This week, I had the opportunity to help teach our 1st through 5th graders the Lord’s Prayer. As I spend time preparing and thinking about a lesson it always seems like I learn more than the kids. This day was no exception.
As I prepared the lesson, I realized that while there are countless resources for helping kids memorize the Lord’s Prayer, there’s very little to help them actually understand what it means.
That got me thinking: Did Jesus want us to just memorize these words—or did He give us this prayer as a blueprint for our relationship with God?
I believe it’s the latter.
The Lord’s Prayer isn’t just a set of words—it’s a guide to help us:
-
Talk to God as our loving Father
-
Worship Him with respect and awe
-
Ask for what we need each day
-
Learn to forgive and be forgiven
-
Ask for help making good choices
-
Trust in His power and goodness forever
I wanted the kids to not just know the prayer, but to feel it. To see how it fits into their daily life. So I used ChatGPT to help break down each part of the prayer into language that even young children can understand. I also created a set of coloring pages—each one with the verse, a simple explanation, and a reminder of how to live it out.
When I was done it helped remind me that the Lord's Prayer is more than something we should memorize and repeat in church every Sunday. It is the basis and reflection on what our relationship should be with the God who created the heavens, earth and us.
It’s my prayer that these tools help other children come into a real, alive relationship with our God, not just by saying the Lord’s Prayer, but by living it.
Please feel free to download the images and share with your children.
Let’s raise a generation that knows how to pray with their hearts, not just with their memory. If you have any comments, love to hear them.
