Hallowed Be Your Name
The privilege of being a Christian is knowing God the Father and participating with God the Holy Spirit in making King Jesus known to the world.
One of the major keys to accessing the presence of God is applying the Lord’s Prayer. It isn’t enough to know the words of the prayer, as if it were some magical spell. Rather, one must address the words to the Father of Jesus Christ and actually mean them. With that said, I always have difficulty saying the words, ‘hallowed be your name.’ I struggle with it because I never use the verb ‘hallow’ in my regular conversations.
According to biblical Greek, the word ‘hallow’ comes from haigostheto, which means “to honor, sanctify, set apart, and treat with the highest of respect.” If we think about it, we are saying, “Father in Heaven, we are asking you to give the highest respect for your name.” In other words, we are praying, “God, we need your help in giving glory to you; we cannot do it on our own.” This makes prayer an act of faith that is not about ourselves but about God using us. Moreover, the Lord’s Prayer is at its core evangelical.
When we pray, hallowed be your name, we desire that the whole world know the name of God and accept the fact that all glory belongs to God. When we hallow the name of the Lord, we reject all forms of idolatry and embrace the first commandment to worship God alone. We acknowledge that the worship of anything or anyone else besides our Father in heaven is a sin. This prayer is not about earning God’s favor but about receiving God’s love. It is about living life with God. When we hallow God’s name we welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives and our communities (Luke 11:13). There is only one spirit who is holy, and it is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves and works within His church to bring about the revelation of Christ to the nations. When we say “Lord, help us hallow your name,” we ask for the Holy Spirit to use us to advance the Kingdom of God.
When we hallow the name of the Lord, we declare the universal reign of King Jesus. When we gather together at church, our goal is to hallow the Lord’s name. Through the singing, preaching, praying, communion, and fellowship, we discipline our hearts to worship God alone, so that when we leave our meetings, we can hallow the name of the Lord in our homes, workplaces, and in the networks to which we belong. The privilege of being a Christian is knowing God the Father and participating with God the Holy Spirit in making King Jesus known to the world.