Continuing with our study into the Lord's prayer, we step into a little bit of deep water. There are things at the end of the Lord's Prayer that are hard to explain to little children, especially the concepts of provision, salvation, and deliverance. These are mature subjects adults often have a hard time understanding. How can I say that? Easy! Just look at the mess we've made of 'blab it and grab it' faith over the last 40 years. Look at the Church in America as we struggle with racism, politics, and war. Look at the addicted church, and the emptiness many Christians face as they deal with their emotions due to being rejected by their carnal friends. Americans are here at this juncture in time because we turned our back on God in every aspect of our daily lives. I would like to blame it on the Supreme Court when they banned public prayer in Public Schools, but that wasn't when it began. It began when prayer stopped at home. I truly believe when a child UNDERSTANDS the Lord's Prayer, they will understand the heart of the Father, and be less inclined to drift away later.
How do we model or mentor the Lord's Prayer for our children? We pray! We pray at home, with our wives, in front of the children. You invite them into your family prayer time, and give them patient instruction in how to pray, and what to pray for. Another way to mentor prayer is to be an active prayer warrior yourself. Be there when the church doors are open to pray. I know it's hard to pack up a load of children after a long day at work and make them behave during a prayer meeting, but let's stop beating around the bush. If you've been praying with them daily, and they understand what your're doing, they will enjoy being a part of the prayer process. NO ONE TAUGHT THIS TO ME AS A YOUNG FATHER, but I wish they had. I can only hope to teach you now. At a very personal level, my dream for our Thursday night prayer meetings is to have enough people there that we go around only once. Our Thursday night prayer list consists of about 28 things we pray for, and if we just had 30 people, I know it would be a church changer. If your child is older than seven, I know they could pray and would not be chastised for how they prayed. Just saying.
In our last lesson, we left off at "Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." I think we figured out how to mentor that one to our children.
Jesus continued to teach them, "Give us this day our daily bread." This one has always caused me a little consternation, so I'm hoping we can wrap it up all nice and tidy, and tie it up with a bow.
TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION: SO, why do we need to ask God for our daily bread if He already knows what we have need of? I never had to ask my Mom, or Dad for food, why would we be instructed to do so with God? I'm interested in your take on this, be prepared to talk about it. I have my own take, but I want yours.
Now, we move on to "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Whoa!!!! Here's a fun one. Why didn't Christ say; "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us?" It's easy to approach this from the 'already a christian' viewpoint, but there is a depth to it that we need to render to our children that will make the rest of their lives better. As much as I love my Dad, he used to mangle the "Golden Rule' by saying "Do unto others, before they do unto you." This mindset was hard to wash away as a young teenager. As I've told all of you before, I had serious anger management issues, and they were built around the need to make others pay, while excusing myself of any wrongs I did. The issue of forgiveness, and restoration of relationship are mentioned often by Christ. Why? Because He IS the forgiveness of God. His very existence, His purpose, His suffering was as the means of our debt being paid. How can anyone who claims to be 'saved' rub our saviors nose in the stink of OUR unforgiveness to others? Matthew 6:14 &15 , Mark 11:25-26, Matthew 18:34-35, all stress the importance of forgiveness. There are no exclusions, no severity of trespass, nor time limit placed upon the issue. WHY? Because forgiveness is to bring peace to the one forgiving, and to bring life to the one who trespasses. That is why Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life. Forgiveness is life.
TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION: How do we model this to our children? What would it look like to a child, and how can we live it before them? You might be surprised at how you yourself may not be forgiving, though you think you are. Actually listen to yourself talk over this coming week. How many times do you criticize others. How often do you talk about what others 'owe' you? Do you forgive your children's indiscretions, or do you rub it in to them every chance you get? If you hold grudges, or air your grievances before your children's ears, you are not modeling our Heavenly Father. I'm not saying you can't have grievances, or have opinions about others, but how about not talking about it in the car, or at the dinner table. There are a ton of things my Mom and Dad talked about when I was riding in the backseat, that I can remember to this day. What about you?
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