DAY THIRTEEN: Developing a rule of life
The Lords prayer is a fantastic guide for prayer.
The rabbis in Jesus’ day taught people ‘index praying’. An index usually appears at the beginning of a book, giving chapter numbers and titles. Helping you find your way around the book.
An index acts as a pointer to the substance.
That’s exactly what index praying is all about.
The rabbis would provide the points for prayer, like an index, and the people would fill in the substance—their own prayers.
So the Lords prayer can be indexed in the following way:
1. Worshiping the Father
2. God’s kingdom
3. God’s will/guidance
4. Our daily needs
5. Forgiveness/relationships
6. Spiritual warfare
I have gone through many seasons praying this way. It’s been quite helpful in developing my prayer life.
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
Luke 11:1-4 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/luk.11.1-4.ESV