HOW TO PRAY (PART 2)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name…’”

Matthew 6:9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

For as long as I can remember going to church, the Lord’s Prayer was always an integral part of worship, at least in the Presbyterian Church where I was a member up to around ten years or so. There were two reasons I loved about it used during service.

First, as we will see in the remaining verses in this devotional series, Jesus gave us this specific prayer and added that it was how we should pray. And so if Jesus said for us to pray a certain prayer, then we had better pray it and during church services we would do just that, typically at the end of the pastoral prayer.

The second thing I loved about the way we incorporated the Lord’s Prayer into worship was that we all spoke the words of the prayer together. There’s something very connectional about this, something galvanizing when every member of a congregation speaks words Jesus provided together. This shared congregational oration of common words was also found during any number of responsive readings from our hymnals or during the reciting of the Apostles Creed.

So the Lord’s Prayer remains an integral part of worship in many Christian houses of worship today and that makes it very relevant to believers here in the 21st century. Over the next five messages, we will take a micro-look at the prayer and its key elements. Let’s start by looking at Matthew, Chapter 6, verse 9:

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name…’”  Matthew 6:9

Here we find Jesus telling us to pray with an opening that addresses the object of our prayer, His Father and ours, the Lord God Almighty. When you have a conversation with someone, you often lead with their name first. This special prayer, given to us by Jesus, makes it clear right away as to who is being addressed: Our Father.

Think about that statement for a moment. If we are addressing the Lord God Almighty as “Our Father” then that makes us His children. Why else would we call Him Father otherwise? And as the children of God, we are set apart and beloved, like any good father loves their sons and/or daughters. God, our Father, cares for each of His children deeply and loves them so much that He didn’t wish for them to perish in their sins. And so God gave up His only sinless child, Jesus, as a substitutionary sacrifice to atone for the sins of the rest of His children.

Our Father did that for us and His Son, our Savior Jesus, calls on us to pray to Him directly.

So where is our Father? Where is His location? In what place can He be found?

Jesus tells us in the words of our prayer.

Our Father is in heaven. That’s where He reigns and rules. That’s where the scriptures tell us His throne is:

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. Psalm 103:19

Thus says the Lord, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.” Isaiah 66:1

Look down from heaven and see from Your holy and glorious habitation. Isaiah 63:15

Whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. Matthew 23:22

Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray” and directs us to address our prayer to our Father in heaven, a Father who we are to acknowledge as holy.

This is the last part of the opening direction Jesus gives us as it pertains to the Lord’s Prayer. We are to profess that the name of our Father in heaven is hallowed.

Now a look into the word “hallowed” here will render the following:

First, the Greek work which is translated “hallowed” is hagiazo, a word that carries with it three possible meanings. Hagiazo can mean to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow (holy). It can also mean to separate oneself from irreverent things and rededicate to God. Finally, it can mean to purify oneself.

Obviously in the Lord’s Prayer, the intent of the word is focused on the first meaning as the one speaking the prayer’s words is acknowledging God’s name as being hallow or holy. It is an expression of absolute reverence to the Lord who is perfectly holy and righteous. This is just one of the things that sets God apart from His children. He is the perfect manifestation of holiness while His children are trying to learn what it means to be holy and then try to get there. He is perfectly sacred and divine, the only One worthy of our worship, veneration, and adoration.

Beginning our prayer by acknowledging our heavenly Father’s perfect holiness sets the stage for everything else that follows in this wonderfully blessed prayer, the prayer given to us by Jesus. Tomorrow, we’ll look at a matter of request and submission in part 3.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com