The Lord's Prayer is found in Matthew 6:9-13. Sunday school teachers often teach young children to memorize this prayer because Jesus uses this as a teaching tool for how we should pray. We generally pray this prayer word for word, which is great, but it mainly teaches us what our own prayers should include when we go before God. Prayer is our personal relationship with God. The Lord's Prayer is our model of how to pray correctly.
If your goal is not to just have children memorize the prayer, but to understand exactly how Jesus wants us to pray, then this guide can help you. The translation below is taken from the New International Version (NIV).
Our Father in heaven
Here we are recognizing that this prayer is to God. He is the Father of all and he resides in heaven. We should open prayer with praise. Other examples might include, "Dearest heavenly Father," or "Most Holy Father."
hallowed be your name
"Hallowed" is another word for holy. We are telling God that we know he is holy. We praise God.
your kingdom come
This is acknowledging that Jesus will come again to earth one day. It is our hope in what we have read in Scripture about Jesus' return.
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
This is stating that we know God is in control of all things in and under heaven. What is God's will for us? To live in peace with each other and for us to tell others about Jesus, so more people can join us in heaven. It is already like this in heaven (people living in total peace).
Give us today our daily bread.
God provides for our physical needs. He provides food to sustain us, gives us shelter, and provides ways for us to take care of ourselves. We depend on God's grace to give us what we need.
Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors.
The word debt is translated to mean that we owe something. When we buy something, someone is expecting us to give them money in return for our purchase. But, not everyone is able to pay back a debt. It is in this way that we can never repay Jesus for the sacrifice he made for us, but he died anyway. He is asking that we forgive other people when they cannot or will not pay us back for something we have lent to them, whether it be money, toys, or anything else.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Here we are asking God to keep our hearts pure and to help us stay away from the things that tempt us to do wrong. We may ask God to help us to not cheat on a test or to help us obey our parents better.
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