RELIGION: 'Hallowed be Your name'

"In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name." Matthew 6:9

And what should be our first request, as Jesus here teaches us to pray? "Hallowed be Your name."

Hallowed means to keep holy and set apart. We might ask, "Isn't God's name already holy?" And, most certainly it is. What then do we ask of the LORD God when we ask that His name be kept holy?

We ask that His name be kept holy among us and in our lives. In this petition, we ask God to let all we think, say and do bring glory and honor to His holy name. We ask that we would live in such a way that we do not dishonor His holy name and drag it down with us into the mud of sin.

It brings God glory and hallows His name when we humbly believe His Word, acknowledge our sinfulness and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior (cf. Ephesians 1:3-14).

Isaiah the prophet wrote (Isaiah 8:13): "The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread."

Instead of looking to ourselves, other gods and other people or things for help, we are to look to the LORD God and place our trust in Him.

God Himself says to us in Psalm 50:15: "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."

The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 23:28, 31: "'The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?' says the LORD... 'Behold, I am against the prophets,' says the LORD, who use their tongues and say, He says.'"

God teaches us that it brings honor to the name of the LORD God when we are faithful to His holy Word in our teaching, preaching and in our witness for Him. It dishonors the LORD when we preach our own words, ideas and opinions and attribute them to Him.

We pray in this petition of the Lord's Prayer that all we think, speak and do may bring glory to our Father in heaven -- that His name would indeed be kept holy among us.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:16: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

May we bring Him glory!

Our dear Father in heaven, Your name is indeed holy of itself. Grant that we would keep it holy among us also and not misuse it. Let us bring glory to You and Your holy name by acknowledging our sin and trusting in Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, for forgiveness and life everlasting. And grant that we might live for You here in this world until we join You in heaven in Christ's eternal kingdom. Amen.

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]