For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory

Ok, so depending on what translation of The Bible you read, this line (and all that follows) may not be in the Lord’s Prayer.

When I’m at Church and we pray the Lord’s Prayer in unison we include this line. And when I looked in An Australian Prayer Book, I discovered the line was there too.

However, when I looked in The Bible, I didn’t find the line there… which made me wonder who popped the line in there in the first place.

I found this website, that explains why the line makes an appearance and weighs up the validity of its inclusion. You can read the details or take my summary here: the King James translators included the line.

Should the line be in The Bible or not? No idea.

Does the line contain truths from The Bible or not? I think it does.

The kingdom. The power. The glory.

If these things do not belong to God, who do they belong to?

The glory can’t belong to God’s people. I mean, look at us. Look at me. There’s nothing glorious to see here.

Yet unfortunately, we sometimes try to take the glory away from God and think that we are something special. This is in distinct contrast to what The Bible says:

Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment

The glory belongs to God, not his people.

What about the power then? Plenty of Christians claim that miracles still happen. Don’t they have power in these days when the Holy Spirit is freely accessible to all?

I think that question answers itself about two-thirds of the way through.

The day that the Holy Spirit came is known as Pentecost. After his resurrection and just before his ascension into heaven, Jesus says this to his disciples:

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

Christians do have a spiritual power, but it is nothing that we can boast about – ever! The power is a gift, not earned by human effort.

Jesus says the power is coming and that God is its source. The disciples don’t have any power over the arrival of the power either. It will just ‘come on them’, in Jerusalem and in a few days. Jesus knows the time and place. The disciples are clueless.

The power is ultimately God’s, not ours.

Finally, what about the kingdom?

The kingdom of God is, quite obviously, owned by God. Yet how often do we try to run things our own way? How often do we make Church about ourselves and our own plans? We make Church about celebrities and big names.

We do it outside of organised religion though, too. We live our entire lives as though we are on the throne. ‘It’s my way, or the highway.’

I know this, because I do it myself, a lot. That why I need help to say the lines:

For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory

Because it is, regardless of how I might behave to the contrary.

Yours in giving God the glory,

Alison