Jesus said Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” This is to be our prayer, the cry of our heart. It the first thing Jesus taught us to pray! Hallowed isn’t a word we use very much. So what does that even mean? And why should that be first on our prayer list?

Hallowed means to make sacred or holy.  God’s name is who God is, it is God himself, and all that He is. This is a prayer that God would be worshiped, honored and treated as holy.  It’s a prayer that the whole world would bow before God in reverence, and awe, in adoration and praise.  It is a deep and burning desire for the honor and glory of God. 

It’s the desire of the four living beings who say “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.”  It is the desire of the angels who declare, “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever Amen.”  It’s the cry of David, “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere Him.” (Psalm 33:8)   These are all praying, “hallowed be your name.”

HC “Hallowed be Your name, means to bless, worship and praise you for all your works...your mighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy and truth.  And it means help us direct all of our living – what we think, say and do – so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised.”

Jesus is teaching us NOT only what to say.  He’s teaching us what to WANT!  He is teaching us to DESIRE God’s name to be hallowed!  This prayer is a deep and burning desire for the honor and glory of God. 

The more we know and love our Father, HIS honor becomes our ultimate goal in life!  And AS we pray “hallowed be your name”, God will work a passion in our hearts for HIS honor and glory.  The cry of our heart will become, “Father, hallowed be your name!”  “May you, my God, be exalted above the heavens and may your glory be over the whole earth”.  Psalm 57:11

Why is this prayer needed?  Well just look around you.  The Lord himself said in Isaiah 52:5 “My name is blasphemed continually all day long.”  In heaven, God’s name is honored without ceasing. On earth, God’s name is despised, blasphemed and flagrantly disobeyed all day long. God himself said that! And so we are to pray ‘hallowed be Your name’.  Cause your name to be worshiped with reverence on earth like it is in heaven.  

This is one of the most urgently needed prayers of our day.  

A week ago Monday morning I read on the Christian Post about the debauchery that had gone on the night before at what is called the Grammy Awards.  Kim Petras and Sam Smith sang a song called “Unholy”.  And it was unholy and they wanted it to be unholy. The performance was in blatant defiance of God and open worship of the devil.  Even the Daily Mail called it a tribute to Satan. 

Kim Petras is a boy who transitioned to look like a girl at the age of 12 by undergoing female hormone treatments.  CP said Petras became the first trans-identified artist to win a Grammy.  Sam Smith who identifies as non-binary, neither male or female, joined Petras wearing a top hat with devil horns as dancers gyrated around him while Petras sang from inside a cage as flames roared behind. “Clad in all-red leather, Smith was flanked by dancing demon-looking figures as Petras was locked in the cage behind chains as several more sinister figures wearing satanic headgear stood guard outside.”  The performance of Unholy was accompanied by sexualized antics really too perverse to mention.

What do we pray when we see the name of our God blasphemed right before our eyes.  We pray, “Our Father, hallowed be your name.” We pray for the name of God to be honored, glorified, revered, and feared and treated as holy.  

*David’s description of the ungodly is, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  Thanks to Nike, the slogan for a whole generation became “No fear”.  People began wearing that slogan on shirts and tennis shoes and hats That slogan was as marketed as a way to do sports especially extreme sports.  But ironically it expressed exactly what the scripture says is the basic posture of the human heart toward God – no fear! My brother Paul said, when I see that slogan I can’t help but think “No fear of God.”

Isaiah 37:23 “Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!”  Pride before God, sin against God comes through absence of fear of the Holy One. 

And so as a culture we have embraced every category of sexual morality; we defy the God who made us male or female. The entire culture celebrates sexual perversion that God calls an abomination; it fights for the right to kill babies in the womb; we scoff at God’s words and his laws.  

And sadly, instead of praying hallowed be your name, much of the church is saying, we are good with that. I had a conversation with an old friend this week.  He told me the name of the church he was going to.  It concerned me.   So I looked at their website. Here are three distinctives on their website.   “We are Christian. Christian means we perceive in Jesus the divine qualities of love peace joy and justice.  It does not mean we think Jesus is the only path to God.” 

“We are diverse.  Diverse means we celebrate the differences among us such as sexual orientation.”   That is code language for saying we do not call people to repentance.  We do not want people to be freed from their sin and brought into the glorious freedom of the sons of God.  No, we just celebrate their sexual sins whatever they may be. 

“We are open minded.  We explore the Bible for it’s spiritual symbols and stories, but do not use it as a heavy-handed authority to prove we are right or righteous.”  IE we do not  think much of God’s word!  We don’t believe is has any authority over us!  

So what do we do when the world is in rebellion against God?  What do we do when much of the church is silent or even condoning the corruption of the world?  What do we do when it feels like evil is winning, like we are losing?  What do we do when the laws of God are despised and the name of God is dishonored.  We pray “Father, hallowed be your name.”  And that is a mighty prayer!

*We pray for God to do this!  Jesus was not merely SAYING  God’s name is sacred.  He was praying CAUSE Your name to be hallowed!  And telling us to pray like that!  “May You, my God, be exalted above the heavens and may Your glory be over the whole earth”.  Psalm 57:11

*And we do NOT pray this in despair or defeat!  This isn’t a  wish!  This is a prayer of faith.  God’s name WILL be hallowed!  That is the most sure thing in the universe. “God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered.” Psalm 68:1 ESV.

God said, “My holy name I WILL make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will NOT let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. Yes, it is coming, and it will SURELY happen, declares the Lord GOD.”   Ezek 39:7,8

In another place, God said,  “I WILL BE treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” Leviticus 10:3 NASB

So ultimately, this prayer has a certain answer and a really big answer!  The answer is the New Heavens and the New Earth.  The answer is the kingdom of God on earth! God’s name will be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven. And it will never be blasphemed again!  Hallelujah!  

*But this prayer is not only for a glorious future intervention. It’s a prayer for God to do something in our hearts now. It’s a cry, “May your name be hallowed in me. May I treat you as holy!  May I never trivialize your name, or use your name in shallow, meaningless ways. 

Paul wrote to the Jews, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (because of your behavior)  When we pray Hallowed be Your Name, we are praying among other things, “God, do NOT let me do anything that dishonors you Lord”.  Keep me from doing anything that would cause others to blaspheme your name, or discredit you.  And we seek to uphold the reputation, the integrity and the holiness of The Name by how we treat God, by how we live before the face of God. 

The Lord said, “Consecrate yourselves, and be holy, for I am holy.”  We pray for God’s name be treated as holy, and we ourselves become holy as part of the answer to that prayer. 

Holiness is not some kind of joyless, no-fun, perverse view of life.  Holiness is not measured by how many strict, rules you can keep that aren’t even in the Bible.  It is not the opposite of happiness!  It is the companion of happiness. It is a life devoted to God, set apart for him.  You belong to him lock stock and barrel.  Your body is a living sacrifice.  And you are happy to give yourself to God!!   

When we become concerned about the holiness of God, reverence and holiness begin to manifest in our lives.  We begin to despise flippant and irreverent talk, coarse joking.  As Paul said, “But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.”

How we handle our sexuality, everything we say, every attitude, even giving of thanks, is part of a holy life!  

I read about one of the famous athlete’s in the Super Bowl who said he decided to go all in for God and live for his glory. I thought that’s awesome!  Then I read about his half-time speech to his teammates and it was filled with bleep this, and bleep that and bleepin’ this and bleepin’ that.  I am not saying he’s not a Christian.   I am saying brothers and sisters, these things should not be.  We are to live and talk in such a way that shows that we regard God as holy!

*There is another application that I think is really important.  That is to make this request first in our prayer and first in our heart.  When we pray, “Our Father, hallowed be your name”, it puts us in harmony with the will of God!  And our hearts line up with all that really matters. It sets us free from the bondage of a thousand problems and fears and temptations.  

Lloyd Jones: In effect Jesus was saying, even though you may be in desperate conditions and circumstances, with some great concern on your mind, even then, you should stop for a moment and realize that your greatest desire should be that this wonderful God, who has become your Father, should be honored,  and should be worshiped, and should be magnified among all people.” When we think that way it removes the depression and discouragement and the wrong attitudes from our prayers.

You CAN actually be worse off after you pray than before you pray – when your prayers are filled with your own thoughts and fears and worries and concerns, your prayers can actually drag you down into a dark place.  But if you get your heart in agreement with the honor of God’s name first, then your prayers will bless God and you will be better off. 

So we pray hallowed be your name, in everything that happens to us.  In whatever we suffer or enjoy, in trouble and success, when we have plenty or when we have need, we pray, “Our Father, hallowed be Your Name.” In all our circumstances we pray that God be honored, exalted lifted up.   

That kind of praying turns our attention to God, and it sets us free like nothing else!  When we care MOST about God’s name being honored, everything else in life falls into place.  Adversity and prosperity both become opportunities to glorify our Father.  Our lives are freed from the crushing bondage of self-focus and focus on own feelings and we have the liberty of a greater mission in life, to lift up God’s name. 

When life is about His name and lifting up His name (and isn’t primarily about my success or prosperity or safety or pleasure) then I am free to live with freedom and joy fearlessness to go on in life.  Lord, “I’m here and You are here.  And all we are worried about today is the honor or Your Name!”   

*This prayer includes the cry that God’s name be hallowed in the church. So we pray this not just in my heart but among His people. We are praying this together, we are saying “Our Father”.  That should be our focus as a church – for the name of God to be hallowed among us! 

There should be much joy, singing, smiles and laughter among the saints.  But when church becomes primarily entertainment, when the sermons are filled with jokes and amusing stories, we are telling people God is not to be taken seriously. We are saying our God is NOT holy.  So everything we do as a church should show that we regard God as holy!  We don’t do that be frowning or being unhappy.  We do a lot of that is joyful celebration and worship. But our focus is that we are here to life of His name, to honor and glorify Him!  But Jesus taught us to pray Father let your name be regarded as holy! 

That should be our foremost concern in church!  It’s not our programs, not that we look good, sound good, or appear  successful or professional – but that we want God’s name to be holy and exalted here!  And that’s the reason we gather!

We gather because have a passion for the honor and glory of God!  That’s what gets us out of bed. That’s what gets us to church. That’s what gets us here for worship. That WHY we gather!  For the honor and glory of God.  

*For us to treat God’s name as holy means at least these things:

*We live as obedient children.  When we bend our wills to His commands, we show that we revere him and regard him as holy. When we obey God when the whole world is going another direction. When we obey God when we might be canceled for it. When we obey God and may lose friends because of it, THAT shows that we have a high regard for God and for His name!

*We show that we regard God as holy when we trust God. When we react to responsibilities and troubles with with faith in God we show that we have a high regard for His name.   When the Israelites got thirsty in the desert they complained to Moses.  So God told Moses "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water."   But Moses didn’t speak to the rock he struck it with his staff.

But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."  Moses didn’t think speaking to the rock was enough!  He didn’t put simple faith in what God told him to do!  He decided to do it his way! We hallow God’s name by trusting him, by taking him at his word.  When we are in deep trouble, going through painful things and we trust God and others know we are trusting God, that HONORS God’s name!!

*When we hallow God’s name we will rejoice in God.  “Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’  Being happy in God is part of holiness. Finding God as our joy is a way that we honor him! The reason for NOT grieving, the reason for enoying choice food and sweet drinks, the reason for joy is the Lord is Holy – This day is holy to the Lord!

It is NOT holy to be grumpy or sullen.  Not at all! When we rejoice in God and exhibit joy to others we show that we regard God as glorious and worthy of our rejoicing!  We hallow his name be being glad in Him.  Throughout the scriptures it is the righteous, the holy ones who are to rejoice! 

Let the righteous be glad.  Let the right clap their hands and shout for joy. Let the righteous sing for joy!  So that’s one of the ways we magnify His name! Rejoicing is part of a holy life.  It’s part of the way that we show that God’s name is great and good and glorious!