How To Pray - Finish Strong

Sometimes we don’t pray, and God still works in our lives. That is not how God wants it to be, but He is just that good to us. Sometimes we pray and God doesn’t seem to hear, or if He hears, He doesn’t seem to answer, or if He hears and answers, He seems to have not understood us because He doesn’t do what we asked. That is usually a good thing. It means God has done something for us better than we were asking. And other times we pray and God acts exactly according to our prayer. This is when the world seems right and our faith grows exponentially.

Jesus knew prayer is difficult, so He actually took time to teach His followers how to pray. He gave them a template to guide their prayer life. Christ said, “You should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” (Matthew 6:9-13)

We broke that prayer down in our devotionals this week.

Today I want to look at a phrase that is included in some, but not all manuscripts. Most of the time when this prayer is recited (which was not likely Christ’s intent) this phrase is added on at the end. It goes like this… “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

This closing to the prayer acknowledges God’s ability to do whatever He wants on our behalf and for His honor. I think it is good to begin our prayers recognizing God’s position and end them acknowledging His power since the things we seek in the middle are dependent on who He is.

This ending recognizes God’s authority, power, and glory. He owns these things. They are His to command.

Kingdom is God’s. All of its resources are available to Him for you… always. You can trust Him for your daily bread because He created and owns all of the wheat on the planet. “The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord.” (Psalm 24:1)

Power is God’s. There is nothing in your life, or outside of your life that God cannot overcome. Every trial and temptation you face is smaller than God, even if it is bigger than you. God has the power to forgive you of sin, and help you forgive others. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Glory is God’s. He is holy and magnificent all by Himself. He doesn’t share that glory with anyone… except His own children. His glory can only be found with His holiness. When He adopts us into His family we become co-heirs with Christ in glory. We gain the ability to love as He loves, bring peace as He brings peace, offer reconciliation as He offers reconciliation. Paul put it this way, “Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness. We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not stare at the the end of what was fading away, but their minds were closed. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. Even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:12-18) We get to carry the glory wherever we go, and in that sense, God’s kingdom comes to earth and His will is done. Because God’s holiness and His glory are inseparable, His Kingdom is always victorious in His people.

Today, pray to a God who is authoritative, powerful, and glorious. Ask Him for anything that lines up with His will. And watch Him work in your life, as well as in the lives of those around you.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

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