Day 26: TACOSS Prayer

TACOSS is the acronym for prayer mentioned in the How to Use this Book section—the prayer pattern our Children’s Minister taught our Club 45 students (4th and 5th graders). This prayer pattern allowed our students to build their endurance in prayer, and really matches the prayer tools we’ve used the past several weeks when we put it all together praying for extended periods of time. The one real difference between past weeks and TACOSS prayer tool is the addition of the waiting type prayers we added this week. I do not know who invented this prayer tool, as I have found it in several resources.

TACOSS means we pray in this order: Thanks, Adoration (we called this Praise), Confession, Others (we call this Intercession), Self (we called this Asking), and finally, Silence (this is the waiting prayer). 

Prayerwork, Part 1: Set your time for 3 minutes. Use your responses from Psalm 101 found in Day 25 to prompt your prayers in the acronym TACOSS below.

Prayerwork Part 2: For each letter spend three minutes of prayer. Prepare you prayer time by going over some of your notes you wrote about reasons to thank God, or the “sins list” from past prayer exercises.

+Thanks Prayer (3 minutes): Use your written bullet points for thanksgiving from Day 21, if you need reminders for why we pray a prayer of thanks to God. Think back through your life and thank God for people who have influenced you and give thanks to God for them. Thank God for the Scripture and His blessings in your life. 

+Adoration Prayer (3 minutes): Use the list from Day 19 if you help with reasons to adore God. Meditate on who God is and praise Him during this time. During this prayer, try to stir your emotions toward God to love Him more deeply.

+Confession Prayer (3 minutes): Start with the Jesus Prayer we started praying at the beginning of our lessons. Confession is a great opportunity in our prayer time to seek God’s promise of forgiveness and His promise to remove our guilt and debt when we confess. Ask God to help you comb through your past couple of days to reveal where you have missed the mark in your relationship with God and with others. Then confess those sins to God and trust Him for forgiveness. 

+Others Prayer (3 minutes): Use your list of the people and places you are praying for from Day 13, Day 14, and Day 15. Pray for your current lists, or make up new ones. Remember to especially pray hard for the people in your family that are far from God. Ask God to surround them with people who would reveal Jesus to them. Ask God to open their eyes to see the glory of Jesus Christ more clearly. Pray for your family, your friends, your community, your church, etc.

+Self Prayer (3 minutes): Use your list asking prayers from Day 11, Day 12, Day 15 or Day 17; or ask for God to bless you in new ways. Ask God to put His favor on your relationships. Ask God to help you be like Jesus Christ to others. Ask God to help empower you with His Holy Spirit. Ask, ask, ask! Remember to also write down and date what you are asking God to answer.

+Silence Prayer (3 minutes): Now just sit and wait on God. Ask Him to speak to you or allow you to feel His presence. Meditate on the words from Ephesians or Colossians from Day 22 or Day 23 that are true of you because of Jesus Christ. Ask God to fill you mind with thoughts or feelings from the Holy Spirit and wait and see if He makes His presence known. 

End your prayer time by thanking God for listening to your prayers and ask Him to help you trust in His answers. 

Use your list of the people and places you are praying for (they should have some dates beside their names. This will be our list for when we intercede for others. We made a list on Day 13, Day 14, and Day 15. Pray for your current lists, or make up new ones. Remember to pray for your family’s health, spiritual safety, and that they would be drawn closer to Jesus Christ. Remember to pray for your family and friends who are far from Jesus. Pray for your Church. Pray for your community. Pray for your leaders.