Providing One Day at a Time — Children’s Message on The Lord’s Prayer: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread. This children’s sermon is part five in our series on the Lord’s Prayer — it pairs with our complete Our Daily Bread Sunday School lesson and our Thanksgiving Bread Basket and Bread Plate Collage craft ideas. If you want to teach the whole prayer, download the free sample from Prayer Power Lab, our 5-week curriculum on the Lord’s Prayer.
Main Objective: Praying that God would give us “daily bread” reminds us all that God grants us what we need, one thing at a time. He wants us to trust Him for each day, rather than being preoccupied with anxieties about tomorrow. Children (hopefully) don’t have too many future worries, but they certainly understand what it means to get hungry, and to have their needs provided for them! This message communicates for kids how God cares for us. The story of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath offers an example of how the Lord meets our physical needs.
Law/Gospel Theme: God promises to give us what we need, and praying for “this day’s daily bread” allows us to ask Him to continue doing that. God provides for physical needs. We also recognize that He gives us what we need spiritually, though. He gave us Jesus, whose sacrifice covers our sins and grants us new life in Him.
Watch the Children’s Sermon Example Video
Note: This lesson is the fifth in a series on the Lord’s Prayer. Each lesson will consider another part of the Lord’s Prayer, examining what it means and how we can use it in personal prayer. Each lesson will also include a story from the Bible that illustrates the point.
Optional Materials: Oil, flour, assorted pantry items.
Bible Passage: 1 Kings 17:8-24; Matthew 6:11, 25-34
Message: Note: As with most messages, the details of how you choose to communicate this one are adaptable and should cater to timing as well as to your audience and student needs.
Greet children, and talk about pantry items…
Hello, children of God! What do I have here? Hold up oil and flour. That’s right, this is oil, and this is flour. They feature in today’s Bible account. Now, you more than likely have these items in your kitchen at home somewhere. They’re pretty basic standard things. I’ll bet you have a lot of other items in there, as well, though. Hold up some possible items. Maybe you have cereal, peanut butter, trail mix, soup…well, how would you feel if you looked in your pantry for a snack, and all you had was oil and flour? And just a tiny little bit of each, too. You would probably feel disappointed, and still hungry!
Well, that happened in the Bible. There’s an account in the Old Testament that talks about a man named Elijah, who was a prophet that gave people God’s messages. God sent Elijah to a town called Zarephath, where there was a widow. A widow is someone whose husband passed away, and in those days if a woman didn’t have a husband, she couldn’t work or take care of herself, so it was a pretty tough situation. Elijah found the woman, and asked her to make him some bread. The widow told Elijah that she only had a little bit of oil and flour. She was planning to cook a final meal for herself and her son, because that was all they had left in the world, and she figured they would just starve to death without any other food. Elijah told her that her food would not run out, but that he would still like the bread. She made it for him, and an amazing thing happened…the oil and flour didn’t run out! She had enough to make food the next day, and the next, and for many days after. God used Elijah to provide for her. Later on, her son grew ill and died. God used Elijah to restore his life and bring the son back to her. God gave this widow what she needed.
God provides for us, too. He gives us the things that we need in life. He knows our needs and gives us what is necessary for this body and life. In the Lord’s prayer, we ask that God would “give us this day our daily bread.” That is a prayer asking God to provide us with what we need each day. Sometimes we can grow overwhelmed trying to plan for the future, but we are called to live in the present moment. There’s nothing wrong with having plans about things, and it’s good to be prepared. But the Lord doesn’t want us to worry needlessly. We don’t need every single detail of our lives known and planned in advance. In fact, Jesus told us not to worry about the details of tomorrow, because each day has enough worries of its own. God will give us what we need for each day. We can pray and ask Him to provide us with what we need day to day. And we trust that God is faithful and will take care of us. He knows what we need physically, and He knows that we need Him for spiritual strength and help. No matter what your pantry holds, He will care for you. He will give us our needed “bread” now and always!
Let’s pray now and thank God for giving us what we need each day.
Prayer: (Have kids repeat each line)
Dear God,
Thank you for providing for our needs every day.
Thank you for food and clothing
And family and friends.
Help us to trust in you for every good thing,
And not to worry too much about the future.
Thank you for your love.
We love you, God!
In Jesus name, Amen!
Bible Verses to Reference (1 Kings 17 and Matthew 6)
Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.'” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” -1 Kings 17:8-24
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. -Matthew 6:25-34
The Lord’s Prayer Series for Kids
- Part 1 — Our Father in Heaven (Matthew 6:7-15): Sunday School lesson · Bible crafts
- Part 2 — Hallowed Be Your Name (Matthew 6:7-9; Exodus 3:1-17): Sunday School lesson · Bible crafts
- Part 3 — Your Will Be Done (Acts 1:12-26): Sunday School lesson · children’s sermon · crafts
- Part 4 — On Earth as It Is in Heaven (Revelation 21): Sunday School lesson · children’s sermon · crafts
- Part 5 — Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread (1 Kings 17:8-24): Sunday School lesson · this children’s sermon · crafts
More Lord’s Prayer Resources
- FREE Lord’s Prayer Sunday School Lesson (PDF download) — sample from Prayer Power Lab
- Prayer Power Lab: 5-Week Curriculum on the Lord’s Prayer (Kids 6-12 and PreK 3-5)
- The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-13) Children’s Sermon