I think the first step to know someone is to know what their name is.”
–Cliff Hudgins (Viejo and the Lost Child)
“You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.”
–Exodus 20:7 (NLT)
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I wasn’t going to write another devotion on prayer, but it so happened that several of my readings in the morning have dealt with prayer. This from three different writers, therefore, out of the words of two or three, I thought I should heed what is being said (to me) and write this morning‘s devotion leaning heavily on Ray Stedman, again on prayer. I learned many years ago that if a subject is continually repeated that I should listen.
“So He said to them, ‘When you pray say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name…” –Luke 11:2, NKJV
What does hallowing God’s name mean? I had not really thought about it much before, but just sort of accepted it and that we should do it, but what does it really mean? The CEB puts it this way, “Father, uphold the holiness of your name,” as does the NLT. The CEV and HCSB translate it this way, “Father, help us to honor your name,” and “Father, Your name be honored as holy.” Hmm, do we really mean this?
Praying in this manner, as we ought to do, means that we honor God’s name, but are there areas in our lives in which we do not honor His name? Are we holy in our actions, thoughts, and words? Stedman says, “When we say, ‘Hallowed be your name,’ we are praying, ‘May the whole of my life be a source of delight to you and may it be an honor to the name which I bear, which is your name. Hallowed be your name.'” Are there things in our lives that we “hallow” more than God? Stedman continues, “There cannot be any contact with God, any real touching of his power, any genuine experiencing of the glorious fragrance and wonder of God at work in human life until we truly pray, ‘Hallowed be your name.'”
This is how we are to pray. Sincerely, reverently, not flippantly. This name, this powerful, wonderful name means the whole character of God. (Barclay) Think about that. When we pray knowing who He is, it should bring us hope, add faith, and then we understand why we should obey. It brings a different light to Psalm 9:10, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You…” (NKJV) When we understand who He is, it should be easy to put our trust in Him. William Barclay adds, “Only when we give God His place will other things take their proper place.”
One of the reasons we begin our prayer recognizing the name of God and what it means is to put things in order and that we understand that He alone is austere and holy and that there are areas in our lives that He needs to bring in line with His character. When we look at the holy God, the hallowed name of the Lord, we begin to understand that we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. There should be nothing in our lives that we cannot bring to God. It is asking Him to “walk into the dark closets of our life where the odor is sometimes too much even for us to stand, and clean them out and straighten them up and make them fit for His dwelling.” (Stedman)
This is one of the reasons why we do not take the name of God in vain. We should not, we must not be flippant with His name or even “OMG.” His name is holy! His name is wonderful! His name is powerful! His name is to be hallowed, not only in our prayers, but in our thoughts. Let me close this morning‘s thought with these words from William Barclay: “Someone has said that the Lord’s Prayer has two great uses in our private prayers. If we use it at the beginning of our devotions it awakens all kinds of holy desires which lead us on into the right pathways of prayer. If we use it at the end of our devotions it sums up all we ought to pray for in the presence of God.”