Kids Lords Prayer

Welcome:

Welcome everyone to the service and introduce the theme as “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Opening Prayer:

the following prayer the congregation can say together:

“You have called us out of every nation to belong to you.

We welcome your presence amongst us here today,

and ask that by your Spirit, you would enable us to worship you,

to hear and understand your Word to us,

and to be equipped for the mission you have given us.”

In Jesus’ name. Amen”

Opening Songs:

Light of the World

How great is our God.

drama called “Wrong ways to pray.” (Appendix 2)

Link:

I wonder if you have ever thought that there is a right way and a wrong way to pray.

This morning we are going to look at what Jesus says about the right way to pray, so that we can grow in our relationship with God.

Reading:

When Jesus was on earth, his disciples who were his closest friends wanted to learn how to pray in the right way, so one day when Jesus had finished praying one of them said to Him, “Lord teach us to pray”. and this is what He said:

Matthew 6:9-13

Talk 1:

Our Father in heaven (v.9)

pictures on power-point

(police-man traffic warden, teddy bear, Father Christmas.)

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven,” not “Our policeman or traffic warden in heaven.” Who is looking down, waiting to punish us whenever we do anything wrong.

He didn’t teach us to pray, “Our teddy bear in heaven,”

who may be cuddly but doesn’t do much for us.

He didn’t teach us to pray, “Our Santa Claus,”

whose duty it is to give us everything we want.

Jesus taught us to call God our Father, because the truth is that we have a heavenly Father who loves each one of us so much that He has made it possible for us to be His children.

God loves us, accepts us, treasures us, and wants to not only be involved in our lives, but involve us in His.

It is an amazing privilege that you and I can call God Father.

So, having called God, our Father, Jesus then teaches us to pray: “Hallowed be your name.”

“Hallowed be your name” (v.9)

Our Heavenly Father’s name is very holy,

So, we are to hold it in awe and respect, handling it with great care.

Watch this:

Film:

film called “Oh my Larry.”

Our Heavenly Father’s name is very holy,

So, we need to always use it with care and never ever use it as a swear word or, use the OMG language that so many people do.

Song:

Waymaker.

Talk 2:

After we have given honour to our Heavenly Father’s name, Jesus teaches us to pray:

Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven.

In heaven everything is done God’s way, and so we are asking for the same thing to happen here on earth.

So, God’s kingdom coming into our homes might mean that each member of the family is kind to each other, and that everyone chooses not to be selfish.

If we pray “your kingdom come, your will be done”, we are saying to God:

“I want what you want more than I want what I want.”

It involves trusting that He knows best and being willing to submit to Him.

Song:

All to Jesus I surrender.

Talk 3:

“Give us today our daily bread” (v.11)

We have prayed for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done, Jesus encourages us to ask for what we need by praying:

Give us today our daily bread.

You could do a very simple dramatic illustration with 2 people. Person 1 invites person 2 to guess what they are asking God for.

After a couple of guesses they reveal that they are asking God to give them a top of the range model red Ferrari!

Person 2 then suggests that when Jesus invites us to pray for our daily bread, he was teaching us to ask God for what we need, rather than what we want. They then have a conversation about the unreliability of person 1’s car and person 2 suggests that person 1 asks God to provide a reliable car, rather than a Ferrari!

Having asked God to give us what we need, Jesus teaches us to pray:

Forgive us our debts.

Our greatest need of all is to be forgiven by our Heavenly Father for the wrong things we have done – our sins. Jesus taught (Matthew 18:21-25) that our sins are a bit like debts that we owe God.

something like:

When we choose to lie to somebody, for instance, we owe God a debt – for He is the One who made us and who we are accountable to.

Let’s illustrate that with a £5 note.

When we are selfish, we owe God a debt….so that’s like a £10 note.

Can anyone think of any other sins we might commit?

put varying amounts of money on the table £5, £10, £20.

The reality is that every single day none of us is good at keeping God’s commandments of loving Him and loving others as ourselves.

We owe God a massive sin debt, which is like millions and millions of pounds.

How can we ever repay God for our sins?

The truth is that none of us can pay God back but thanks to His great love for us, He sent Jesus to come and pay it for us. On the cross, Jesus paid each person’s debt and now if we confess our sins to Him, He chooses to forgive us and wipe away our debt.

Prayer

Confession and Absolution:

O God, even with our failings, you welcome, and love us.

Despite our deaf ears, you continue to speak to us.

Despite our blind eyes, you continue to show us the way.

Despite hearts that don’t see the world’s needs, you always love us.

Despite our uncertainty, you trust us with your message.

Despite our faltering and mumbling, you entrust us with your Word.

Despite the fact that we are unworthy, you see worth in us.

In our wanderings and wonderings, you stick with us.

All this and so much more, O God: you offer us your forgiveness.

Amen.

We fail you O God,

yet loud and clear you speak words of acceptance.

and forgiveness to us:

my child, your sins are forgiven.

Amen.

Talk 4:

After we have prayed, “Forgive us our, sins,” Jesus teaches us to pray, “as we also need to forgive those who sin against us.”

If we are going to truly receive forgiveness from God our Father, Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer that we need to be willing to forgive other people when they sin against us.

We need to be willing to cancel the sin debts that others owe us, remembering that they owe us a lot less than the sin debt that we have owed God…….

Their sin debt is a bit like this. (put a handful of copper coins on the table)

So, you see other people owe us a much smaller debt than we owe God, most of us still find forgiveness hard.

“Argument in the Car”

Jesus teaches us to forgive those who are in our debt so that we can be free to live.

He teaches forgiveness for our own good.

You see unforgiveness is a prison……

When we choose to not forgive someone it’s like we are in prison

In that prison we are alone with our anger, and our pain and the longer we stay in that prison of unforgiveness the more our hearts will be affected.

Our happiness will gradually go, our joy will gradually go.

Our personality will change we will become bitter, and in fact our bodies can also be affected.

You might think – but where is the justice in that?

It’s not fair that I am suffering whilst the person who has hurt me gets away with it.

The truth is that justice comes only after we have chosen to give the person who has hurt us into the hands of God, who is the only one in the position to judge.

God tells us to choose the way of forgiveness for our own good more than anybody else’s, because forgiveness brings freedom.

Invite people to think about whether they are in the “prison” of unforgiveness.

Ask them to think if there is anyone who has hurt them who they are struggling to forgive from the heart. Leave a minute’s silence.

Then pray a prayer of forgiveness together. An example is as follows:

Father, God we choose to trust you,

for you speak words of truth and life to us.

So, this morning we choose to forgive any people you have shown us.

We lay down our desire to hurt them even though they have hurt us.

Please heal our wounds and set us free to live again in Jesus’ name. Amen

Song:

Lord, you have my heart.

Talk 5:

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (v.13)

Having been forgiven, and forgiven others, Jesus teaches us to pray: “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

When we pray, “Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil”, we are asking God to keep us on His path – the safe path.

We have an enemy who wants to tempt us to walk on a different path that not only destroys us, but others around us our enemy will tempt us to lie.

He will tempt us to steal, to disobey our parents, to hate other people, to put ourselves first, but if we ask for God’s help, he will keep us safe and help us recognise the enemy’s voice.

Final Song:

Be, thou, my vision.

Blessing:

May you leave here knowing that the Lord who loves you, delights to hear and answer your prayers.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

Takeaway:

Give people the “takeaway” of a printed copy of “Praying the Lord’s Prayer” and encourage them to “pray it” each day.