Prayer- For Thine Is The Kindom and the Power....

How do you typically end conversations? If you aren’t sure, listen to how others do it for the next few days. You’ll probably hear things like “Have a nice day”, “Bye now”, “Later”, “Take Care”, “Be Good” and maybe the occasional “Peace Out”. Listen to the same folks offer salutations long enough and you’ll notice that most of us have one or two catch phrases we recycle. How should we end conversations with God? Those of us who are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer probably learned to say this:

“For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever, Amen.”

BENEDICTION
You might be surprised to know that the above phrase probably isn’t exactly what Jesus taught His followers. The earliest copies of Matthew 6 that have been unearthed don’t include this ending. Most likely it was added by a well meaning copyist at some point. So why is it so common? Because the ancient manuscripts available in 1611 to translate the King James Version included it. And since many Americans learned scripture using the KJV, this benediction is the one many of us were taught.

So is this a big deal? Should we stop ending our prayers with “for Thine is the Kingdom…..”? Probably not. Here are a few reasons why: 1. The ending that most of us learned for the Lord’s prayer is very similar to the way devout Jews ended their prayers in Jesus’ day. Jesus probably used words like these on numerous occasions Himself. 2. The common benediction to the Lord’s prayer agrees with what is said about God in other parts of the scriptures. Here are examples from both the OT and the NT. 3. The wording in this phrase captures ideas in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus told us to focus on. This makes it a great summary.

Not that we need to be rote in our prayers, but regularly ending our conversations by reminding ourselves that God has all the power to accomplish whatever we’ve asked about, and that He’s in control no matter how things look is probably a good thing. But what if we used this phrase as a way to start and order our days as well?

INVOCATION
Look through your email inbox. You’ll probably find that some of your friends and colleagues have inspirational quotes- or maybe even scriptures- as a part of their auto signatures. Why include this kind of thing? Seems like we’re trying to make a statement about what is important to us, or our philosophy of life. Wouldn’t the final phrase of the Lord’s Prayer make a nice mantra? Specifically, it reminds us that God has ownership. It’s HIS Kingdom, Power and Glory. He’s in charge. And He’s responsible. Maybe one of the reasons that we stress so much is that we think we have to make things happen. Surprise, God cares more about this world- and about us- than we do. Let’s put the burden on Him to do the heavy lifting of the Kingdom work.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t matter. For some reason (probably that love thing again) God has seen fit to involve us in all sorts of things. He makes them possible, but then asks us to play a part to help them happen. God offers us a relationship with Him- but asks us to choose it. Jesus dies to forgive us- but invites us to confess to receive mercy. God welcomes us into community- but we have to take the chance to engage others. The Holy Spirit offers us the opportunity to bring hope, mercy and justice to our neighbors- but we have to be willing to love, serve and speak. Maybe a simple prayer each day could help us to acknowledge both God's ownership/power and our involvement and live out those concepts.

REFLECT:
Q: What phrases do you usually use to end verbal conversations? To sign emails? Why do you use those specific phrases? Are they meaningful or intentional?

Q: How were you taught to end your prayers? What do you usually say to finish a conversation with God?

Q: Which phrase or word in the common benediction to the Lord's Prayer is most comforting to you? Most challenging? Why?

Q: Which is harder for you- to acknowledge/believe in God's ownership and power or to take action and do your part of His work? Why?

Try It: Take some time and pray through each phrase of the Lord's Prayer by yourself or in a group. Say the words you are familiar with and then add your own thoughts, requests, etc. to them.