Some people today Leave the following words out when they pray the Lord’s prayer: “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” The Catholic Church does not contain this phrase in their version of the Lords prayer. Many modern translations added in the footnote. There are long, involve arguments on each side. For most of us are tradition has taught us to pray this at the conclusion of the prayer. I think he uses really said these words, so we will include them with the prayer.
These words are more than just a fancy way of saying the prayer is over. They had a lot to the prayer itself. For one thing, the point is back to God as the source of all our blessings. The “glory” belongs to God the father Whose name is seen as holy in the start of this prayer. The kingdom is established by the son, Jesus. This is the kingdom that was mentioned earlier when we prayed “Thy kingdom come”. It is the Holy Spirit’s power that enables us to pray “Your will be done.” So we see the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all included this concluding phrase. All our blessings ultimately comes from God. Everything we have comes from him. It all still belongs to him It is on loan to us from God.
These words also add to the Lords Prayer in that they teach us to keep on going in hard times. Indeed, His is the kingdom. It belongs to him. Other governments come and go, but his will last forever. Since it is His kingdom, he has the power to support to people or part of it. He who created the whole universe can help those whom He has created. Everything God does is for his glory. Whatever happens is to bring glory to him in one way or another. Even in suffering, he is glorified as we trust in Him and look for his coming deliverance. God is not limited by our circumstances. He can work through them for our good and His glory.
A final truth that these words add to the prayer is that they teach us to praise God always. The prayer begins with praise and ends with praise. The focus is on God in the very beginning to the very end. God deserves all our praise, now and forever more. We are to praise God not because he needs it but because He deserves it and because we need to do it.
Finally, this prayer closes with two very important words. “Forever” tells the duration of the requests in the prayer. These things are always true. Forever! The prayer closes with the word “Amen”. This focuses on the certainty of everything that has been prayed. They are totally and completely true. Amen means “so be it”. What a wonderful way to end such a special prayer. We affirm that what we have said is true. We state that we believe what we have just said.
I encourage you to use this prayer often. Remember these things we talked about. Indeed this prayer can cover every need and desire. Jesus gave it to us, now it is up to us to use it.
(Written by Jerry Schmoyer, 2014. You can find more of his writings at http://www.christiantrainingonline.org/. If you have questions or suggestions feel free to contact him at jerry@schmoyer.net)