So tonight in Kairos, the speaker talked about the Lord’s Prayer. It’s one of those Bible passages that everyone who has grown up in or around the Church has heard at least once, whether the famous musical adaptation or in the familiar King James. Most of us have heard it so many times that it can almost become rote and lose any meaning because we’ve heard the words so often.

But it is really acknowledging who is in control — His name, His kingdom, His will. When we really believe and live out this prayer, we are reorienting our lives from being about us to being about the things of God.

Then we confess our daily needs before God and also confess our debts. It’s interesting based on this verse that God forgives us as we have forgiven others. The mark of someone who has experienced the forgiveness of God is that they always forgive others, no matter what. And that is not excusing or enabling what they did, but releasing them from the expectation that they can fix what they did.

It ends with a summary that brings it all back to God being the supreme authority over every part of our lives. The more we align ourselves with the Lord’s prayer, the more we grant Jesus Lordship over our lives until He has it all with no exceptions.

The last word is Amen. It’s more than just a neat way of ending our prayers or something nice to say to a good point in a sermon. It’s basically agreeing with God. It’s saying “So be it” to God. I love the way The Message translates Amen as an emphatic YES! YES! YES! It’s not a half-hearted assent but a resounding yes that we say not just with our words but our lives, not just one time but over and over every single day.