AMEN
READ: Revelation 22:20-21
Have you ever seen the Declaration of Independence? Maybe a photograph of it? Perhaps even the real thing? Of great importance is the last part where all the names are signed. Why do you think these men signed the declaration?
One of the reasons they signed was so that everyone would know what the signers believed. Wherever men read the statement and saw the names at the end, they knew these men agreed with and believed what had been written.
We do much the same things in church and in our home devotions. We sing a hymn and then “sign” our name to the end. Or the pastor may guide us in a prayer and we sign our name at the end. How? By saying “Amen.”
Amen really means “so it is” or to put it in a more commonly used phrase, it means “I agree with that completely.” It has been a custom, wherever God’s people have gathered, for the congregation to say or sing “Amen.” They do this at the end of a sermon, at the close of a prayer, or at the end of a hymn.
Amen is a beautiful word—so beautiful that St. John used it as the last word in the last book of the Bible. As a mater of fact, it is used twice in the last two verses of the Bible. It was his way of signing his name. Everyone who reads these verses with understanding and says the “Amen” with meaning, signs his name too!
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: How does "Amen" turn into action in your daily life? What responsibilities come with saying "Amen" at the end of a prayer, sermon or hymn?
PRAYER SUGGESTIONS: Pray for understanding in the real meaning of Amen. Pray that you use Amen with sincere meaning.