can steadily increase the difficulty. Bam.

Halfway through! (Notice the huge drop off where it goes from level 18 resistance to 2! Yeesh).

If you have a different elliptical machine and want to replicate this workout manually, here are the resistances:

Level – Minutes:
2 – 2:00
8 – 1:00
12 – 2:00
14 – 2:00
8 – 1:00
18 – 2:00
2 – 1:00
10 – 2:00
6 – 1:00
8 – 1:00
10 – 2:00
8 – 1:00
12 – 2:00
14 – 1:00
8 – 1:00
18 – 2:00
10 – 1:00
4 – 2:00
2 – 3:00

That makes for a 30-minute workout. For a 40-minute workout, extend all the 1:00 minutes to 1:20 (1 min, 20 seconds), and all the 2:00 to 2:40. Enjoy!

FOOD

I followed up the workout with two banana bread muffin bites, some fresh fruit, and a warm cup of my favorite tea.

Holla!

FAITH

During this morning’s quiet time, I thought to talk with you guys about the A.C.T.S. model of praying.

If you’ve been a Christian for awhile or hung around with any long enough, you may have heard of the ACTS acronym as a model of how to pray:

A – Adoration. Start by adoring God, admiring His attributes as the mighty and powerful God that He is. (This 7-minute video will definitely help get you started!)
C – Confession. Next, lay out all the sin on the table that has kept you from fully following God. (Sin is an act of disobedience against a holy God). Confession isn’t so much telling God something He doesn’t already know, as much as it is agreeing with God about the disobedience and absolving to change it with His help. (1 John 1:9)
T – Thanksgiving. Thank God for His many blessings in your life and the life of others. (Psalm 118).
S – Supplication. Make your requests known to God, knowing that He is faithful to listen and has promised to meet the needs of His children. (Philippians 4:6-7)

This model of prayer has been a great outline in my prayer life and growth, and is a good place to start if you’ve never prayed before. Remember, praying is simply talking with God. He sent Jesus, who sacrificed himself that we may have this kind of intimate relationship with Him.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Have you ever prayed before? Not sure how? The ACTS model is a good place to start.

For any questions, please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email on the Contact page. For more faith topics, check out the Faith page.

More on faith topics on See Mox Run:

3 responses to “How to Pray”

Pingback: Bye-Bye Teaching | See Mox Run·
Katy Kraft September 30, 2014 at 9:47 am · · Reply →

Hi Steph,
My name is Katy and I work for Pastor Nick at First Baptist Church in Temple Terrace, Fl. Pastor Nick would like to use your ACTS model and graphic as part of the recourses he makes available of his blog. You would receive all the credit for the model. He believes that your model would be benefical to a lot of people.
- See Mox Run October 31, 2014 at 3:08 pm · · Reply →
  
  Hi Katy, I apologize for the late response! Yes, he is more than welcome. Could I get the link to his blog and where it would be referenced? Thank you!
  
  Steph