So often, too often, we go to God in order to ask for that we desire. Years ago I shared a model for prayer called A.C.T.S. It stands for "Acclamation, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication." The model is intended to prevent us from too quickly moving to our own requests, but rather to begin with an acknowledgment of God and what God has done for us.
Martin Luther, in his Small Catechism, points out that this is why "deliver us from evil" comes near the end. What more do we pray for, once we have secured God's protection?
This morning's opening prayer brought these thoughts to mind. It concludes with this line: "We do not so much ask for the strength which you have promised as for the grace to use what you have already supplied."
God has promised us much - and God will give it to us. There are so many other things which desires us to have.
But moving too quickly to those things, or desiring them too strongly, can interfere with that which God has already given us. It may blind us to the grace which is already in our lives.
In my prayers this morning, I asked God for His aid. But I also thanked God for the resources he has already given me - resources with which I can face the day's challenges.
We ask, not only for the strength which God has promised, but also for the grace to use what he has already supplied.
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