Just as a yield sign indicates you should let someone else go ahead of you, yielding to God means we surrender our lives to Jesus and commit to follow Him and let Him lead.
Closing a prayer in praise to God
If you look at (Matthew 6.13 ESV), right away you will notice that you don’t see the normal benediction of the Lord’s prayer. However, most Bibles will have a footnote that reads, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
You may say, “Why is this part of the Lord’s Prayer in a footnote?” Remember that the New Testament Gospels were the most copied documents in the ancient world. Unlike today, where we would just print more copies or use a copier, at that time every copy was created meticulously by hand. These copies were called manuscripts. While most of the manuscript evidence dating back as early as the end of the first century supports this portion of the Lord’s Prayer, there are some earlier manuscripts that omit it. That’s why it is not included in our Bible, but in the footnote.
That being said, it is almost unthinkable that a Jew would not close a prayer in praise to God. It was a common practice. For example, King David prayed this: “Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all,”(1 Chronicles 29.11 NIV).
Praising God is a statement of yielding to God
When we come to the end of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray: “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” When you pray these words, you are saying, “Lord, I yield to you in every part of my life. This is all about you, your kingdom, your power, your glory!” It’s a statement of yielding to God.
Yielding means I acknowledge God’s sovereign authority in my life.
“Lord, I may not understand all that is happening around me, but you are King. You are in control. You are the undisputed leader and authority over me. You are sovereign over my life. No matter what happens, I recognize and yield to your authority and sovereignty in my life.”
As long as you are fighting God, you are fighting a losing battle. Pastor and author Ron Dunn experienced several challenges in life. Each time, he saw every hardship as an opportunity to trust God and draw near to Jesus. Often he would quote (Ecclesiastes 5.2 NIV),“God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” There are some things we will never understand this side of heaven. Some things we don’t see from our perspective. But God is in control so we yield to his plan and pray, “Lord, whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want – that’s what I want.”
Yielding means I surrender to the Spirit’s power in my life.
“Lord, you are all powerful, and I want you to fill me with your Spirit.” God wants to pour His power into your life — power to change, power to endure, power to live for Him — but He is looking for open vessels to fill. Each morning pray, “Lord fill me, Lord change me, Lord use me, Lord lead me, Lord control me — I’m yours.”
Yielding means living your life for God’s glory and not your own.
“Lord, life isn’t about me. It isn’t about my comfort, my convenience, my glory or what people think about me. True life is reflecting your glory.”(1 Corinthians 10.31 NIV) says,“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
This blog originally appeared at What Does Yielding to God Mean? – discipleFIRST and features an excerpt from one of their books, Walk With God.