Not all manuscripts include this phrase: for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever, Amen. But if you’ve memorized this prayer, you memorized this phrase. Let’s jump in.

Why end the prayer with this reminder? It forms what biblical scholars call an inclusio, a beginning and ending thought that mirror one another. Your kingdom come and yours is the kingdom. I want to propose the idea of what it would look like if every prayer began with the reminder that it is God’s kingdom, not ours and ended with that same reminder. Here are some thoughts.

God reigns. We do not. God is not somewhere twiddling his thumbs wondering what to do next. No! A thousand times no! He rules. He reigns. Whatever you are under, he is over. He is God. We can relax…we are not God.

His kingdom is powerful. God is omnipotent. He does not reign in fear of any other kingdom or power. He is not intimated. He is undeterred by Putin, unmoved by China, undaunted by the United States. He is all-powerful. He also isn’t caught off guard by your personal dilemma.

His kingdom is glorious. Yours is the glory. All earthly glory is temporary. The grass withers. Flowers fade. Kings and rulers are born and then die. Their glory is tainted by their own limitations. God gloriously reigns. No sin has ever entered his eternal kingdom, nor will it! He reigns in glory. Majesty alone belongs to him.

Forever and ever. Amen. His kingdom is eternal. Every other kingdom is temporary. God sees the end from the beginning, knows the last from the first. He is not constrained by time or knowledge as we are. Because he rules in an eternal kingdom, his reign is one of complete knowledge of all things. Past. Present. Future.

Worried? Pray to the King. Afraid? Pray to the King. Bewildered? Pray to the King.