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by Dennis Wheeler
I have been to many, many worship services over the years in which during the service the congregation is asked to recite the Lord's Prayer. This well-known prayer ends with "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." (Matthew 6:13)
The problem I sense with this is that for many folks when this prayer is uttered it is merely the repeating of words. No thought, no emotion, no feeling, no urgency. How quickly we withdraw it from our memory bank and let it roll off our lips. In fact, we almost quote this final sentence in a singsong fashion!
Would you please allow me to encourage you this day to break the cycle of just 'repeating' the Lord's Prayer and think about what you're praying.
The focus of prayer is always supposed to be on God...always looking upward, outward and forward. Yet what do we do? We spend the majority of our time worrying about OUR kingdoms, OUR power and OUR glory.
So we need to discipline (ugh - we certainly don't like that word 'discipline') ourselves to always remember
Whose kingdom matters...
Whose power prevails...
Whose glory shines!
The next time you pray the Lord's Prayer...but the emphasis on 'Yours'. "For Yours is the kingdom and Yours is the power and Yours is the glory forvever. Amen!"
Wrap your prayers in awe and worship - - concentrating on the Who instead of the whats, wheres, whys and whens.
"For YOURS is the kingdom and YOURS is the power and YOURS is the glory...forever! Amen!!!"
He serves as the Senior Pastor with southwest Virginia church... a loving church family in Abingdon.
He and his wife Sharon have been married for over 27 years and are the proud parents of two beautiful daughters, one son-in-law, and two precious grandchildren, the second arrived arrived on the scene in September 2004!!
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