Eld Chew Chong Kiat

"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever and ever."

As we are taught to pray to our heavenly Father, that His name be hallowed, His Kingdom advanced, and His will be done, we are taught also to end our prayer by ascribing to Him the Kingdom, the power and the glory. This is the only acceptable motive for prayer, otherwise we pray amiss.

When we pray for provision of our daily needs, for God’s pardon for all our sins, and for God to not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil, the motive is the same, "for Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever and ever."

Let’s look closer at how this motive should drive our prayers.

I. Our Motives

1. For Thine is the Kingdom. Is my desire in praying, as a citizen, for the Kingdom of God that it may advance and Satan’s kingdom diminished? For example, do I desire God to bless my testimony for Him, to sanctify me so that I will be holy, separated from all uncleaness, and righteous in all my words and deeds, that I may be a vessel fit for His Kingdom? Do I seek the salvation of those near me that they may be delivered from their sins and enter into the Kingdom of God? Do I give of my energy, time and resources to advance God’s Kingdom on earth? Why do I do so? Is it “for Thine is the Kingdom”?
2. For Thine is the Power. God is able to do all things, and nothing profitable is done without His blessings. For every success, do we acknowledge God for bringing to pass all things according to His will by His power? We are only the vessel and the instrument. God can do all things without us, but it pleases Him to use us so that we may serve Him, because we love Him. Do we recognise that without the Lord and His blessings, all that we do will be in vain? It is not because we will or run, but of God who works (Rom 9:16). Without God, all is in vain (Ps 127). That is why God’s people acknowledge God in all things, and we pray and look unto Him from whence comes our help (Ps 121:1-2). It is not of might nor power, but by God’s Spirit alone (Zech 4:6). Never rob God by attributing any success to ourselves. Let us attribute to God “Thine is the power!” Let us look to Him for power.
3. For Thine is Glory. Whatsoever we do, whether we eat or drink, we are to do so for the glory of God (1Cor 10:31). Surely, that includes prayer. Whatsover we pray and ask, do we ask them for the glory of God? When we are sick, we ask to be healed. Is it also with the acknowledgement that God will be glorified in both sickness and health? That even if He slays me, I will glorify Him? In every endeavour that we ask for the Lord’s blessing, is it with the aim that God will be magnified through our weakness, that He may increase and we decrease? That in all we do, He will be glorified in us? When we tried and failed, do we give thanks? Do we submit? That our worship will magnify God? When we have success, do we give God all the glory? Never rob God of His glory by glorifying ourselves! Therefore, we attribute to God “Thine is the glory!”

II. Check Our Motive

Two men may commit a matter in prayer to God as taught in the Scriptures, yet one will be heard and the other rejected. The reason could be the motive. Why do we want our prayers to be heard? Is it just for ourselves and our family and loved ones? Or is it for God (“for thine”)? Let us search ourselves. Do we sincerely seek that which is God’s (“Thine”)? We can easily submit to God’s will when we pray with such a motive. When we struggle to rejoice, check our motives in prayer. I fear that we pray amiss more often than we realise. Let us acknowledge God and ask Him to do what He wills through us so that He might be glorified in all things, in His Kingdom and His power and nothing less.

III. For how long? “for ever and ever!”

Never stop doing so as long as we breathe. Even when we arrive home in heaven, we will still attribute to God, the Kingdom, the power and the glory.

“Thine, O LORD, [is] the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all [that is] in the heaven and in the earth [is thine]; thine [is] the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.”

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (1Chr 29:11, Rev 12:10)  

We will never stop attributing to God the Kingdom, power and glory, for that is right and true, and we will continue to do so in all eternity. It is all of grace, by grace and through grace.

IV. Conclusion

Let us sincerely end our prayer thus, "For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever and ever." Let us examine our hearts and be sure of that. Our hypocrisy cannot deceive God. He knows our hearts better than we know ourselves. Christ taught us to pray so that we will make an effort to come before Him with clean hands and pure hearts. Anything short of that, we will not be heard because we will be praying amiss.

And in testimony of our desire and assurance that we will be heard, we say “Amen”.

Before we say amen, make certain that what we or others pray for is according to God’s will. Otherwise, saying amen would be a sin; we would partaking of an error in prayer. Don’t mindlessly utter “Amen”. It is common to hear many amens during the prayers and sermons in a Charismatic church. This is not necessarily wrong, but I fear that much of that is done blindly to encourage the utterer’s enthusiasm and persuasion rather than a wholehearted cry unto God out of conviction that He will and has promised to hear and answer.

Praise to the Lord!
Oh, let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath,
come now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen
sound from His people again;
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

(Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, Stanza 5)