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Dear Bible Studiers,

As we learn the Lord's master class in Matthew 5,6,7 on how to apply scripture properly, Bible Study Company put together an outline you can use to go on prayer walks or in small groups. The goal is to spend an hour or whatever time you deem appropriate praying through scripture. Using scripture in this way is praiseworthy to the Lord. https://biblestudycompany.com/laravel-filemanager/files/121/Prayer_outline.docx

Please let us know how you do with the prayer outline and if you have any suggestions for improvement. We would also like to know how it impacts you as well. Please note that we have experienced significant benefits in praying through this outline. In the section; Hallowed be Your Name, we sometimes pray through Psalms. We started in Pslams 1 and read the Psalms back to the Lord as if we had written them for worship. Get as honest as you can with Him. He knows your thoughts but sometimes we need to get deeply honest with our Lord. This helped us learn how to worship in trials and about the Messiah. It was incredibly wonderful when God spoke to the writer of Psalms regarding what the person was going through and how they worked through the trial or just wanted to worship. 

The mission of the prayer outline is to pray scripture and to spend time with the Lord. 

Ric and Mary Joyner

Our mission is to obey the Word of God which is the Bible. To be a disciple of Christ, we are to follow Him. The Lord has just given the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5, which is how we should respond to the ten commandments if we want to live a praiseworthy life to God. Christ gives a picture of a person’s heart who is convicted of sin by encountering the ten commandments and is now asking for God’s help to change. In chapter 6, the Lord is showing us, now what our responding to His call looks like in daily life as we live out His words. Then He shows us how to pray. In Verse 7, He starts out by saying:

7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 "So do not be like them; for your, Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” (NASB)

So we asked ourselves why do we pray the Lord’s prayer as meaningless repetition? Is there more to this prayer than how we were taught in church? We believe yes, and thus could it be an outline for us to follow? For years we have broken this prayer down and spent time walking outside or praying in a quiet place to spend time on each part of the outline. As a couple, we will use this as an outline when we pray together. Great relationship building with the Lord has occurred. We want to caution that this is no formula because this is how Christ said to pray. Faith is acting on God’s word. And if you look closely at the whole prayer, it is indeed an outline, and each part of it takes time. Join Ric and Mary Joyner in their podcast for Pewsitters spending time on each part of this prayer. Let us know what you think.

Open Matthew 6:9 and read along with us.