Teacher Introduction
There is only one prayer Jesus taught his followers to pray.
There is nothing magical or mysterious about this prayer. Jesus doesn’t
say that if you pray this prayer things will go your way or you’ll
change God’s mind regarding the circumstances in your life. No, this
prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, is a model of how to pray. It teaches us
to trust in God and to pray for his will to be done in our lives.
Some people believe if they say just the right words or repeat a
special prayer over and over again, or if they pray at a special time
of day or to someone or something, then God will hear their prayers
and do what they ask of him. We might even have the notion that if we
live just right, then God will be pleased with us, and in turn things
will go well for us. After all, the Bible does say, "Delight
yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your
heart." Psalm 37:4.
It is very tempting and intriguing to think that we could change
God’s mind (or control him) by doing or saying the right things. But
this kind of thinking, that praying a certain way will get us what we
want, is wrong. It places us in the role of God and makes God our
errand boy, waiting for our next command. We want what we want when we
want it, and we don’t want to wait to get it (whatever it may
be). Trusting God, no matter what is happening in our lives, is a
scary place to be, because we don’t naturally trust God to be
in control of our lives. But this is exactly what God wants us to
learn and to do. He wants us to trust and depend on him no matter what
the circumstances in life are. In fact I think more often than not, he
puts difficult and scary circumstances into our lives for this very
purpose. The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please
God. God wants to teach us how to please him, and this is only
accomplished by trusting him, not trying to control him. And when this
happens, God’s desires become our desires. In other words, he literally
puts his desires in our hearts!
If this prayer isn’t a "lever" to get God to do our
will, then what is it? It is a prayer of faith. It is a prayer of
dependence on Holy God. It is a prayer that teaches us to ask not our
will, but for God’s will to be done in our lives. The Lord’s
Prayer isn’t magical, but it is supernatural. It’s
supernatural because it comes from God, and only God can help us to
change our thinking and allow his desires to be accomplished in
our hearts and minds.
Jesus said, "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners
to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their
reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door
and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees
what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not
keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard
because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father
knows what you need before you ask him." Matthew 6:5-8
Of course this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray in public, but it
does mean we shouldn’t pray with feigned piety. Nor should we use
meaningless repetition in our prayers.
Prayer is simply talking to God. He wants us to talk to him, to be our
closest friend, and at the same time to trust him to be God in
control; not our equal, or even worse, our servant.
There are six key elements to the Lord’s Prayer
1) "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be
thy name.
2) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
3) Give us this day our daily bread.
4) And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
5) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
6) For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen."
* Each lesson is accompanied with a craft, game,
memory work, and song-time suggestions. At the back of the book you
will find the Lesson Overviews and patterns. Many of the lessons have
special enrichment ideas to actively engage your students. If you use
both the craft and game for each session, it will take six, two hour
sessions to complete this series. However, if you split each lesson
into two sessions (recommended), whereby you present the lesson,
memory verse, craft and songs in the first session and the game with
lesson review, memory recitation, and songs in the next session, it
will take twelve, one hour sessions to complete this series. For
ages K-5th grade.
God bless you in your ministry to children and youths,
Sarah A. Keith
sarah@SundaySchoolNetwork.com
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purchase the book, click here.
To
download an activity from the book, click here.
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