02/06/2025
There is a word which almost every Christian who has ever prayed, uses. The word is so common that it would seem unusual to not hear or use this word as part of a person's prayer. I would bet most anything you have used this word, and heard it hundreds of times. You may ask, "What is that word?" It is the word "Amen."
As a young Christian, I thought the word 'amen' meant: Stop or Conclusion or The End. It was the word that was used to indicate, the prayer is over. An example being, the final word in the Lord's Prayer or the last word you say when making your requests to God "In Jesus' name, amen." In my younger years, the word 'amen' was a bit like a period or an exclamation/punctuation point at the end of a sentence or paragraph. It was just the word you use to bring the prayer to the conclusion.
But that is not what word the amen means. In both the original Hebrew and Greek languages, the word amen has a substantive and meaningful depth to it. What amen means is: "I agree" or "May it be so" or "This is truth/true". It is a word that affirms and supports what has been said in the prayer. It is our way of saying we strongly agree and believe in what has just been spoken.
Thus, the word amen can and should rightfully be used MANY times during a prayer, both by the person saying the prayer, and by those who are listening to the prayer. In the book of Deuteronomy, 'amen' is used 12 times in successive verses... we agree, we agree, we agree. In a number of places in the Bible, people doubled up and said, "Amen, Amen" or "Amen and Amen" to communicate their strongest/overwhelming agreement with what had just been prayed or said.
The church where I presently attend have had a number of people who frequently speak out a hearty 'amen' both during prayer times and during the sermons. One of those dear saints verbalized her amens so frequently that she was affectionately nick-named "Amen Annie." And so the point I am trying to make is this: Whenever you listen to someone else praying, it is entirely appropriate to say a hearty 'amen' to each and every statement you hear them say, when you are in agreement. The amen doesn't need to be tacked on at the end .. it can be focalized mid.prayer, or whenever you sense your spirit and mind affirming the truthfulness of what is being said. And it can be loud enough for the pray-er and others to hear, or it can be spoken softly under your breath directly to God .. "Lord, I agree what what is being prayed to you right now.... may it be so, I agree."
Let's be an 'amening' people ... people who actively participate in the prayers of others.
