Revering God's Person

While God is our Father, we need to remember that He is also the holy God of the universe. Therefore, we should never approach Him too casually or too comfortably but enter His presence with awe and reverence - worshipping and praising Him for who He is and asking Him to help us and everyone else honor and glorify Him with our lives.
Prayer is essentially the act of talking to God. We want to honor God in the way that we talk to Him. One way we can do this is by remembering that our prayers should not be totally focused on our needs, but rather, on bringing glory to God our Father. Indeed, Jesus taught His disciples that they must put God's interests above their own. He said in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
In this morning's message, Pastor Ramey continues with his series entitled "Lord, Teach Us To Pray" In it he takes a closer look at the second phrase of the Lord's Prayer "Hallowed Be Your Name." During the course of this sermon, we are presented with two fundamental questions regarding this important phrase and learn the answers that scripture provides. These answers are effective guides to help us strengthen our prayers and powerfully demonstrate the appropriate manner in which to approach God in prayer. 1. WHY do we hallow God's name?A name is not only an identifier that sets a person apart from everyone else, but it also implies the kind of reputation that a person has. It stands for something important about a person. In fact, God believed that the reputation attached to a name is so important He issued a commandment, the third of His Ten Commandments, which is intended to protect His name against unauthorized use. God cares greatly for His name because it represents His reputation, His nature, and His charactersitics (e.g., Psalm 8:1, 29:2, 66:2, 99:3, 103:1, 111:9, 135:3, 138:2, and 135:13). He does not permit His name to be profaned and acts to protect and magnify it. We are to fear and revere the name of God (Deuteronomy 28:58).
2. HOW do we hallow God's name?"Hallow" means to make something holy or to set apart as sacred or holy. Indeed, throughout scripture, God's holiness is addressed so often as to suggest that it is His premier attribute. Specifically, we acknowledge that God is set apart from creation (1 Samuel 2:2) and set apart from sinful man and corruption. Our place before God should lead us to confess and repent, for we know that we are only considered righteous because we are cloaked in the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ. As such, we have the privilege of calling God "our Father" and therefore we are responsible for living up to His name and reputation (1 Peter 2:12, Matthew 5:16).
God's name is hallowed when our life is attractive to others and others are attracted to God. May God's name be glorified in us and glorified in others. Lord, teach us to pray with a heart for your glory and honor!