An idea for prayer

I was just reading the “Lord’s prayer” (or better, the “disciples’ prayer”) in Luke 11: 1-4.  I was convicted by how committed the Lord Jesus was to finding time alone to converse with the Father.  He was constantly seeking out times and places to be alone to be with God.  This is an area where God is continually reminding me that I need to be often in communion with Him through prayer.

I was also struck by the simple outline of prayer items that Jesus told His disciples to remember to pray for.  Jewish teachers often used what is called “index prayers” to teach their students how to pray.  Jesus is giving His disciples an index prayer here in Luke 11.  An index prayer is a collection of brief sentences, each suggesting a subject to pray for.  The idea of an index prayer is to take each brief sentence as a topic of prayer and spend time elaborating in prayer on that particular topic.

When you look at the prayer model in Luke 11:2-4, you will see the following topics for prayer:

-‘Father, hallowed be Thy name…’ – recognizing God for who He is in a time of praise; spend time in focusing on who the Father is in worship and submission.

-‘…Thy kingdom come…’ – God wants us to set our hearts and wills on the things He wants – the completion of the mission, the coming of the Kingdom of God into the hearts of every person on earth.  Spend some time in praying that He would make Himself known on your campus and pray that all believers (including yourselves) would be aligned to His will.

-‘…Give us each day our daily bread…’ – spend time reminding yourselves Who our ultimate Provider is – God provides our daily food, but He also provides us the resources we need in ministry.  Pray for the things you need in order to carry out the task He has given you to accomplish on your campus.  It could be that you need more believers with a desire to bring God’s kingdom to your campus, it could be financial resources, it could be a meeting place, it could be non-believing students who are seeking to know more about God…spend time in praying for His provision for your needs.

-‘…And forgive us our sins…, - spend time in confession (either silently or aloud – it’s good to be honest with others about where you struggle with sin).

-…for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us…’ – Jesus wants us to remember what ‘debtors’ we are to Him so that we will have mercy on others as He has mercy on us.  Take some time to pray for your relationships with others.  Ask forgiveness from specific people if you have sinned against them.   Pray for God to give you an ability to give grace and forgiveness to others and for an ability to love others with His love.

-‘…And lead us not into temptation.’ – go to God to ask Him for protection from the things that tempt you to walk less and less closely with Him, from the things that will cause you to stumble and tarnish His name.

I would encourage you to use this Index Prayer in Luke 11 in one of your group prayer times in the next coming weeks.  It wouldn’t be a bad thing to return to it again and again.  These are the things that Jesus is telling us to pray for, so it’s a good thing to keep bringing these topics before His throne on a regular basis.

Look for more group and individual prayer time topics in the coming months.  If you have found something that has been helpful to you concerning the idea of prayer, please send the idea to me (catalist@promail.ru) and I will try to distribute this idea to others.  Please keep me informed of things I can be praying for you!  You will be helping me to grow in the area of spending time with God in prayer!