The model prayer of Jesus in Matthew 6:9-13 has three basic components—Invocation (the reverent recognition of God’s pre-eminence, power, and sovereignty in verses 9 and 10), Petition (the humble entreaty of God for one’s most essential spiritual needs in verses 11 through 13), and Praise (the joyous expression of faith in God’s unchanging worthiness and character in v. 13).
The prayer concludes with this example of praise—”For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”
In these words of praise there are four reasons given for God’s utter worthiness. Today let’s focus on the first two:
God’s authority to answer your petitions. Encapsulated in the word “kingdom” is the idea of God’s limitless authority to act in harmony with His pristine holiness. God’s sovereignty over His creation is complete—like a potter with absolute freedom to make anything He chooses out of a lump of clay. This absolute authority over heaven and earth was given to Jehovah’s resurrected Son after His triumph over sin, death, and Hades (Matthew 28:18).
Jehovah answers to no one.
God’s ability to answer your petitions. The Greek word for “power” used here is dunamis. It serves as the source for our English words “dynamic” and “dynamite”. As Jonathan observed to his armor bearer over three thousand years ago, “nothing restrains the Lord” (1 Samuel 14:6). Jehovah’s power is limitless: He can conceive a child in the womb of a virgin (Luke 1:26-37); He can resurrect human bodies from dust (Mark 12:24); He can save a sinner from eternal separation from Him (Matthew 19:23-26).
Jehovah can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.
