Matthew 6:9-13 NLT – Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. [10] May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. [11] Give us today the food we need, [12] and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. [13] And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
The rabbis in Jesus’ day taught people the idea of ‘index praying’. An index is usually at the beginning of a book, giving chapter numbers and titles.
That’s exactly what index praying was all about. The rabbis would provide the points for prayer, like an index or outline, and the people would fill in their own prayers.
Some Bible scholars tell us this is the method Jesus was teaching in the Lord’s Prayer. Can you imagine using the Lord’s Prayer as an outline to pray in a sense?
1. Worshiping the Father
2. God’s kingdom
3. God’s will/guidance
4. Our daily needs
5. Forgiveness/relationships
6. Spiritual warfare
For me this is a very interesting idea that would provide a great structure to wrap our prayers up in. It would help us to cover all aspect of giving honour to God and covering our needs too.
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