Let’s assume that you now have a block of time set aside in an undisturbed place because you have Prepared a Time and Prepared a Place. Now what do you do?
I am a typical Type A personality. When I sat down for my first appointment a number of years ago with God, I split my time in half. I spent a half hour praying and a half hour reading the Bible. Simple, right? Yea, right!
My first morning with God, with all good intentions, I started to pray. As a child I was taught that when you pray, that I should follow the acronym, ACTS:
A–Adoration
C–Confession
T–Thanksgiving
S–Supplication
My first prayer time went something like this:
Dear God,
You are loving and kind. You are all-powerful and all-knowing. You are the Creator. You are uhhhhh. . . loving and kind. Forgive me for all the things that I did wrong yesterday. Forgive me for all the things I’ve ever done wrong.
Please bless my family, watch over the kids, get my grandmother well, give us a good day at our business. . .and have us make a lot of money. Thank You for all You have given me and all You have done for me.
In Jesus name, Amen.
I knew I had not used up much of my half an hour for prayer (even though I said the words very slowly). I looked down at my watch and all of 5 minutes had passed by. At this point I realized that I did not know much about how to pray! But, as I read my Bible, I began to better understand the character of God. And I learned that before I prayed or sat down to read His Word, I needed to Prepare My Heart.
