Matthew 6:9 (NIV): “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,”
Whenever someone prays to God, it is essential that they set the stage correctly. And, when we are dealing with the almighty, eternal God, acknowledging who He is and elevating Him in our hearts is the right way to do it.
Jesus began His model prayer with two acknowledgements and one commitment. The first acknowledgement is that God is the eternal Father. He created the heavens, the earth, the sea, the dry land, and all that is in them. He created the physical bodies and immortal souls of mankind. He is the author and originator of all life, and apart from Him there is no life. There are many these days who deny these truths, believing that all life originated spontaneously from non-living matter (something that flatly contradicts a well-established and thoroughly tested natural law). People who believe that cannot, and usually WILL not, acknowledge God as Father. But without that solid understanding, without it undergirding everything in a person’s life, they end up praying to a god who is merely a concept of something higher than themselves. There can be no real relationship with a god who is not the Father of the one praying, and their prayers are useless.
The second acknowledgement is that God is our Father in heaven. This reminds the one praying that God is no earthly father, with human failings and frailties. He is the Almighty God, who was, who is, and who is to come. Such an acknowledgement prevents presumption and irreverence when we approach God’s throne. Instead, with the clear understanding of Who He is, the true pray-er approaches God in reverence and awe; aware that the right to approach Him with our requests is truly an awesome privilege – one that must never be taken lightly.
The commitment that Jesus included is that the one praying will hallow, or make holy, God’s name. In the Ten Commandments, God required His people to never misuse His name (Exodus 20:7). To many that simply means that they should not use God’s name or the name of Jesus as an interjection or a curse word. That is definitely true, and God will not hold anyone guiltless who does that. But people also misuse God’s name in other ways. His name is often misused by Christians when they support their actions or arguments by saying, “God told me…” when God has not spoken to them at all. But the most common way that God’s name is misused today is when someone goes by the name of Christian, acknowledging that they are one of God’s people, and then acts in ways that are not godly or Christlike. Such actions, words, and attitudes bring disrepute to God’s reputation, and dishonor His name and His cause. This is the exact opposite of hallowing God’s name, and makes those who act this way subject to His judgment.
When we come before God’s throne with our requests, Jesus rightly recommended that we don’t just begin with a list of our requests and demands. Instead, we need to put ourselves in the proper place before God by acknowledging that He is our Father, the one who created us, and who graciously gives us life. We must acknowledge that He is God Almighty, our Father IN HEAVEN, who is worthy of our awe, our adoration, and our absolute obedience. And we must commit ourselves anew to making and keeping His name, His reputation, holy and unsullied through our every thought, word, and deed. Then we will be in the right frame of mind to appropriately present our requests to Him.
Father, it is awe-inspiring to me that You allow us to come before You in the first place! Help me always, Lord, to remember who You are, and to always keep my commitment to hallow Your name through my life right in the forefront of my life, every moment of every day. Amen.