The Lord's Prayer: Amen

It’s the final word in most prayers that we pray, but we can say it with the most confidence at the end of this prayer—the one our Lord teaches us to pray.

We aspire to pray in the name of Jesus. When we pray this prayer, we pray in the words of Jesus.

We hope even, by the Holy Spirit, to pray with the same heart of Jesus—the heart of obedience.
When we get to the end of this prayer, we confess that all we have just said is true, and we ask the Father to make it more and more our true desire.

Here are my two main conclusions from all the preceding reflections. Firstly, we say the Lord’s Prayer in order to shape us. As with diet and exercise and other habits and practices, the things we do every day make us who we are.

When we confess these things regularly, we remind ourselves of their truth, and we remind ourselves that we need to be reminded of these truths.

When we say these things over and over, we better understand ourselves, and we help ourselves to live by these truths outside the prayer closet. That brings us to the second conclusion.

There is great freedom in praying just, “your will be done.” Have you ever wondered whether to pray for a certain thing? Sometimes, when I’m unsure, I refrain. 

Instead, I think about the thing as I’m saying, “your will be done.” Leave it in the Father’s court.
Let the prayer guide you to trust that he knows what is best, and that—whatever it is—he’s got his eye on it, and he’s going to take care of it.

When we pray for the Father’s will to be done, we know we can follow that with' amen.' We know that we have confessed truth, and we know we have spoken words we can trust—words both from and to the One we can trust.