Today we come to the end of our series on The Lord’s Prayer. This will be our surrender to our King. We will denounce any praise that comes our way as we point to the one true God as the author of all good things and deserving of any and all honor and glory and praise.
“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13b NASB)
Some Bible translations do not include this part of verse 13, because not all ancient manuscripts included this doxology (doxology is verbally expressing praise to God). However, to leave it off the end of The Lord’s Prayer seems to render it somehow incomplete. If the verses before are the framework on which to hang our prayers, this surely is the foundation upon which all the others rest. It is our privilege and honor to do the Lord’s will and to further His Kingdom, and if we would concentrate on this, then all other things will fall into place.
It is a fitting end to this prayer that our dear Lord Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, to show that we recognize and give honor to the only One worthy of praise – God Almighty. His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
In this brief sentence is the summation of our recognition of who God is and our abdication of all claim to any glory. Anything we accomplish, anything we have, any honors that are bestowed upon us come solely from God the Father, Who graciously provides all that we need and more. To Him be the Glory. Amen.
Father God, we often seek to glorify our selves, rather than to acknowledge that from you all things flow. Forgive us when we fail you, as we often do. Deliver us from evil. Make us worthy to bear the name of Jesus. In His mighty name we pray. Amen
My prayer for you is that my words, inspired by Almighty God will help you remember the simple honesty and power of this prayer, not, as I have said, a formula for approaching God for our wants, but as a guide to entering into an honest dialog with God. This prayer is the beginning and the ending of our time with God and all other things flow from this source.
Yours in Christ,
Sonya Richards
(To Access the rest of “The Lord’s Prayer” mini-series, please click here!)