"whenever you see acceleration (i.e., change in velocity)
look for interactions to find out the forces and their sum,
the net force. And if you see the net force, expect
acceleration".
This may be nothing more than semantics (which I think the entire topic really is about), but if you "see a net force, expect acceleration" isn't the underlying assumption in that statement is that the force causes the acceleration?
How about these statements:
1) "an object has an acceleration which causes the net force acting on it"
2) "an object has a net force acting on it which causes an acceleration."