The Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6:5-15 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - Pray all the time.
John 14:14 - You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Psalm 66:20 - Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
Our Father , who art in heaven. Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Exploring God’s Word Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6:5-15
KEY PHRASE: God wants to talk to us, and He wants us to talk to Him
Scripture Basis: Luke 11:1-13 (also found in Matthew 6:9-13)
Jesus wanted His new friends to understand that it was important for them to pray. Prayer is the way we talk to God, our Heavenly Father. Just like we talk to a friend to stay close to them, we can talk to God.
Jesus prayed, and He wanted His followers to know how to pray and what to pray. So He gave them a model prayer. It is sometimes called “The Lord’s Prayer” because Jesus, our Lord, gave it to us. This prayer gives us different things to pray about. It helps us know how to pray. Let us look at the different parts of this prayer.
“Our Father in Heaven, may your name be honored.” A great way to begin our prayers is to praise God for who He is. He is a loving Father who cares about us. We can thank Him for all the good things He does for us.
“May your kingdom come soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven.” It is good to pray for God’s will to be done. This means that WE want what GOD wants! This should always be our prayer.
“Give us our food for today.” God is the one who gives us everything we have! We can ask Him for what we need and thank Him when He provides for us.
“Forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” It is important to admit to God that we have sinned and ask Him to forgive us. This is called confession. And Jesus reminds us that we must forgive other people, too.
“Don’t let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We can ask God to protect us from temptation and to help us not sin when we are tempted. He knows how tricky Satan is. We need God’s help to fight Satan!
“For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and forever. Amen.” God hears our prayers every time we pray. God has promised He hears us.
Now that we have looked at Jesus’ model prayer, let’s go over the different parts of the prayer.
Praise—Lifting up God’s name and worshipping Him for who He is
Praying for God’s will to be done—Tell God we want things His way
Asking for our needs—Let God know what we need
Confession—asking for forgiveness of our sins
Asking for help with temptation—Admit to God that we need help not to sin
God wants to be our BEST friend. To be God’s friend, we need to ask Him to forgive us of our sins and be a part of our life. Then we can talk to Him anytime. And He wants to hear from us. He loves us!
Jesus knew how hard it was to live for God. He went through temptations and hard times. Many times, the Bible talks about how Jesus went away by himself to pray. We need to pray, too. God wants to give us strength to live for Him. Let us pray!
1. Who taught us how to pray? (Answer: Jesus) 2. How does God want us to begin our prayers? (Answer: by praising Him) 3. What does confession mean? (Answer: admitting to God that we have sinned & asking Him to forgive our sins) 4. Why is it important to pray? (Answer: to stay close to God; to have strength to live for Him)
Here’s the prayer He taught them. Repeat each line after me. (be sure to pause after each line so the kids can say it)
Our Father , who art in heaven. Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
God, we love you. We pray that people will believe in you. Give us the food we need today. We are sorry for all the wrong things we have done. We have forgotten all the bad things others have done to us. Help us to do right. God has promised to hear us, yes He does!
Why pray? It's simple, to talk with God and to get His direction for our lives. God is so good and will help us when we are happy, sad, sick or even when we're in trouble. God will give us wisdom, strength and understanding if we only ask Him. In fact God is willing to give us many good things as long as we ask for them in accordance to His Will. God answers our prayers with signs, the Holy Spirit and His Word, the Bible. When we pray our relationship with God grows.
Theme Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:17 & John 14:14 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - Pray all the time.
John 14:14 - You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Lutheran Link The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father , who art in heaven. Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Play It! Game 1: Tic-Tac-Toe Divide the students into two teams, the “X”s and “0”s. Using masking tape, create a tic-tac-toe grid on the floor. Team 1: 1st phrase of the Lord’s Prayer – correct…..that person gets to choose a square to stand in in the tic-tac-toe grid. Team 2: 2nd phrase of the Lord’s prayer – correct…..that person stands in the grid. Etc.
Have the team members recite certain portions of the Lord’s Prayer, eventually reciting the prayer in its entirety. Each time the team members correctly recite the Lord’s Prayer and its sections, mark Xs and Os on the grid until a team gets three in a row.
Our Father , who art in heaven. Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Game 2: Telephone (Game) Have the children sit in a circle, or around the table. Start with one child and whisper one of the phrases shown below into his or her ear. Have that child whisper the same phrase into the ear of the child to his or her left, and continue around the circle until the last child is told the phrase. Then have the last child say what he or she heard out loud to see how close it was to the original phrase. As children leave, simply make the circle smaller.
Phrases: God will always hear our prayers. It makes Jesus very happy when we pray. If we ask anything in Jesus' name, He will do it. We can pray anytime, morning, noon, or night.
Compare this game to how when we pray, God hears exactly what we mean to say, even when we don't say it exactly the way we want.
Game 3: Lord’s Prayer One Word at a Time
Have the students sit in a circle.
Tell the students that they are going to recite the Lord’s Prayer.
Have each student say one word in the prayer and the next person will say the following word.
If someone makes a mistake or gets stuck, he or she begins over again with the first word of the prayer.
The last person that says, “Amen” finishes the prayer.
Closing
Gather children around you.
Close by saying: Thank you God for loving us every day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
