January 9 Hallow the Father

Luke 11:2a Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name.’”
 
IN response to a disciple asking Jesus, “Lord teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1) our Lord begins to teach what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”. Luke does not record the prayer lesson as in Matthew 6:9-13 “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' (and as added in the King James Version “For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.) Some consider these are two different teachings. Matthew’s account is when Jesus taught the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s report is when a disciple privately asked Jesus. Note Jesus didn’t say it the same in the two teachings.
   That brings me to this point on the “Lord’s Prayer”: “Do you pray the Lord’s prayer, or do you pray your prayer?” God wants the latter. Jesus didn’t teach the disciple to pray, so the student would say exactly what the Teacher said. Remember, Jesus is teaching on prayer to reveal God’s character. Praying is not to be a rote rendition but holy conversation. Thus, Jesus gave us words to pray as a model to effectively converse with the Father in Heaven. This prayer is a form for a child of the Living God to use to know the Father in Heaven.
   Praying, then, must begin with addressing the Father. As Jesus teaches us to say, “Father in Heaven” we confess our relationship with him. We worship his reign over our souls and prepare to submit to what he reveals to us. Confessing God as “Father” opens your heart, mind and soul to know his comfort, forgiveness, patience and love. You are praising him for his personal role in your life. You believe he directly affects your life. What’s more, the Father is in Heaven. He is sovereign over all things.  
   From God’s character as Father, Jesus moves us to remember God is holy. “Hallow” means “holy”. “Hallowed” is an action verb that means “to be made or to keep holy”. With “hallowed be your name” you are praying to God he will make and keep his name holy on your lips and throughout all creation. Such prayers tell God you desire to reverently speak, “God”, “Jesus”, “Spirit” and all other names associated with God.  Thus, another way to pray this is: “Holy God, you are my Father in Heaven and the Father of all creation. I pray you make your name always holy on my lips and your name is spoken with reverence throughout the world.”
   Be very careful your prayers are not memorized words, empty of meaning. In such a way, you would be as the expert in the law in Luke 10:25. You would know the words but not know the Lord. Jesus wasn’t teaching what words you should say each time you pray. He was teaching you how to convey your love, worship and as we’ll see, submission to the Father.
 
Prayer: Father in Heaven, keep your name holy in my household. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.