Prayer 101.2
HALLOWED BE THE NAME OF GOD[1]
The Oxford Dictionary literal meaning of the word “hallowed” is greatly revered, sanctified, and honoured, set apart for holiness.
The
Scriptures is saying that God alone is holy, set apart from the rest of
Creation. He is unique and unequalled in all time and space. Nothing and No one
can compare to the Creator.
It is sad to
observe that throughout the centuries, the name of our Heavenly Father and His
Son, Jesus Christ have endured more abuse than any other name, whether used in
an epithet or curse, in casual or formal conversation. While we may cringe or
feel displeased when we hear people mention the name of God in vain, we may as
well examine our own heart attitude. Indifference and lack of respect that is
due to His name by those who love Him may be just as heinous a sin. Unfortunately,
the latter has plagued Christianity for centuries when believers have a low
view of God, when everything is focused on self in the Body of Christ. When the
church adopts such a perspective, it often offers nothing more than a spiritual
placebo. It centers on psychology, self-esteem, entertainment, physical needs,
etc.
What went
wrong?
It all comes
down to a proper interpretation of Bible verse in its own context. We definitely
lack an appreciation of the context of the Lord’s prayer. And we probably will
not find a passage in the New Testament where context is more crucial to a
proper interpretation of the text. And because we lack the appreciation of the
context, many people are doing the very opposite of what Jesus commanded in
Matthew 6.
In chapter 5
of Matthew, Jesus taught us the proper biblical view of obtaining the kingdom,
that is, being righteous enough to enter Heaven. And now in Chapter 6, Jesus is
explaining the correct way to live as a Kingdom-bound citizen while we await
the kingdom. And Jesus summarizes the theme of the Lord’s Prayer neatly in the
first verse.
Matt.
6:1 Beware of
practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you
have no reward with your Father who is in Heaven.
We MUST
practice righteousness to please the Lord ALONE.
And Jesus
said that He will take note of our good work with the proper heart and reward
us in the Kingdom. It is essential that each and every believer understand that
they exist to bring glory to God. When we know and glorify God, the needs of
our life will be met:
Prov.
9:10 The fear
of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.
CHRISTIANS
MUST BE CONFRONTED WITH THEIR REAL NEED: IT IS AN UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S
HOLINESS AND THEIR SINFULNESS.
When we have
a right relationship with God, every aspect of our lives will settle into its
divinely ordained place.
With that in
mind, we can understand why prayer is ever and always, first and foremost, a
recognition of God’s majestic glory and our submission to it. All our
petitions, all our needs, and all our problems are subject to Him. God is to
have priority in every aspect of our lives, and certainly in our times of
deepest communion with Him.
The
Significance of God’s Name
“Hallowed
be Your Name” is a
warning against self-seeking prayer because it completely encompasses God’s
nature and man’s response to it. Jesus opened a whole new dimension of respect,
reverence, glory, and worship to God. He is teaching us that God’s name
signifies much more than His titles; it represents all that He is: His
character, His plan, and His will.
David said: “Those
who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, O LORD have not
forsaken those who seek You.” (Ps. 9:10). God’s name is esteemed in His
faithfulness.
When Christ
came into the world, He had the opportunity to reveal God’s character in
person. In the words of John, the disciple, he said that “the Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten
from the Father, full of grace and truths.” (Jn. 1:14) Christ manifested
God to His disciples through His own righteous life. That is why He told
Philip: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9)
in His Priestly Prayer, Jesus said to the
Father:
John
17:6 I have
manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me.
To apply
the concept of hallowing God’s name to your prayers, here is a sample you could
use: “ Our Father, who loves us, who cares for us, and
who has a heaven supplies to meet our every need; may Your Person, Your
identity, Your character, Your nature, Your attributes, Your reputation, Your
very being itself be hallowed.”
To hallow
God’s name is not
some glib phrases inserted into a prayer ritual. It is your opportunity to
glorify Him by acknowledging the greatness and wonder of His character.
It’s All In
A Name!
In the Old
Testament, God reveals Himself through different facets of His character and
expression in His will.
Elohim “the Creator God”
El
Elyon “possessor
of heaven and earth”
Jehovah
Jireh “the LORD
will provide”
Jehovah
Nissi “the LORD
our banner”
Jehovah
Rapha “the LORD
heals”
Jehovah
Shalom “the LORD
our peace”
Jehovah
Raah “the LORD
our Shepherd”
Jehovah
Tsidkenu “the
LORD our righteousness”
Jehovah
Sabaoth “the LORD of hosts”
Jehovah
Shama “the
LORD is present and near”
Jehovah
Maqodeshkim “the
LORD sanctifies thee”
All those
names speak of God’s attributes. Thus they tell us not only who He is but what
He is like.
Jesus Himself
provides the clearest teaching about what God’s name means: His very name,
Jesus Christ, is God’s greatest name, and it encompasses His role as Lord,
Saviour, and King.
God, as
Jesus Christ, was called by other names:
The Bread
of Life - Jesus
declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry,
and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
(Jn. 6:35)
The
Living Water – (Jn.
4:10)
The Way,
the Truth, and the Life – (Jn. 14.6)
The Resurrection (Jn. 11:25)
The Good
Shepherd (Jn. 10:11)
The
Branch (Isa. 4:2)
The
Bright Morning Star
(Rev. 22:16)
The Lamb
of God (Jn. 1:29)
Wonderful,
Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isa. 9:6)
JESUS’
LIFE WAS THE PERFECT MANIFESTATION OF GOD’S NAME.
Having
looked at the significance of God’s name, let us turn our attention to the
meaning of the word hallow.
As we
mentioned earlier, the English word used to translate the Greek word hagiazo
means “to make holy”.
To pray “hallowed
be Your name” is to attribute to God the holiness that already IS, and has
been, and which is supremely and uniquely His. To hallow God’s name is to
revere, honour, glorify, and obey Him as the one and only completely perfect God.
When we do, we remind ourselves of the important difference between us and Him.
God lives in a different sphere than we do. He is holy and undefiled., but we
are sinner. Only through His gracious provision of Jesus Christ and His payment
for the penalty of sin are we even able to approach Him.
How to
Hallow God’s Name
Hallowing
God’s name, like every other manifestation of righteousness, begins in the
heart. The apostle Peter said to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts” (1
Peter 3:15). When we sanctify Christ in hearts, we will also sanctify Him in
our lives. Let us look at some practical ways you can do that.
1. Acknowledge God Exists
Hebrew 11:6
says, “He who comes to God must believe that He is.” To the honest and open
mind, God is self-evident. Philosopher Immanuel Kant had many strange ideas
about God, but he was absolutely right when he said: “The moral law within us,
and the starry heavens above us drive us to God”[2].
But that is
not enough, you can believe that God exists but still not hallow Him.
2. Know the Truth about God
Many people
believe that God exists, but they do not hallow His name because they do not have
true knowledge of who He is. Discovering and believing truth about God
demonstrates reverence for Him; willing ignorance or believing wrong doctrine demonstrates
irreverence.
Some claim
that God is harsh and vindictive, accusing Him of being unloving, of
indiscriminately banishing people to an eternal hell. Job fell into the same
accusatory sin when he said: “You have become cruel to me” (Job 30:31). We
cannot revere a God whose character and will we do not know or care about.
Even when we
know and revere Him, that is still not enough.
3. Be aware of His Presence
We are
required to live every day of our lives in a continual state of God
consciousness. Not only on Sunday mornings. Spasmodic reflection of God does
not hallow God’s name. You must consciously draw Him into every daily thought,
word, and activity if you would truly hallow God’s name. That was David’s focus:
“I have set the LORD continually before me” (Ps. 16:8).
But that is
still not enough to truly hallow God’s name.
4. Live in Obedience
Our Father’s
name is most hallowed when we behave in conformity to His will. For Christians
to live in disobedience to God is the ultimate taking His name in vain;
claiming as LORD someone we are not even willing to follow and obey. Jesus
warned, “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter”
(Matt. 7:21).
When we
disobey God, we diminish our capacity to revere His name and be a vehicle for
manifesting His holiness. We will succeed in hallowing God’s name, however,
when we eat, drink, and do everything to His glory (1 Corr. 10:31). We also honour
His name when we attract other to Him because of our commitment. We are to “let
our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works and
glorify our Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)
When you
have the right thoughts about God and live righteously, you will hallow His
name. Psalm 34:3 sums up the teaching in this blog with an exhortation: “O
magnify the LORD with me and let us exalt His name together.”
The next
time you pray, I hope you see yourself entering the very throne room of God, a
holy place, where His is to be honoured. Do not be afraid when you enter that
time of solitude with the God of Heaven, just be sure you approach that time
with respect due His most holy name.
Prayer
Our
Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name!
Our
Father, who loves us, who cares for us, and who has a heaven supplies to meet
our every need; may Your Person, Your identity, Your character, Your nature,
Your attributes, Your reputation, Your very being itself be hallowed!
We
thank you LORD for the testimony of Your Word and Your Creation. For the power
that You have made plain and evident in all that You have done, for the
righteousness that You have appointed to us through the work of Your Son Jesus
Christ. By our faith in that work, Father, You have given us what we could not
obtain on our own. And we thank You, beyond all measure. And we will thank you
in all eternity.
Help
us to obey Your Word and practice righteousness to please You, LORD, ALONE. We
pray that we will understand that our mere existence is to glorify You LORD.
Holy Father,
we ask that as we learn how to hallow Your name today, we will not keep them to
ourselves. Help us Father to be motivated and share your Word with enthusiasm
and joy and in love with those that You have put in our paths so that we may
bring more with us as we enter into the Kingdom with You on the day to come.
We
pray in the name of Jesus, Your Son. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment