A-C-T-S-L-R

The widely-used prayer formula of A-C-T-S is useful and helpful for describing types of prayer.

* Adoration
* Confession
* Thanksgiving
* Supplication (includes Petition and Intercession for ourselves and others)

Two other types of prayer that I've found useful are:

* Lamenting (as in Jeremiah's lamentations over captive Jerusalem in the Book of Lamentations and the weeping of the Lord Jesus Christ over Jerusalem)
* Rejoicing (as in the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart - Psalm 19:8)

What particular prayers do you find as recurring, ongoing expressions of your own heart and soul?

Adoration

* That Almighty God is pure and holy and hides Himself in unapproachable light and purity and holiness.
* That Almighty God is Alpha, Omega, Creator, Redeemer, Judge.
* That Almighty God has arranged that mercy, justice, truth, love, heaven, hell, complete righteousness, will co-exist together in the consummation of human history.

Confession

* God's light on my life reveals more impurities than bright sunlight on dirty glass.
* Others have been hurt by my sins in ways that cannot always be fully fixed.

Thanksgiving

* That God has guided me through life and has provided so generously for so long.

Supplication

* May Thy Kingdom come and may Thy will be done as completely and consistently on earth as it is in heaven.
* Grant sanctification and unity to your Church (John 17)

Lamentation

* That so much sin and debt abounds in me and in my family and in the churches and in the world
* That too little has been done by myself and others in response to Matthew 28:18-20

Rejoicing

* That God's Word continues to feed and guide and comfort and rejoice human hearts and to cause some to be born again into an inheritance of eternal life and joy in the presence of the Triune God, angels and saints.

Admittedly, lamentation at times resembles confession; rejoicing at times resembles adoration.

We can rejoice that:

...there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10).

We can rejoice that many of us have found our way into the practice of repentance. Some of us have even had the privilege of leading others into the path of humility and repentance.

There is another type of prayer that could be called commitment prayers or covenanting prayers. They involve making promises or commitments to God.

One example from Scripture:

I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD... (Psalm 34:1-2)