For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen
We have reached the last part of our look at the Lord’s Prayer. This is not considered one of the petitions, in fact in some Christian traditions this part of the prayer is not spoken at all. If you look at the scriptures you do not see find this as part of the prayer as well. However, in my mind this is a critical component of the prayer. While in one of my high school English classes I had a great teacher who liked to challenge us; when he was talking to us about composition he spoke about a method that has stuck with me throughout time. He told us – “tell ‘em what you are going to tell ‘em, then tell ‘em, and finally tell ‘em what you just told ‘em”. Many folks have no doubt heard the same thing from their teachers too. When I think of the conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer and what it means I think of my English teacher’s instruction to us.
For Thine is the Kingdom – who is the head of a kingdom? The king of course, who is the king of the universe? God. Who is God to us? Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
The power – in one of the previous posts we looked at the three different kingdoms of power that exist, this part of the conclusion covers those. We also can look at the petition – they will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven as being covered here. God’s power provides us with our daily bread – both spiritually and physically.
And the Glory – God’s glory and what he has done with that glory has shown us the way to act toward each other. He sent his son to cover us in his blood to forgive our trespasses and because of that we are called to forgive others, which in turn give God glory by following his will and not following the temptations we are confronted with daily. Lastly – the same blood that covers us, forgives our sins, also keeps us from evil.
Forever, and ever Amen – God is infinite, he is the Alpha and Omega. Amen – an originally Hebrew word meaning “so be it”. We end the prayer by stating that everything we have just asked for from God should happen.
God had a plan when teaching us this prayer; and to me it seems the plan he followed was the same plan I learned in high school English. I guess maybe God was the originator of the “tell ’em what your going to tell ’em, tell ’em, and then tell ’em what you just told ’em.”
Thank you Father in Heaven for teaching us to pray through this wonderful model you have provided.
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