Matthew 6:9-13 (NKJV) - “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. 1For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
As we dissect this model, we can see nine points that Jesus gives us. We started yesterday with the first point – Faith. Today, let us consider point #2 – Worship – (6:9c) “Hallowed be Your name.”
If our faith is in the right place when we come to pray to the Father, then that will automatically lead us to Worship. What is worship? Is it the song time in the morning church service? That can be. Is it the Sermon? Part of it. Giving our tithes and offerings? That is also a part. So, what IS worship? Worship is defined as an ardent devotion; an adoration; to regard with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion.
In this text, Jesus said, “Hallowed be Your name.” The word “hallowed” in the original Greek is from the root word we translate “holy.” When we worship God, we are to acknowledge that He is Holy. In Jesus’ day when you referred to a person’s name, you were signifying that whole person. Their very being. So, the very person of God is Holy. The word literally means to separate or to purify. To be Holy means that someone or something is separated. Separated from what? In this case, God is Holy, separated from all sin and evil. He is pure, without spot or blemish. So, in a sense, we are acknowledging in our worship that God is perfect in all ways. We are saying, “Holy is your person.”
We start our time with God by acknowledging our faith in Who He is and then acknowledge our worship of How He is.
Today, stop and consider how you approach God? Do you place your faith in Him? Do you recognize who He is? When you realize the Holiness and Majesty of Almighty God, would that make a difference in your view of Him? How you talk to Him? How you treat your relationship with Him? Ponder that today, and we will move to the next point in Jesus’ Model Prayer tomorrow.
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1 Many of the older manuscripts omit this last phrase of the prayer. I am including it because of the popularity of the way we say the prayer.
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