Use this children’s Sunday School lesson to teach children the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer.
Needed: Telephone, Bibles, various objects
Intro Game: Finding the Difference
Name three items that you can see. Two of them should be the same in a certain way (color, shape, material, etc.) and one should be different in that same way. The first student who calls out the difference gets to name the next three objects.
Play as long as time permits.
When you’re finished, explain that the third item was special because it was different.
Lesson
Hold up a telephone and ask students, Who of you like to talk on the telephone?
Let’s pass this phone around. When you get it, tell about someone you like to talk to on the phone. (Pass the phone around.)
What do you say when you talk to people on the phone?
How do you feel when your favorite person can’t come to the phone, or their phone is busy?
There’s someone we can call anytime, and He always answers. It’s God. And we can talk to God about anything. Here are some things, though, that Jesus said we should talk to God about.
(Read Matthew 6:9.)
“This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,”
Jesus says that we should call God our “Father in Heaven.” How is God like a father to us?
God loves and takes care of us just like our human parents do. In fact, God loves us even more than our human parents do.
And just like our human parents made us and gave birth to us, God created us and gave us life. So, God is our Heavenly Father, just like we have human fathers and mothers.
Jesus also said that we should call God’s name “holy” or “hallowed.” What does it mean when we say God’s name is holy?
It means that God’s name is special. We’re supposed to respect God and remember how special He is. God is very different from us, so He’s holy.
(Read Matthew 6:10.)
“Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Jesus says that we should pray for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Do you think everyone who’s alive right now on Earth follows God’s will?
Does everyone believe in God? (No, there are lots of people who don’t believe in God or who don’t do what He says.)
Where is the one place where everyone always does what God says? (Heaven.)
So, by praying that we want God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, we’re saying that we want everyone on Earth to listen to God just as everyone listens to Him in Heaven.
And one day, everyone on Earth will listen to God. Jesus is going to come back to Earth from Heaven, and He will be King over the whole world. He will make everyone do what God wants, and the world will be perfect.
But until then, do you know how we can make God’s will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven?
We can do God’s will. We can listen to God and do what He wants, and that’ll be a good start to making God’s will happen on Earth, just as it does in Heaven. And we can tell other people about God and help them to know and listen to what God wants too. Then, there will be more people believing in and listening to God.
So, remember, God is like our Father because He made us and He loves us and takes care of us. He is holy, or hallowed, because of how special He is. And we should do our best to listen to Him and do what He wants on Earth, just as we will do when we’re in Heaven.
Game: Heaven Does
In this game of Simon Says, students follow your commands and motion when you say, “Heaven does” first. If you don’t say, “Heaven does” before the command, and they do it anyway, they’re out. If they follow a motion that doesn’t match the “Heaven does” verbal command, they’re out. The winner is the last one in the game.
Explain that we want God’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven, so it’s like we want what we would do on Earth to match what is done in Heaven.
Game: Finding the Difference
Play the intro game again. Explain that God is special because He’s different from us. Holy and hallowed are different words for special.
Prayer Exercise: The Lord’s Prayer
Say the Lord’s Prayer phrase by phrase with your students a few times to help them begin to memorize it.
You can also find this lesson for Kindle or in print in my book, Jesus Teaches on the Mountain.