March 6 in FirstLook

On March 6 in FirstLook your preschoolers will be learning about prayer, just like the adults. The catch phrase of the day will be "God Wants Me to Talk to Him."  So as you go through this week, start talking to your child about how important prayer is!

Before we can look at the account of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew chapter 6, we must first look into the preceding chapter. Here we find Jesus teaching His disciples through the Beatitudes. He teaches them by laying out the foundation of the Kingdom of God—contrasting it with the kingdom of this world. Jesus’ statements beginning with, “You have heard it said … ” and ending with, “But I tell you … ” paint the picture of what is required of all who choose to be in God’s kingdom.

“Lord, teach us to pray …” Jesus answered this request by teaching the disciples—and us—how to pray. He begins to frame and model prayer for us by establishing how we’re to approach God the Father:

“Our Father in heaven …” The word Jesus uses for Father in Aramaic is the informal word Abba—translated to mean “daddy.”

“Hallowed be your name” establishes who God is and retains positional authority of the I AM.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done …” When we pray we’re to ask our heavenly Father to usher in His coming kingdom— which Jesus had just outlined for the disciples in the previous chapter with the Beatitudes. When we pray for His coming kingdom, our hearts can begin to desire the things that are important to Him—and get to know the heart of our Daddy.

“Give us today our daily bread …” The Father cares for our needs, for He is our provider and will give us what we need in each day.

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Jesus offers us forgiveness of sins. For much as we have been forgiven, by the same measure we must forgive others who hurt or sin against us—in forgiveness is freedom.

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” As we journey through this world, we’ll be face-to-face with decisions which will affect our lives, and often, the lives of others. We need the guidance and covering of the Lord to go before us.

“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen” (NKJV). Finally, when we conclude our prayers, end with the focus of our worship back to the honor and praise of the Lord God Almighty.

Jesus is the way to the Kingdom of God. His words bring hope. He came to fulfill the law. In light of this truth, as we pray, we can pray expectantly as we ask God to usher the ways of His kingdom into this world and our lives.