Pell City, Alabama

Hallowed be Your name

When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, He started by telling us how to address God…He is our Father who is in Heaven.  We are not renters coming to a landlord with a business deal, we are children coming to our Abba.  But then He gives us three petitions,

  1. Hallowed be Your name,
  2. Your kingdom come,
  3. Your will be done.

We were created to praise our Creator.  I can take that one step further…everything that has ever been made was made to praise the Creator.  I woke up early this morning and everything was quiet, but it is amazing to hear the birds about 30 minutes before the sun starts to rise…they start singing in anticipation.  It is true…the heavens declare the glory of God and yet the one part of creation…the part created in the image of the Creator has to be reminded and sometimes drug kicking and screaming to praise.

Our ultimate purpose is to praise God by living for His glory.  We are here to hallow our Creator.  It’s interesting to see that Jesus spoke of the hypocrites in Mattew 6:5 and the pagans in 6:7…they both lived for praise, but they wanted to be the recipients of the praise.  We are not to give to be honored by men, we are not to pray to be seen by men, and we are not to fast to be noticed by men, but we are to give, pray, and fast for the glory of God and for His praise.

Jesus’ model prayer is dominated by God…Your name, Your kingdom, Your will, but the favorite words of most prayer meetings are missing…I, me, and my!  Praise, hallowing His name, is the first priority of our lives.  When we allow praise to become our priority, our passion, and our earnest desire centers in God’s name being hallowed we will find that we’ve unlocked the secret to both prayer and life.  We are not here for ourselves…we exist for the Glory of God, and we exist to make that Glory known!

The truth is sobering…every sin comes from a failure to adore God as we should.  When we sin we are putting something or someone else above God.  When we adore God, when we live for His praise, and when we seek to see His name hallowed, we will find the fruit of our lips will be praise.

This morning, spend some time praising Him.  In fact, seek to praise Him all day long and when you ask Him for anything, make sure that the request centers in His name being hallowed.  Make sure Jesus is at the center of the hallowed ground of your life!


John Thweatt

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