“9 Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’”
I had the most enlightening and inspiring connection group last night. It is a group of us that meet every Thursday night in our home, and we have a discussion on a central topic that challenges and puts us in a position to wrestle with areas in our faith that we question and doubt. Last night, we had some questions that opened a plethora of dialogue about different ideas and beliefs. It was so beautiful to see all the different voices and ideas engaging with the idea if God listens to our prayers, if He has our best interest at heart, and how do we really pray in His will. Honestly, I am not hear to write to tell you an answer to all of these things, because quite frankly, I do not have the final say on any of the above issues nor do I have the answer. I desire to empower and instill some of the freedom that I walked away with from last night's discussion, and it revolves around the third meditation phrase in the Lord's Prayer - "Hallowed be Your name".
A friend of mine shared his ideas about praying in God's will, and he said something that I feel is so true. When is the last time that we asked God to break our heart for what breaks His? Honestly, when we think about our prayer lives, sometimes our prayers become nags or empty requests that we toss at Him every so often or maybe your prayer life is sincere and deep, but it focuses on your needs and desires. We need to ask more God-centered questions:
What breaks Your heart?
What is something that I can do to fulfill Your hopes and dreams for this world?
How could I love You and others better?
When I began to meditate on the "Hallowed be your name", instant praise began to permeate off my lips:
“Hallowed be Your Name
Blessed
I love You
Be lifted higher
More of You and less of us”
Hallowed means to honor as holy, sacred, and set apart. When I began to think of this action, the word blessed came to heart. So many times, we want to live a blessed life, and this is what drives our prayer life, actions, and goals. I began to turn the tables and shift my attitude of my heart - bless God.
Soul, my way of being, my capacity of loving, everything in me bless God. Instead of asking Him to consistently bless me, so I can feel good. How about I bless Him, so He can feel good and His dreams can come to pass? It made the character of God so much more relatable; He felt closer.
God, oh, how I love You.
This phrase, "I love You" on its own carries such a heavy presence especially when we adorn God with this phrase. I felt that "I love you" was the only phrase in the English language to hallow God's name in the way that He deserves. I know this phrase, "I love you" is thrown around to express a sweet fancy to our pets, to show passion to our spouse, to show how committed we are to a brand. I desire to redeem this phrase and allow it to bear a heavier weight in my life and in my relationship with God and others.
I desire for God to be lifted higher. Higher than my wants, needs, and dreams. I feel that when we ask for higher, more loftier things in life, He calls us to a higher standard of living, a higher quality of love that we offer to others. I encourage you today to lift God higher than what you want or need for yourself in the moment. Honestly, this place of humility is where God esteems and lifts up our head and fills our heart.
In the act of hallowing God, His being, the mentality that seemed right was to have a mentality of desiring more of Him and less of me. Honestly, when we make our lives more about God and others, we have the capacity to carry other people's concerns and needs and follow through with compassion or random acts of kindness, because we are no longer consumed and busy with serving ourselves. Let's embody the mentality of more of You and less of us.
Hallowed be Your name!
TAKE AWAY:
1) In order to hallow God, it takes choosing to bless Him rather than just being blessed; it takes adorning Him with love, attention, and engagement; it takes lifting His needs and desires higher than our own; it takes making it more about Him and less about ourselves.
2) Hallowing God is a good first step of hearing His heart to guide your prayer life and to empower you for intentional and desperately needed acts of compassion and love for others.
MEDITATION:
“Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your name.”
DAILY CHALLENGE:
1) How could we seek the heart of God more in our prayer life? How can we make our prayer life more God-centered?
2) How can we stay in a constant act of hallowing God's name throughout our day?