From Me to Thee:
The Motive Test Hidden in the Lord’s Prayer
(Crash Proof — Part 12)
When Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew 6, He doesn’t just give us words—He gives us alignment.
He begins:
Our Father in heaven…
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done…
Give us this day our daily bread…
Forgive us… as we forgive…
Deliver us from the evil one…
And many of us learned to finish with:
“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
That closing line—often called a doxology—is more than a beautiful ending. It quietly reshapes our hearts. Whether it appears in the main text of our Bible or in a footnote, the truth it declares runs throughout Scripture:
The kingdom belongs to God.
The power belongs to God.
The glory belongs to God.
And that truth gently presses a question on us—not just about how we pray, but why we pray.
The Small Word That Connects Everything
The doxology begins with one small word:
“For…”
That word connects everything we’ve asked to the reason underneath it.
We ask for provision.
We ask for forgiveness.
We ask for protection.
We ask for God’s will to be done.
For this reason: because everything ultimately belongs to Him.
And if we’re honest, that’s where prayer becomes searching.
Whose agenda is shaping our requests?
Whose kingdom are we trying to protect?
Whose name are we hoping will be elevated?
The Lord’s Prayer gently moves us from me to Thee.
Crash-Proof Faith Begins With Humility
When we talk about being “crash proof” in life—able to endure storms, pressure, floods—we might assume that means becoming tougher, more determined, more unshakeable through sheer willpower.
But Jesus seems to guide us somewhere else.
He leads us toward humility.
Humility isn’t weakness. It isn’t self-rejection. It’s simply recognizing that we are not the center of the story. It’s learning to say, honestly:
“Lord, I need You.”
Real faith isn’t only believing until a miracle comes. Real faith is trusting God even when the outcome unfolds differently than we hoped. That kind of trust builds a foundation that stands when wind and rain beat against it.
And humility is the soil that kind of trust grows in.
Three Motives We Carry Into Prayer
That final line—Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory—exposes three categories of motive that quietly sit underneath almost everything we bring to God:
• Kingdom motives
• Power motives
• Glory motives
Let’s reflect on those together.
1) Kingdom Motives: Whose Kingdom Are We Advancing?
When we come to God with requests, we can gently ask ourselves:
Is this about advancing God’s kingdom—or protecting my own?
We may not think of ourselves as having a “kingdom,” but we all have a sphere of influence, a vision for our future, a set of desires we hope will take shape. There is a subtle throne in the human heart where control likes to sit.
Following Jesus means gradually stepping off that throne.
It doesn’t mean we stop caring about our work, our families, or our goals. It means we hold those things differently. We learn to pray:
“Lord, use this for Your purposes.”
“Lord, let Your will shape this outcome.”
“Lord, align my plans with Your reign.”
That shift—from ownership to stewardship—changes the way we pray.
2) Power Motives: Whose Strength Is Being Displayed?
“Yours is the power.”
When prayers are answered, when doors open, when strength is given in a moment of weakness, it can be tempting to quietly attach our identity to those outcomes.
We all feel that pull.
But Scripture consistently brings us back to this: any authority, any gifting, any breakthrough ultimately flows from Him.
We get to participate.
He supplies the power.
And there is something deeply freeing about that. It removes the pressure to perform. It loosens our grip on outcomes. It reminds us that we are vessels, not the source.
When we pray rightly, we are not trying to harness power for ourselves. We are learning to depend on the One who already holds it.
3) Glory Motives: Who Gets the Credit?
“Yours is the glory.”
This may be the most searching of the three.
Why do we do what we do?
Why do we say what we say?
Why do we sometimes act differently when certain people are watching?
Approval can quietly motivate us. Recognition can subtly shape our behavior. Even spiritual activity can drift into self-elevation if we aren’t careful.
The doxology re-centers us.
If something beautiful grows in our lives, the glory belongs to God.
If something humbles us, the glory still belongs to God.
If something succeeds, we give thanks upward, not inward.
It simplifies the story. We no longer have to protect our reputation at every turn. We can live as stewards instead of performers.
What This Does to the Way We Pray
This doesn’t mean we stop praying about daily needs. Jesus explicitly tells us to ask for daily bread. We bring our finances, our relationships, our health, our future before the Lord.
But something deeper begins to shift.
Instead of praying merely for outcomes, we begin praying for alignment.
“Lord, shape this for Your purposes.”
“Lord, guard my motives in this.”
“Lord, let Your kingdom advance through whatever You allow.”
And gradually our prayer life moves from:
“What do I want God to do for me?”
to
“How does God want to work through me?”
That movement—from self-centered striving to God-centered surrender—rarely happens overnight. It unfolds through reflection. Through stillness. Through returning again and again to the Father who sees what we truly need.
Staying With the Work
If we’re honest, examining our motives requires more than a single moment of conviction. It requires space. It requires stillness. It requires the courage to sit before the Lord and say, “Search me.”
We don’t usually discover misplaced motives in a rush. We discover them slowly—in prayer walks, in quiet journaling, in those moments when the Spirit gently asks, “Why do you want this?”
Over time, something shifts.
We notice our patterns.
We surrender them more quickly.
We pray differently—not because we’re trying harder, but because our hearts are becoming more aligned.
That steady kind of reflection is exactly why I developed SoulJourn. It isn’t meant to replace prayer. It simply creates space for it. A simple, structured rhythm that helps us pay attention to our motives, align our requests with God’s will, and return daily to the center:
His kingdom.
His power.
His glory.
If you’re looking for a tangible way to stay with that work, SoulJourn may serve as a helpful companion along the way.
Because ultimately, the goal isn’t to pray more impressively.
It’s to mean what we say:
Yours is the kingdom.
Yours is the power.
Yours is the glory.
Forever.
The unraveling of The our Father…
Seeing prayer in a new light. The question “do my wants align w Your will. No matter the outcome, our Gods way is always best. Letting go of pride and fighting my own fight. Humility! Wow! Ouch!