Monday, November 24, 2025
“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. 1 Chronicles 29:10b-13 ESV
For Yours Is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory Forever…
Yesterday we came to the end of the sermon series on The Lord’s Prayer titled “Pray Like This.” The Lord’s prayer is a model Jesus gave us to help us pray in the right way – a way that will help us live and look more and more like him every day. Yesterday Pastor Jim wrapped up the series with the ending we are most familiar with, For yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. We have all likely heard and believe this phrase to be a verse included in the Lord’s Prayer. However, if you look it up in the Bible, most translations do not contain that phrase in the verses containing The Lord’s Prayer, so it can be a little confusing. Although earlier manuscripts of the Bible do not contain this phrase in the passage, some later manuscripts do, causing some scholars to believe that it was added as a doxology to create a more worshipful reading and ending of the passage.
This ending of The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that the right way to pray is to give God all the glory and honor, for all things because it’s all his! It brings our focus back to the One who created all and is above all, and reminds us that he is great, all powerful, and worthy to receive all praise and glory.
What specific characteristics describe God as having the ability to hear and respond to our prayers?
Pastor Jim gave us three reasons as to why it is right to add this phrase to The Lord’s Prayer:
God is great – Yours, O Lord, is the greatness... God is sovereign over all people, dominions, kings, and authorities. He created all things, and he is king over all of life.
Yours is the kingdom acknowles that God is the sovereign King and supreme over all. “The kingdom of God is the already (Jesus’ birth = The King has come), but not yet, (Jesus’ return = the kingdom of God to come), rule, or reign, of God over all of life.”
The Kingdom of God has already come because Jesus has come. The kingdom of God will come because Jesus is coming back again. The Kingdom of God is here because Jesus is here. The Kingdom of God will go wherever believers take it, and God wants us to take it to the ends of the earth. Our God is great, and his gospel tells the story of who he is, what he did for us on the cross, and his love and mercy for all who come to him.
God is powerful – and the power… God has ALL power, not just a little. We can trust him with our prayers because we know he is the God of all power, over all things. He has the power to do everything we need and when we go to him and ask him to move according to his will, and not ours, we trust in his sovereign wisdom and power over our lives.
Colossians 1:16 says For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He is all powerful over all things created in heaven and on earth. Nothing has been created that he did not create. Not only did he create it all, but he holds it all together. Only in his power are the planets aligned and the stars in place. Only in his power does the sun shine at the right temperature to not burn up the earth. Nothing exists outside of his power.
God is worthy - and the glory and the victory and the majesty… As we see his glory in our lives and in the world around us, the automatic response should be to praise and glorify him. God is worthy just because of who he is. He doesn’t have to prove his worthiness to us but when we look at our lives, we can see countless times he has moved, and countless things has done we see his glory shining bright. He is worthy because he is the king of kings and lord of lords. He is worthy because he is sovereign over all things in heaven and on earth. He is the creator and sustainer of all.
Prayer gives us the opportunity to know God more, and to grow in a deeper relationship with him. The power of prayer is the power of the presence of God in our lives to do the work of the kingdom. Jesus’ example of how to pray in the right way is a model for us to embrace a deeper relationship with God through intentional, focused prayer times. We will begin to feel his transformative power in our hearts and minds and feel the power of his presence as we live out his purpose for us – doing his work.
Because God is great and powerful and worthy we know we can trust him with the hurts, questions, and desires of our hearts. We know that he is trustworthy and will answer our prayers in his sovereign wisdom and in the very best way for us. He hears and he is the only one who has the power to answer our prayers. God’s power is manifest in our lives when we open our hearts to him and his will.
Have you surrendered your will to God and asked for his will to be done in your life instead?
How have you seen God’s power in your life recently?
