The students will be able to recite the Lord's Prayer and explain its different sections. They will know that this was Jesus' example of prayer for us.
Introduction: Distribute purchased bookmarks, which have the Lord's Prayer written on them, to each of your students. Explain that these words are well-known and loved by many people around the world. Thinking about the meaning of each phrase helps us see that this example of prayer beautifully covers all our spiritual and physical needs.
Climax: The prayer ends with praise and an extolling of God's glory and power.
Conclusion: Jesus told us to use this prayer as a pattern for our own personal prayer.
Response: The students should know the meaning of the Lord's Prayer, and that it is a model for us to follow.
Man was created in the image of God and with a nature that wanted to commune with God. The devil brought about the fall of man, and the communication that God had with mankind was disrupted. Yet God left the way open for man to make contact with Him, and that is through prayer.
There are many examples in the Old Testament of men who communicated with God and had true fellowship with Him. Enoch, who lived in the period before the Flood, is one outstanding example. He walked so pleasing to God that the Lord took him from this world alive—translated him! (Hebrews 11:5). Abraham was called "the friend of God"; David, a man after God's own heart; Elijah was a mighty man of prayer and was also translated, and numerous others could be mentioned that were well-known men of prayer.
God created man to want to worship a higher being, no doubt to make it easy for man to reach Him. Unfortunately, the devil has tried to cause man to worship anything but God and has been remarkably successful. Satan has persuaded man to worship nearly anything imaginable—idols, sun, moon, stars, animals, etc., and even promotes worship of himself. But one of Satan's most insidious tricks is to lead people to think they are worshipping God when they are not right with God. Jesus said that many will come to Him and say "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" and Jesus will say unto them "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Jesus gave mankind a model prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, but this is just so many words if God is not our Father. In John 4:23 we read that those who worship God must do so in spirit and in truth as that is what the Lord is looking for.
Special Instructions for Unit 30: Give your students the Prayer Power Project for this week: Prayer Walkathon
Write the Lord's Prayer on posterboard, leaving out key words such as: Father, art, hallowed, kingdom, bread, forgive, debtors, temptation. Have the children read the verse out loud, filling in the blank space. When a word is filled in, discuss what Jesus meant by that part of the prayer.
Use six food cans of different sizes (soup, tuna, vegetable, etc.). Cut different colors of construction paper to correct sizes to fit around the cans so the original labels are completely covered. Re-label them to read: God's Holy Name; God's Will; Our Needs; Forgiveness; Deliverance; and God's Supreme Authority. Put the cans into a small grocery sack. To begin your review tell the children that the sack has some food that you need to keep your prayer life healthy. As you remove each can from the sack (they don't need to be in order) read the label. Then talk about which part of the Lord's Prayer it represents and what we should know about each one. Example: God's Holy Name—First verse: The term Father represents authority, love, and caring. We wouldn't want anyone to say bad things about our earthly father. Our father also has a name (Jim, Don, Bob, etc.) and we wouldn't want anyone to use that name in a bad way. We must be even more careful how we use and say any of the names we use for God. End your review by having everyone recite together the Lord's Prayer.
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