What does amen mean?

Amen simply means “let it be.” 1 Chronicles 16:36 David concludes another prayer, “Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.” Amen is found at the end of other passages (Dt 27:15-27; Neh 5:13; 8:6; Rom 1:25; Gal 1:5). We pray amen as an aspiration that our prayer might become reality. Charles Spurgeon said there are four things we state when we pray amen. 1) We pray “amen” as the desire of the heart. We want both the words and desires to be truly represented in our prayer. We should be cautioned to pray two contrastive prayers one from the lips and another from the heart. 2) We pray “amen” as the affirmation of our faith. We say “amen” to only what we believe to be true, we pray God’s promises back to him claiming their truth. We should be cautious of praying a prayer that is different from our lips to what truth we confess. 3) We pray “amen” as an expression of joy from our hearts. We joyously seek that God would answer our prayers, we willfully submit ourselves to God seeking to joyfully and worshipfully give thanks to the answer he gives, even if the answer is different to our request. 4) Finally, we pray “amen” as our resolution. We seek to see this prayer answered, that we pursue to practice what we preach. As we pray amen at the end of the Lord’s prayer let us pray “let it be.” Let it be our heart’s desire, our affirmation of faith, our joy, and our resolution.

Psalm 145:18-19

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.

Soli Deo Gloria.