All of us are building something. Some people build careers, and others build a family, a reputation, or a retirement account. There is nothing wrong with any of those things—work, family, and goals can all be beautiful gifts from God. But it’s worth considering: Who are you building it for? When we pray “yours is the kingdom,” we’re declaring that everything ultimately belongs to God. 

Kingdom, power, and glory are things our world is obsessed with. We’re encouraged to build our own little kingdoms. We hope that if we work hard enough, earn enough, or accomplish enough, people will remember our names. We spend our lives climbing ladders, chasing promotions, collecting accomplishments, and thinking one more success will finally satisfy us. We convince ourselves we’ll be happy when the next goal is met. But Jesus offers a different way—He says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” In other words, make God’s priorities your priorities.

That doesn’t mean everyone should quit their jobs and become missionaries or pastors. The teacher who patiently encourages a struggling student is building God’s kingdom. The business owner who treats their workers with integrity is building God’s kingdom. The employee who is trustworthy and the stay-at-home parent changing diapers and teaching children to love Jesus are both building God’s kingdom. Whatever you do, if you do it for God, you’re a kingdom builder. 

Every business will eventually close, and every government will fall. Every trophy will rust, and every award will be forgotten, but the Kingdom of God will never end. 

All the Power

Since the kingdom is His, that means He has all the power, too. That’s good news. Maybe there’s an area of your life where you feel powerless. Maybe your boss makes your life miserable, a doctor just gave you a bad diagnosis, a collector keeps calling for money you don’t have, or a coach seems uninterested in helping you. We all have moments in life when we feel powerless, but this prayer reminds us that God is always in control. 

Or maybe you do feel powerful. Maybe you’re the boss, coach, or parent, and you have influence, authority, or responsibility. If that’s you, this prayer is just as important, because it reminds you that whatever power you possess has been entrusted to you by God.

Until we accept that God has all the power, we will spend our lives trying to control things that were never ours to control. We’ll try to manage every outcome, or force life to go according to our plans. It’s exhausting trying to be God. Fortunately, there’s already someone much better at that job.

Our culture is not always comfortable with authority—we can struggle to trust our leaders, and we often assume the people above us are trying to take advantage of us. But God uses his power to help us. Paul writes that although Jesus was equal with God, He “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.” The One with all the power laid it down. God became a human; the King became a servant. God is powerful enough to rain down lighting and thunder, but instead He chose to come down as a human being, to feel what it feels like to be one of us, and then, in the ultimate act of laying power down, He surrendered his life.

In our daily lives, we’re far less powerful than we might like to believe. One phone call can change our life. One diagnosis can rearrange our future. One accident, layoff, natural disaster, or pandemic reminds us how little control we actually have. We spend so much energy trying to control everything around us, but much of life remains completely beyond our reach.

Imagine you were best friends with the president of the United States, and you knew they could literally pick up the phone and get you anything from anyone in just a few seconds. How would that make you feel? Probably more confident and less worried, right? When you declare, “Yours is the power,” you’re reminding yourself that someone more powerful than the president is your friend. 

All the Glory

The final words of the Lord’s Prayer declare, “Yours is…the glory forever.” Glory means honor or recognition. So we’re literally praying: “God, you get all the credit.” This may be the most countercultural part of the entire Lord’s Prayer because, to some degree, we all care what people say or think about us—especially the people who say they don’t. This has been true forever, but in the last two decades, we’ve been given the tools to actually broadcast our life for public consumption. I’m old enough to remember a time when phone companies were trying to make cell phones smaller. Now we have front-facing cameras, so we prefer bigger screens with higher resolution. 

Think about how strange some of this would have sounded 25 years ago: We take pictures of ourselves and post them so other people can tell us what they think. We count how many people liked them, and how many people follow us. We can edit our faces, whiten our teeth, smooth our skin, change the lighting, and take 50 pictures to choose the one that makes us look best. We want people to think we’re successful, attractive, funny, intelligent, spiritual, important, or happy. In other words, we have glory issues. What initially felt like harmless sharing, posting, and liking has reshaped how we define our self-worth, leading to a greater feeling of insecurity and self importance.

Jesus taught the opposite—He instructed his disciples to pray in private places so they wouldn’t be tempted to perform. He warned about drawing attention to yourself while fasting, and taught that giving should be secretive, with no ulterior motives. In each of these instances, Jesus was encouraging us to abstain from drawing attention to ourselves. 

It’s easy to act religious and give the impression that we’re giving God credit for everything good in our lives, but it’s worth interrogating whether we really feel that way, or if it’s just false humility. One way to tell is through how we feel when we’re criticized. Of course it always hurts, but when God’s glory becomes our goal, we no longer feel a need to prove ourselves. We don’t have to win every argument, or receive recognition for every sacrifice. We don’t even have to worry about being misunderstood.

God wants us to end the Lord’s Prayer with a reminder of who gets the credit. This should take all the pressure off. We don’t have to get credit for being a great parent, leader, athlete, or Christian. Once we can truly believe that “Yours is the glory,” we learn to live a life free from the opinions of others without losing our peace or joy. Most importantly, we come to believe that we are loved by God because of who we are, not because of how many people know who we are. There’s only one savior, and His name is not Micah.

Practice:

Before you begin your day, write down one answer to each of these questions:

Kingdom: How can I build God’s kingdom today instead of my own?

Power: What burden or situation do I need to stop trying to control and trust God with?

Glory: Where am I tempted to seek recognition instead of simply being faithful?

Prayer:

Father, today I surrender my priorities, my fears, and my pride to You. Through my life, build Your kingdom instead of my own. I want to live for Your kingdom, depend on Your power, and give You glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.