Matt.6:9 – Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father, who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name’.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The unveiling of the holiness and greatness of God to our hearts by the Holy Spirit is a huge step forward in the school of prayer. Calling God Father because of our new found role, sons and daughters of God, displays this new intimacy we have with the Father. By no means does this intimacy with God imply a casual relationship with the Lord. This revelation of God reveals our role as His child but also gives us an overwhelming sense of His holiness. We are continually undone and amazed at our access into His presence, causing us to join heaven and all its citizens crying holy, holy, holy to the Lord. We have to begin our prayer with ‘hallowed is Your Name’. He is above all others and we must honor His Name in every prayer. Here is how Andrew Murray describes this.
“Hallowed be thy name. What name? This new name of Father. The word holy is the central word of the Old Testament, and the name Father is of the New. In this name of love, all the holiness and glory of God are now to be revealed. And how is the name to be hallowed? By God Himself: I will sanctify my great name, . . . which ye have profaned (Ezekiel 36:23). Our prayer must be that God would reveal the holiness, the divine power, and the hidden glory of the name of Father in us, in all God’s children, and in the presence of the world. The Spirit of the Father is the Holy Spirit; it is only when we yield ourselves to be led by Him that the name will be hallowed in our prayers and our lives. Let us learn the prayer: Our Father . . . Hallowed be thy name.”
It may give you pause when you hear Murray say that the name Father is the central word in the New Testament; why would Andrew Murray say that? The answer is found in the work of the Trinity. The Father sent His Son to die for us, the Holy Spirit was poured into our hearts to make us sons of God. That is the whole point of the New Testament, we have been purchased by the blood of Jesus and have become sons of God. What is my response? Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name.
1 thought on “HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME”
Interesting, in the natural my early years were that which my father was to be feared, the dispenser of punishment, intolerant of rule breakers. My mother on the other hand was revered as an understanding go between, the one to dispense compassion, a comforter, a restorer, but at times believing our lies. By no means would I judge my parents generation, my generation is stained as a divorced one. To learn that our Heavenly Father is and will always posess the perfect dispenser of that which we require. He knows.