Amen – The Beginning of Prayer

'I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me. – Mat 25:40 (HCSB)

Recently I received an email from a friend sharing her humorous thoughts on prayers while driving to work. She wrote, “When I say my prayers while driving to work in the morning, I can get a bit distracted so I might pray and then stop for a minute and then pick it back up again. Sometimes it does not end and I just get to work and go inside without saying ‘Amen.’ Is ending a prayer without ‘Amen,’ just like an email in the draft folder that never gets sent? Is saying ‘Amen’ just like pressing the send button?”

What does it mean to pray continually or without ceasing? If ‘Amen’ is the send button or the end of the prayer, what does that say about our attitude toward prayer?

The word ‘AMEN’ means “So let it be.” It is an affirmation, a hope filled desire for that which is lifted in prayer. It’s like saying “Yes!” If we affirm our hopes in prayer, then are we not commiting ourselves to be at God’s disposal for the very things we pray? Then our “Amen” becomes a pledge to God.

If we pray, “God I ask you to heal my friend and I trust You to do it. Amen,” then are we not obliged to be a healthy life-giving presence to our friend in continued fervent prayer, cards, calls and others acts of compassion? We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Might saying “Amen” recommit us to living as His hands and feet in our daily lives?

If we think of Amen as the end of prayer, then our attitude may be like this. “It’s in God’s corner now…I have no more responsibility.” In reality ‘Amen’ is the beginning of prayer. It is the beginning of living out the mission communicated in prayer where God has directed you and where God promises to be with you.

Quite often Jesus makes statements to His listeners in the gospels saying “Amen, I tell you.” Other translations say, “Truly I tell you” or “Verily I say unto thee” or “I am telling you the truth, I am not lying.” The original word is ‘amen.’ It carries the meaning of truthful speech. So if we pray ‘Amen’ at the end of our prayers we are saying to God the One to whom we speak, that we are speaking truthfully to Him.

Since we cannot hide from God who sees all things even the secret places in our hearts, prayer opens us to an honest and truthful relationship with our Father in heaven. When we practice such honesty before God, we find that we are more transparent and open with other people and more able to serve them in humility.

How do you feel about being honest and open before God? Before one another?
Where do you sense Jesus is leading you to be His hands and feet? Share with one another and pray together ending your prayer in ‘Amen.’

So let it be.