Pray the Lord's prayer

A good way to teach our children about practical prayers and help them understand some of the basics is to teach them the Lord's prayer. When Jesus' disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he responded by giving them the Lord's prayer:

Although it's a great prayer to memorize and use in its original form, what Jesus was teaching his disciples went far beyond repeating the specific words. Jesus in effect taught us through this sample prayer how to pray, what our attitude should be in prayer, how we should approach God, and what we should talk to God about.

Here's a brief breakdown of some of the things that we can learn and teach our children from the Lord's Prayer (found in Matthew 6:9-13)

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
1. The address: Our children can go to God as their loving Father. They can also expand their opening by talking a little about God being their Father.

2. Example: "Dear God, thank you for being my Father. Please help me have a good prayer time with you."

MAY YOUR NAME BE HONORED
1. Thank you prayers: We should help our children recognize, acknowledge, and thank God for his love and care. Affirming his goodness helps to strengthen their faith.

2. Example: "Thank you for loving me and taking care of me. You're really great."

YOUR KINGDOM COME
1. Church prayers: We enter God's kingdom when we become his children. Jesus was showing us that we need to pray that more people will hear his story and become God's children. That involves praying for church leaders and workers and missionaries.

2. Example: "Please help more and more people become your children. Let Uncle John know how much you love him. Give our church leaders wisdom so that they can help more people."

YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
1. Prayers for leaders: It is God's wil that things on earth will work out according to his plan. So we pray for and about current events and world leaders as well as for our own leaders.

2. Example. "Please give our politicians and all the voters wisdom about how to lead our country."

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
1. Special-to-me prayers: This is where Jesus taught us to talk to God about our needs, our desires, and our concers, about things that affect us and our lives personally. This is also where casual prayers come in.

2. Example: "Thank you, God, for giving me a good school to go to. I'm really having a lot of fun. Help me make good friends. Also, could you help me do my best at math and understant it a little better?"

FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS
1. Growing Prayers: The word debts here means the ways we've fallen short. Jesus was showing us that we need to talk to him about our personal growth, asking him to not only forgive us when we blow it but help us grow and learn to do things his way.

2. Example: "I know that doing things your way is best. Help me learn more from my Bible and understand it better. I'm sorry for yelling at my brother today; please help me remember to talk gently and help us cooperate better."

We'll finish the Lord's prayer next time.