Lord, Teach us to Pray

Once, Jesus disciples approached Him and asked that He teach them to pray. Jesus responded by teaching them the Lord's Prayer. There is much to learn in and about the Lord's Prayer. That's what we are continuing to do, looking at and learning from the Lord's Prayer.

"For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen."

In the Lord's Prayer, I've asked my Father for some tremendous things. Can he come through? Will he? Yes, Jesus assures me. And then he tells me why. For-read that as because-the kingdom is his. That word kingdom refers me to God's grace and reminds me why I can pray so confidently. I can enter God's throne room without hesitation and expect to receive all that his Son has taught me to ask for. This confidence comes not from me but from what my Father has done for me in his Son. His grace in Christ Jesus has made me his dear child, who can always find room "on his lap."

"Because yours is the power," I continue. In Joshua's day, God's power stopped the sun in its tracks. In Paul's day it sprang open jailhouse doors. The One to whom I pray has power to raise the dead and pronounce forgiveness to the paralyzed. He has power to make Baptism's water cleanse souls and to couple his very body and blood with the bread and wine for the communicant. May his power draw me to his throne with confidence.

"Because yours is the glory," I also pray. "I will deliver you, and you will honor [glorify] me," he tells me (Psalm 50:15). In the Lord's Prayer, I give God glory simply by asking him. I also give him glory by expecting him to answer me. And, finally, I give him glory when he does answer. To such a Father, I come with confidence. The kingdom and the power and the glory were his in eternity, are now, and ever shall be.

"Amen," I conclude. This sweet word means "certainly, truly, surely it will be so." With it I'm not questioning, "Will you, Lord?" but expressing the confidence, "You will, Lord!" "Amen" shuts the door to unbelief and doubt. It's telling my Father that I believe he has heard me and will grant what Jesus has taught me to ask in this prayer.

"The Amen People," Luther once labeled believers. How can it be otherwise? In Jesus, I see God's great Amen, the One in whom he has fulfilled all his promises. In Jesus, I receive pardon for the past, power in the present, and promise of the future. My loving heavenly Father said amen first, in him. Now I can say it too.