THE LORD’S PRAYER
A Pattern PrayerBy Dr. Vicky Moots(Part 5)
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” Matt. 6:9-13.
Verse 13b: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” In the last part of this prayer we are acknowledging three things that belong to God, our Father: The kingdom, the power and the glory. We must not try to take these things from Him and claim them for ourselves. They belong only to God. First of all, we recognize Him as king, not just our Father, and we are to worship, serve and honor Him as king of His Kingdom.
Today He has a spiritual kingdom in us as believers, so our hearts become His throne. We are His possession since the Kingdom belongs to Him. If His Kingdom is in us, then we need to stop trying to be the ruler and to let Him be in control. As King, He has power and authority over all things, and we are to bow the knee to Him and yield our lives as His kingdom. We are to show Him reverential fear and respect as King and say, “Thine is the power.” We have no power in ourselves to please God or to obey Him, for “there is none that doeth good.” The power and ability to do this comes from Him. We must acknowledge our weakness and our need of Him. He wants us to not only “lean on his everlasting arms,” but to tap into Him as our source of power.
So, how much power does He have? First of all, He had the power to create this universe and everything in it. How much of that power is available to us as Christians? The answer is in Eph. 1:19-20: “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead…”. This is resurrection power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We were dead in trespasses and sins but He raised us up and gave us a new life. The life that we now live, after we are born again, is all through His power, the resurrected life of Christ in us.
He also promised power to us through the Holy Spirit which was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, and that power is available to all who are willing to receive it. His super natural power enables us to witness and to understand His Word. Paul tells us in Phil. 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” God has given us His power through Christ. That means that any good works that we do through His power will bring glory to His name instead of ours.
God did not choose mighty men to do His mighty works. He chose weaker vessels, such as David, a young shepherd boy, to kill Goliath, so that he would receive the glory. “No flesh should glory in his presence…He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Cor. 1:29, 31). We give all the glory to Him when we pray. “Thine is the glory.” None of it belongs to us so we should never try to claim it. Both the power and the glory belong to Him. That leaves no room for us to brag or boast! Without Him we can do nothing, but through Christ we can do all things, whatever God calls us to do.
In summary, we are acknowledging that God, our heavenly Father, is also a King, who has the power, as King and the desire, as our Father, to take care of us, to answer our prayers, to guide us, to provide for us and to forgive our sins, and that all the glory and honor belong to Him. Our job is to yield our lives to Him as His kingdom and to believe and receive what He has provided for us on a daily basis, our daily bread. For how long? Forever! For He is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting. Through His Son’s sacrifice on the Cross, God has given to us eternal life so that we may praise Him forever and dwell in His presence forever, starting right now, for the rest of our lives and for eternity. Amen.
