Amen!

Hey All,

As we wrap up this study on the prayer Jesus taught us to pray in Mat 6:13 we end with: for yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. There it is, Amen one small word that we use at the end of each prayer. I can remember growing up we would sing it at the end of each hymn. In some churches we would also proclaim it as a statement AMEN! Before we look at this powerful ending let’s dig into just a few more verses on prayer.

The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory

By ending the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, acknowledging the Kingdom, Power and Glory once again lifts our almighty God on high. We proclaim that He has dominion over the world in the Kingdom. We reaffirm that he has the power over sin and the devil through his son Jesus dying on the cross and being raised again on the 3rd day. We worship and praise Him for all that He does to sustain us on this earth. Paul boldly says in 2 Cor 1:20 that For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are Yes; therefore also through Him is are Amen to the Glory of God through us. James says we must have faith when we approach the Lord or we will be tossed about like the surf in the sea, driven and tossed by the wind and if the later is the case do not expect anything. James 1:6-7. Both of these verses reaffirm that God has the power and wants to bless us if we will only have faith to follow his direction.

Why then AMEN?

As with so many things, I think we say something so many times that we forget the true meaning of what we say. In the Old testament, the signature of Amen meant that one was proclaiming a statement to be reliable or established, faithful, or to believe in someone or something. The Israelites also used it to confirm a blessing: meaning “So be it”. From the time I can remember it was told to me that saying Amen meant a confirmation of the statement just said: meaning “Lord let it be as I have spoken!” This seems to be a fitting or proper way to close off a conversation with our most holy Father. In worship I also like an Amen! as it affirms what PJ is saying both to him and to the Father. Most of the times we don’t use it after hymns anymore but it would seem at times we could still use an Amen to confirm the words we have just lifted up to the Lord. For such a tiny word there seems to be great power in using it in the correct way.

Let’s not forget the Holy Spirit

Now you might be thinking ……forget the Holy Spirit? We really haven’t studied him in this Blog or in much depth and that would be a true statement. The Spirit is talked about in several places in the Old Testament and again when Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John the baptist. We have to go all the way to John 14:16-18, 26 before Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to the disciples. In this passage we find that the Spirit is there to abide in us as our helper. As we press deeper into this topic next week, we will see how the Spirit knows us and helps us communicate as we pray even when words fail.

So to wrap up

As we go through our daily lives, so many times we are challenged to respond to our beliefs, our faith or what something means. We frequently need to condense large topics down so that we have quick answers, such as what does the Lords Prayer really mean? I am sure that each of us would compress it in a different way, but as I really thought about that this week, here is what I came up with:

The God I believe in, who is the creator of heaven and earth, wants to have a relationship with you and me. His power has no limits and yet through this prayer we invite him to have power over us in every aspect of our lives. We ask Him to bless us and provide for everything we need, to keep us from drifting away from Him because of sin, and to protect us as we live in a fallen sinful world. When we drift away, we ask for forgiveness to restore our relationship. We pray that we will show the same love and forgiveness to all we come in contact with because, above all else, we are called to love one another. Amen? Absolutely AMEN!