What is the ACTS acronym for prayer?

One helpful exercise in prayer that has been taught over the past century is the acronym ACTS.

Here is a brief explanation of each of the letters and how to implement it in your prayer life.

The first step of this type of prayer is adoration and it consists of opening ourselves to God and adoring God for who he is. We recognize how God is there, waiting for us and inviting us into a deeper relationship.

After adoring God and his beauty, we turn into ourselves and recognize how we have fallen and do not always respond to God's invitation of love. We ask the Holy Spirit to reveal our sins and strive to turn away from them, embracing God as our loving Father.

Our heart now turns to God in thanksgiving, recognizing how God has given us every good thing and is always with us. We can give thanks to God in all circumstances, even in what appears to be a bad situation for us.

We end our prayer in supplication, which is also known as "petition." This is the most common type of prayer, where we cry out to God and ask him to help us in our need.