Gloria: For Yours is the kingdom … - 26 April 2016
Hennie Symington
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 1 Chronicles 29:11
We began our prayer praising God, acknowledging him as Father and honouring his holy name and now we return to praise as we acclaim the authority, power and glory of God. The well-known verse previously included in the Lord’s prayer which we all recall, "For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever”, is omitted from most modern translations of the Bible since later manuscripts discovered after the King James Version was translated, do not include these words. However, I took the liberty of quoting a verse from 1 Chronicles, which dovetails perfectly with the Lord’s Prayer.
In this verse God calls us to praise Him. He even commands it. Why? Not because He needs our praise, but because we need to praise him. It reminds us of God’s greatness and of his glory. It alters our perspective and changes our attitude. Praise should be where we begin and end with God.
In the closing portion of this prayer we are reminded to acknowledge that God has exclusive ownership of “the kingdom, the power, the glory, forever.” These things can be said of God and of no one else.
Prayer: Glory be to God! Amen