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May the rhythmn of my heart
beat
for God like a set of fine-tuned
drums.
The Lord's
Prayer
(click
here to print a copy of the
Lord's
Prayer so you can memorize it.)
Our Father
in heaven
What does prayer
mean to you? How do you pray?
Many times,
we don’t know how to pray. Yet prayer is simply “talking to God.”
Jesus gave us an example of how to pray in a model prayer that we call
“The Lord’s Prayer”. Over the next several weeks, we will learn this
prayer.
If you have
a Bible, open it to Matthew 6:9.
“This, then is how you should pray: ‘Our
Father
in heaven, hallowed be thy name,’”.
Have you ever
tried to talk to your Mom and she was too busy to listen? Have you
tried to talk to your Dad or even your teacher and they were just too busy
to listen? How did you feel?
Well, I have
good news. God is never too busy to hear our prayers. He’s
always there and ready to listen. That’s why Jesus uses the word
“Father”
to describe God. God wants to be a loving “daddy” who loves to hear
our prayers.
Hallowed
be thy Name
You know, names
are important to us. Do you know what your name means?
My name, Deborah, means “bee.” If you have a friend named Catherine,
her name means “pure.” If you have a friend named Michael, his name
means “who is like the Lord?.”
We can really
hurt people’s feelings if we make fun of their names. When people
make fun of our names, it feels like they are making fun of us. So
when we pray “Hallowed be thy Name” we’re
promising God that we will respect his name. We’re also saying that
we love God. Names are important and God’s name is the most
important of all.
Thy Kingdom
Come
Thy Will Be
Done
As God’s people,
we want to do what God wants us to do. That is not always easy because
first we have to find out what God wants and then we have to decide to
do it.
Now, let me
give you an example. I know that none of you are old enough to drive
a car; however, most of you know what a backseat driver is.
That’s a person who says to the driver “You’re going too fast” or “You
need to slow down,” or “Watch out for that car.”
Now what is
the problem with backseat drivers? You’re right – it’s confusing
and dangerous. Someone has to be in charge of the car and that someone
is the driver. Sometimes we try to be backseat drivers with God.
We think we know what God’s will should be and we start telling God how
to run this world. Yet when we pray “Thy
Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done” we’re telling
God that we know he’s in the driver’s seat and we won’t be a backseat driver.
God knows what’s best for us.
Give us
this day our daily bread
How many of you
like bread? There are many kinds – wheat bread, rye bread, multi-grain
bread. Well, I like bread also; however, I don’t usually eat a whole
meal of just bread. I have a feeling that if you or I ate only bread
every day, we would get so tired of it. Long ago when the people
of Israel were in the desert, they complained they were hungry. So
every day God gave them bread – just enough for that day.
You know when
we pray for daily bread, we are asking God to give us enough for today.
Remember that we talked about how God is always listening to us so we can
ask him tomorrow to give us bread for that day.
Yet God does
give us more than just bread. He gives us homes and families and
churches and our nation. These and many more things come with daily
bread. Remember, God will give us everything we need. He is
the giver of all good things.
Forgive us
our sins
“Forgive us
our sins, as we forgive those who sinned against us.” (Your Bible
may use the words “trespasses” or “debts” and these mean the same as “sins”.)
Do you like
M&M’s? That’s probably one of my favorite candies. Let’s
pretend someone gave me a 5 pound bag of M&M’s. I didn’t have
to buy them or earn them. Wow, that’s fun!! Now, what if I
shared my treats with you. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?
Should I ask you to do something to earn the M&M’s? NO – since
I didn’t have to earn the M&M’s, I should give them to you for free.
You know, sharing
these M&M’s is like this week’s verse in the Lord’s Prayer. God
shared his forgiveness by sending Jesus to die for us, and God wants us
to share our forgiveness with others. Sometimes we forget about God’s
forgiveness. We get mad at others and don’t want to forgive them.
So Jesus teaches us to ask God to help us forgive others.
I am so glad
that God shared His forgiveness with me and that I can share my forgiveness
with you. Just remember God’s forgiveness is free and He loves you
very much.
And lead us
not into temptation,
but deliver
us from evil.
Do you know
what the word “temptation” means? Temptation is when we want to do
something we’re not supposed to do. Have you ever been tempted to
eat a cookie when your Mom told you not to eat one until after dinner?
Or have you ever been tempted to lie about something?
Let me tell
you something about myself. I like to watch the Texas Rangers play
baseball. I even have a Texas Rangers T-shirt. I’m proud to
wear that T-shirt especially when they are winning baseball games.
However, if the Rangers have a really bad season and start losing games,
I might be tempted to not support them. Everyone loves a winning
team.
You know boys
and girls, Jesus is a real winner. He died on the cross for us and
then rose again. Sometimes when things aren’t going right or if people
are making fun of us because we love Jesus, we might be tempted to stop
following Jesus. And when we pray “Lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil”, we’re saying “Help us to follow you Jesus, all the
time – in good times and bad times. We’re on your team forever.”
I’m glad I’m
on a winning team with Jesus.
For Thine is
the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory Forever. Amen.
This is the
last part of the Lord's Prayer. Some of you might not find this last
part in the book of Matthew; however, Christians have prayed these words
at the end of the Lord’s Prayer for thousands of years. Here are
the words “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.”
These words
are our way of saying “God, you’re the best! You’re wonderful!
You’re great!” Have you ever been to a football game and seen people
do the “wave?” You know how they stand up and sit down and wave their
arms to cheer for their favorite team. Well, we close the Lord’s
Prayer by cheering for God and everything that He has done for us.
Isn’t it wonderful to have a great and mighty god who loves us and cares
so much for us? Yes indeed.
Boys and girls,
I’m so glad you have learned the Lord’s Prayer. I hope that you will
continue to read your Bible and pray each day.
