Matthew 6:9-13 (NKJV) 9“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Prayer is one of the most important weapons God has given us when it comes to resisting the devil. Prayer is communication with God, and it is a vital part of our relationship with him. James tells us that we must first submit to God and then we can resist the devil successfully. Submission is a product of relationship and communication is foundational to any relationship. No one had a more successful prayer life than Jesus, so we have been looking at prayer as he prayed.
The last words in this prayer template are important if we are going to receive what God has for us. He says, “Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, Amen.” As we have looked at this prayer, we found that Jesus begins by establishing the correct posture in prayer by declaring who God is to us and what he is to the world. He prays for our needs and his own. He speaks of the necessity of a repentant heart as well as our forgiveness toward others. He prays that God would not lead us into temptation, but that whenever we find ourselves in temptations, testing and trials, we can ask for his delivering power to be with us. Jesus is praying in faith so he is not asking for any of this hoping God will do something. He is praying according to the will of God in the Bible, so there is no question that what he asks will be done.
Finally, he makes this grand statement. This is not just a poetic ending to a public prayer. Although Jesus did pray this in the presence of his disciples, it was not some formal prayer crafted to impress the hearer. Jesus was showing his disciples the format for prayer that will always work. Everything he puts into this template is meant to accomplish a purpose. The last phrase is no exception. His declaration is to affirm who God is and what he can and will do. It is also to establish once again that we are praying so we will fit into God’s will, not so he will conform to our will. Let us look at this statement more closely.
He has covered a great deal in his prayer template to this point. As he finishes, he declares “Yours is the Kingdom.” What does this mean. He starts with the word “for.” It simply means “because.” So, he is saying “because yours is the…..” Everything he prays here will happen because of what he says next.
The first word that is cause for us to believe he will move when we pray is the word “thine.” The basic definition of thine is simply “yours.” According to Strongs Hebrew/Greek dictionary it means “your own.” This is the same thing but somewhat stronger. It is God’s own personal thing. It also implies that all these things, flow from him. They are filled with his nature and in perfect harmony with his will. Jesus declares this, not because he does not know it, but because he is reinforcing it for himself and for the devil. This is all about God and my prayers are answer because of who he is.
Jesus continues by showing us what of God’s he is depending on. It is God’s kingdom. In this context he is not really contrasting God’s kingdom with any other. Many times, the Bible speaks of the kingdom of darkness or the kingdoms of men. Here he is simply stating the fact that God’s Kingdom is the only Kingdom that matters. “Yours is the Kingdom.” It is the kingdom that is higher than all other kingdoms. The rest are just impostors compared to God’s Kingdom. One definition of kingdom is the active reign of a king. The Kingdom of God on earth is that place where he is actively ruling. When we acknowledge and yield to his will and his Word, we are allowing him to actively rule in our circumstances. That is one of the things prayers will accomplish.
Nevertheless, I think that in this statement Jesus is declaring that there is no other kingdom. His is the only and therefore supreme kingdom and his will must inevitably come to pass. To finish our prayer with these words does not only strengthen and encourage us. Words carry power. Life and death are contained in them (Proverbs 18:21.) When we speak God’s words and God’s will, the words we speak carry the authority of God’s kingdom. When I finish my prayer declaring that God’s is the only Kingdom, I am enforcing that truth in my life and in my world.
He goes on to add to the fact that God’s is the Kingdom by saying, “Yours is the power.” Once again, the purpose is the same. There is no other power but God’s. The power Jesus is speaking of is God’s own power. The word here is the Greek word “dunamis.” It is the word from which we get “dynamite.” It means force(literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power(usually by implication a miracleitself).
We are not talking about something “just working out”, although I think God often causes that to occur. By using this Word, Jesus is reminding us that the miraculous force of God is available to bring to pass what we pray. When God moves in our prayer life it is often what I call the natural supernatural. By that I mean it is not always spectacular.
Many times, we are not aware that it is God’s power that is causing what we are seeing. However, by making this declaration, Jesus is reminding himself, and us, the same power that split the Red Sea and the same power that provided for Israel in the wilderness and the same power that brought down the walls of Jericho is still available to us and God will not withhold what is needed to do his will in our lives. Jesus is the same Jesus that healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water and turned water into wine. That same power is behind our prayer life.
Finally, Jesus reminds us that the glory is God’s as well. This word means a number of things, According to Strongs dictionary it carries the idea of “very apparent.” What is very apparent? It is very apparent that it is God who is at work when we pray. However, probably more important here is that it means “honor, praise, and worship.”
As we come to the end of our time spent with our Father, we must never forget he is the one who gets all the praise, honor and worship. We do not take credit for what God does. We have our part to play in that we need to pray. But when our prayers seem to produce results, we must remember that it is all to build his kingdom, not ours. Everything that happens is because of his power not our resources nor abilities. If he uses them, hallelujah, but it is his own power that brings results. And it is only to him that we give honor, praise and worship for the results. When we keep that in mind, we will draw people to the God who answers prayers and not to the ones who pray them.
I do not believe we have to say the exact words that Jesus said in any part of this prayer. It is a template into which we plug in our own words, our own needs and concerns and our own forgiveness, both given to others and received from God for ourselves. When you come to the end, let the Holy Spirit give you the words to declare that God’s is the Kingdom, the Glory and the power. If they are the same as what Jesus prayed that is fine, but they must come from your heart not “vain repetition” of what he said. Then and only then are we ready to declare the word that has ended prayers since they have been being prayed. “Amen”
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