The Lord’s Prayer is a constant part of my prayer life. I usually pray it at least once every day. There are many ways to engage with this prayer.
At times, it can be a simple recitation, a way to connect directly with God.
On another level, it can function as a framework for a longer prayer. Each phrase, expressing praise or petition, becomes a starting point for further reflection and personal expression.
Finally, the Lord’s Prayer serves as a foundation for understanding and teaching about prayer itself, highlighting its core purposes and priorities.
Jesus taught His followers what I believe is the best prayer anyone could ever pray.
“Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy. (Matthew 6.9)
“Father” points to an intimate relationship between God and His children, while “in heaven” highlights His transcendent nature.
The probable Aramaic word for father is “Abba.” This term signifies special affection and intimacy, used by children when addressing their earthly fathers. “Daddy” in English may approximate the Aramaic “Abba.”
When we address God as “Our Father,” we recognize that by His grace we have been given privileged access to His presence.
Personal Application
“Our Father” is more than a title that we give to God at the beginning of a prayer. It states a relationship that we have with the greatest Being of all.
God allows us to approach Him and to know Him as surely as a little child crawls up on his father’s lap and is held in his loving arms.
When we begin this prayer, let’s focus our attention on a loving God who cares for us more than we ever could imagine. Let’s crawl up in His lap to tell Him what’s on our hearts.
God’s Name
God’s name is a recurrent Old Testament term for God himself. To pray for God’s name to be hallowed means that people may recognize and acknowledge His holiness by giving God the reverence which He is due.
As Rudy Ross and I have studied the Old Testament prophets, it has become clear to me that God’s name is extremely important. When we pray for God’s name to be hallowed or to be set apart as significant, we are in line with God’s desire throughout all of the Bible.
Here are a few examples of what the Old Testament prophets have to say about God’s name.
The opposite of hallowing God’s name is treating it with contempt or disregard. This happens when we fail to acknowledge God’s character, His fundamental attributes, and His very nature.
In essence, we commit the sin the prophet Malachi condemned when his people became indifferent to God’s name.
A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say, “How have we despised your name?” (Malachi 1:6)
In today’s YouTube video, Rudy Ross recommends that people take time to read all of Isaiah 29. We learn in verse 23 that to hallow God’s name means to stand in awe of God, to revere Him, and to give Him His rightful due as the Creator of the universe.
For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. (Isaiah 29:23)
There came a point in Jesus’s ministry when he knew that the decisive time had come, and everything from that moment on would lead to the crucifixion. Notice how Jesus prayed about that moment.
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12.27-28).
Jesus perfectly hallowed the name of the Father. He did so by revealing God’s character in His words and deeds.
The greatest revelation of God’s nature occurred on the cross, where the Son of God – Immanuel, God with us – sacrificed His life for the sins of the world.
Personal Application
The world desperately needs a glimpse of God’s true nature.
When we pray “Hallowed be thy name,” we’re pleading with God to reveal Himself to us – His love, integrity, righteousness, justice, and the totality of His attributes.
Furthermore, we pray that He shapes us into vessels through which others can witness His character reflected in our lives.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 