Hallowing God's Name

I have been reading through Radical Prayer by Manny Mill recently, and it has been a good reminder of the importance to cultivate a lifestyle of prayer to God.  One of the points which was spot on was an explanation of what is commonly called "The Lord's Prayer," a prayer commonly recited.  This is ironic, as Jesus had just warned His disciples about vain repetition in prayer during the Sermon on the Mount!  Then Jesus said, "In this manner therefore pray, 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.'"  Because Jesus told His disciples to follow His manner of prayer, some have interpreted this to be a "model" prayer.  I have heard different explanations of how this model should be used.  In his book, Manny Mill goes a refreshingly different direction.  He points out the words of Jesus are more than an affirmation of God's holiness, and actually are a request for God's name to be hallowed and glorified in everything.  All the requests from this point were with this in mind.

Mill quoted Dr. John Piper concerning this point in a message he delivered:  "In this petition, we hear explicitly (it may be implicit in the others, but only here is it explicit) - we hear the one specific response of the human heart that God requires of all human beings - the hallowing, reverencing, honouring, esteeming, admiring, valuing, treasuring of God's name above all things.  None of the other five requests tells us explicitly to pray for a specific human response of the heart." (Mill, Manny, Harold Smith, and Barbara Mill. Radical Prayer: The Power of Being Bold and Persistent. 77. Print.)  This explains the heart behind the prayers of Christ, that in all things God would be praised, worshiped, and reverenced.   This is the why of prayer, for God to be consecrated and above all in power and glory.  To pray for the glory of God and to hallow His name will change the way we pray and honour God through prayer like never before.  Manny shared how this realisation transformed his prayer life.  He wrote,

"When I began to fully grasp that our aim, at all times, is to hallow God's holy name, my prayer life was transformed.  Take the petition for daily bread, for example.  Previously, I would ask God to supply my family's needs, which Jesus tells us is something we should pray for.  However, I now realised that I needed to make this request more out of my concern for God's glory that for my family's actual needs.  In other words, I now ask God the Father to provide my daily bread so that I will have energy to hallow His name through prayer.  I ask for my family's provisions so that they too will be able to hallow God's name and live lives that show others the faithfulness of God.

I saw that praying for God to keep me from temptation and to deliver me from the evil one was not so much about my avoiding the painful consequences of sin as it was that God's name would be glorified through the testimony of my transferred life.  How can I come into His presence to hallow his name in prayer if I am involved in sin?  How can I testify to others of His transforming power if I give in to the sinful temptations around me?  I can't.  Therefore, I pray that God will deliver me from temptations and keep me from sinning in order that I may glorify Him in all that I do." (ibid. 79-80.)

Might this insight transform your prayer life too, that our requests would be made to hallow God's name and make Him look awesome rather than just asking for ourselves?  He is already awesome beyond compare, and as He heard and answered the prayers of Jesus Christ so He will respond to all who desire and seek to hallow God's name.  Our motive for praying is as important - perhaps even more important - than the words we use or our specific requests because God knows us and what we need even before we ask Him!  God is looking and listening for those praying in the Holy Spirit whose motives are aligned with His will.  God will see His name hallowed without our help, but what a gracious blessing we are invited to join with Him to that end.