Prayer Cycle 1
Hallowed
Be Your Name
"Let's start at
the very beginning. A very good place to start." Especially when we've been starting in the middle — and utterly
omitting the beginning — for so long. Truth is, we who believe in Christ rarely, if ever, pray the petition Jesus taught
us to ask first. It's this:
"Our Father
in heaven, hallowed be your name."
We don't pray it because
we don't understand it. The word "hallowed" doesn't offer us a viable mental image. When we say it, we don't have
a clue what we're saying.
And the object of this prayer?
Well, when did you ever hear anyone mention a prayer request for God's name?
We've learned to pray to God and so, in our limited understanding, it hasn't seemed correct also to pray
for him. Yet, that's exactly what Jesus taught us to do. Before we pray for anyone or anything else, we're to pray
for God. We're to pray for his kingdom and his will. First of all, we're to pray for his name.
God's name is the expression of his person. It's who he is.
Call to Prayer 1
Matthew
6:6-15
Confess aloud that God is "our Father in heaven."
Receive and reflect on each word in that phrase. Tell God aloud what this means to you.
In reference to God, to hallow means "to treat as holy." The word translated "hallowed"
in Matthew 6:9 is the same word translated "revere" in 1 Peter 3:15: "But in your hearts revere [hallow]
Christ as Lord."
Pray that, from your inmost being, you will
honor the holy and only Lord, who reveals himself as Father, Son and Spirit. Don't worry about understanding what
you're asking. Pray this same prayer in regard to the Christ-followers in the places on your heart. Ask that God will
be honored through the lips and lives of his people.
Call to Prayer 2
Isaiah 8:11-15
Isaiah 8:12-14 says, "You
are not to say, 'It is a conspiracy!' in regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, and you are not to fear what they
fear or be in dread of it. It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall
be your dread. Then He shall become a sanctuary" (NASU).
What
is it that you fear or dread? Name it aloud. Thank God that he is "GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies" (v. 13 MSG).
What specifically have you done or said that would indicate, "I don't really believe God is all-powerful"? Acknowledge
and renounce each statement or action which dishonored God in this way.
Pray
that God's people in your city and country and around the world will fear him alone. Pray that we will together obey Isaiah
8:12-13 and so experience what verse 14 promises: "And He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred and indestructible asylum
to those who reverently fear and trust in Him]" (AMP).
Call to Prayer 3
Isaiah 29:18-24
Isaiah 29:22-24 (MSG) says, "And finally this, God's Message for the family of Jacob,
the same God who redeemed Abraham: "No longer will Jacob hang his head in shame, no longer grow gaunt and pale with waiting.
For he's going to see his children, my personal gift to him — lots of children. And these children will honor me by
living holy lives. In holy worship they'll honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in holy awe of the God of Israel. Those who
got off-track will get back on-track, and complainers and whiners learn gratitude."
Thank God for each promise in these verses. Confess that he is "the same God who
redeemed Abraham" and "the Holy One of Jacob." Ask him to fulfill these promises in our day in two ways: (1)
by raising up many Messianic Jews whose lives will be characterized by holiness and who will bring God great honor, and (2)
by raising up lots of believers in all nations (spiritual Israel ) who will honor him in the same way. Pray by name for someone
you know who has gotten off-track. Ask that his or her life will be so transformed as to bring great applause to God.
Call to Prayer 4
Leviticus 10:1-3
Leviticus
10 tells a sobering story: "Now Nadab and Abihu [two priests], the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans,
and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded
them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to
Aaron, ‘It is what the LORD spoke, saying, "By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all
the people I will be honored"' (vv. 1-3 NASU).
According
to 1 Peter 2:5, all believers are "to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ." It matters to God what we offer to him, and how. Ask the Lord to show you any "strange
fire" you've been trying to offer. Don't try to rationalize whatever comes to mind. Simply renounce it, choosing to turn
from it. Pray that the people of God will treat him as holy by ministering before him in ways HE has chosen, not ways we've
devised. Pray that fire will come out from the presence of the Lord, not to consume us, but to consume the fleshly "worship"
we've been trying to offer.
Call to Prayer
5
Leviticus 18:21; 19:12; 21:6; 22:2,31-33
To profane
is the opposite of to hallow. To profane is "to treat something that is holy with contempt; to desecrate."
Leviticus 22:31-33 says, "Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. Do not profane my holy name, for I must
be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who made you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God.
I am the Lord."
Only God's people can profane
his name, because only God's people are associated with his name. Our disobedience — any disobedience — dishonors
him. In prayer, ask God to show you the truth about the following:
Has he brought you out of bondage to sin through Jesus Christ? If so, remember your "exodus." Recall
where you were, what God did and how you responded. Is he the Lord your God? If so, confess aloud, "You are the Lord,
who makes me holy." Ask him to show you any disobedience for which you've not repented. Wait before him. Don't dismiss
whatever comes to mind. Rather, call it what he calls it and renounce it, choosing to turn from it. Confess that he will enable
you to do what pleases and honors him.
After you've
allowed the Lord to speak to you personally, confess on behalf of the body of Christ any disobedience God shows you by which
the church has dishonored him. Confess aloud, "You are the Lord, who makes us holy."
Call to Prayer 6
Numbers
20:1-13
In Numbers 20, the Israelites threw a
fit because they had no water. Moses and his brother Aaron took the matter to God, and the Lord told them what to do to receive
water for the people. In front of the people, Moses and Aaron (1) took a different action from what God had said, and (2)
took credit themselves for the water which God graciously provided. "But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because
you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy [hallow me] in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community
into the land I give them'" (Num. 20:12).
Would
you lie on your face before God on behalf of his people and his leaders? Call out the names of specific leaders to him. Pray
that the leaders will lead and the people will follow in trusting God enough to honor him as holy. Pray for faith to believe
God when it seems he is not meeting a critical need. Pray for faith to receive the provision for that need in the way God
chooses, the way that honors him as the Provider.
Call
to Prayer 7
Ezekiel 36:22-28
In their own strength, God's people have never successfully hallowed his
name. Instead, we've done just the opposite. In Ezekiel 36, "This is what the Sovereign LORD says" to the
nation Israel and to spiritual Israel, birthed through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: "It is not for your sake,
house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations
where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have
profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through
you before their eyes" (vv. 22-23).
Will
you agree with what God says we have done - and what he will do? Regardless what you think or feel, will you say the same
thing he says? By our conduct and actions, we his people have dragged his name through the mud. Cry to him to show himself
holy among us in the ways he promises in verses 25-28: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to
follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. . . . you will be my people, and I will be your God."
Call to Prayer 8
John
12:23-28; Philippians 2:6-11
Just
before going to the cross, Jesus cried, "Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this
hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!" (John 12:27-28).
Because Jesus' foremost desire was to honor the Father's name, "he
humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil.
2:8-11).
Confess with your lips that Jesus Christ is
Lord. Praise his name. Ask God to show you ways your life is making this same confession, and ways it is not. Bring to God
the most difficult situation you're facing. Pray, "Father, glorify your name."
Call to Prayer 9
Hebrews
6:10-11
We honor God's name when we serve those
who have been made holy in Him. "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown
toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister" (Heb. 6:10 NKJV).
In a world that seeks to be served, pray that God's people will show what
he is like by serving one another. Ask the Lord to show you specific ways to serve God's people this week.
Call to Prayer 10
1 Peter
4:12-16
First Peter
4:14 describes a mystery: "If you are reviled [or ridiculed, insulted, reproached] for the name of Christ, you are
blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you" (NASU). In an upside-down world, it honors God's name
when we are defamed for displaying his character and acting in his ways.
Pray that we who are called by God's name will clearly discern when we deserve reproach (because of ungodly
or pseudo-godly behavior) and when we are being wrongly treated because of our likeness to Christ. If you're being ridiculed
for the name of Christ, receive the blessing: Confess that the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Call to Prayer 11
Ezekiel
38:14-23
God has warned repeatedly of one way
he will bring honor to his holy name: When people set themselves against him by boldly, brutally attacking his people, he
will act. In Ezekiel 38:22-23, God says, "I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour
down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will
show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am
the LORD."
Pray that the peoples of the world
will respond to God's grace and mercy freely given through Jesus Christ — and not have to face his judgment. Pray that
nations and rulers will honor God by treating his people with respect.
Call to Prayer 12
Revelation 15:1-4
Practice up for the day
to come when the people of God will sing his victory song. Let a melody from the Lord well up in you and sing "the song
of God's servant Moses and of the Lamb":
"Great and marvelous
are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.
Who will not
fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship
before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed"
(Rev. 15:3-4).
