HALLOWED BE THY NAME.....

 hal•low (ˈhæl oʊ)

v.t. -lowed, -low•ing.

1. to make holy; sanctify; consecrate: to hallow the name of the Lord.

hal·low  (hl)

tr.v. hal·lowed, hal·low·ing, hal·lows

1. To make or set apart as holy.

2. To respect or honor greatly; revere.

Before my son was born, I already knew that I’d name him Joshua after my dad. I needed two names though and my list was long but I still had time to come up with the perfect names for my son. After Joshua was born, I started making his scrapbook. One of the pages in the scrapbook I titled “What’s in a name?” Here I was to write down Joshua's names and then write the meaning behind each name.

Joshua, an English rendition of the Hebrew name Yeheshua meaning “Yahweh our salvation”..such a powerful meaning. I started reading through the story of this great man of God and found that one of my favorite verses in the Bible – Joshua 1:9 had been mentioned severally in Deuteronomy 31.

Joshua 1:9 (NIV) Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

These words were told to the people of Israel then later to Joshua by Moses. Joshua was a leader, commissioned by God to lead His people. Joshua's name reflected his character. 

I gave my son Joshua a second name from this passage...Jabari...meaning "Strong and Courageous".

Long story short...I found two perfect names for my son! Do they reflect his character?

Speaking of great names...GOD! God's name is great and powerful and represents His character. His name should be honored as holy and sacred. God should be greatly revered and respected. Every time we enter into His presence we do it with thanksgiving, worship and high reverence. Thanking Him for what he has done for us, what He does in our lives and we also thank Him for who He is......Great, Awesome, Loving, Caring...... When we reflect on who God really is,. His glory and Holiness, we realize that, that alone is worthy of our thanks, worship and praise.

Psalms 99.9: Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy. 

Psalms 100.4: Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  

All that we are, all that we have, all that we own, all that we hold dear and possess, belongs to God. Thanking God is the simple way of honoring Him. The greatest way to honor and revere Him however, is by how we live. Our lives should reflect God. 

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)

³¹ So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Matthew 5:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Does your life glorify God? Does your life bring people in to His Kingdom? Do people desire to know God and live for Him when they look at you and how you live?

Let us worship God's awesome and holy name, honoring Him with our lives and seeking to grow deeper in our relationship with God. That's what "Hallowed be thy name" means to me.

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN...

My dad was the best!! I looked up to him, admired his love for God, family and ministry. He loved us so much. Just the other day I was thinking about how he spent time with each of us. I remember the trips we (me and him) took together be it running errands or whatever. He'd answer each of my curious and sometimes nagging questions, he'd take time to explain stuff, he'd teach me from the most complex to the simplest of things. My dad listened to me, helped me grow my talent - art, he disciplined me, encouraged me and showed me love. I believe he did the same with my siblings......we all felt special but were loved the same.

One Sunday afternoon he asked me to go with him..he was driving up to some village to go visit a friend. It was raining and the car was sounding kinda funny. I asked him what was wrong, and he said it was just a minor problem and it was going to be okay. I trusted my dad and it never mattered to me if the car would swerve a bit from time to time.... My dad said it was going to be okay, I trusted him. He was my dad.

The relationship I shared with my dad is a picture of a child and a loving father and that's the same picture Jesus was trying to paint in Our Lord's Prayer. An approachable, caring, loving , tender, patient and giving Father, God who wants a relationship with us and Jesus made this known to His disciples by addressing God as "Our Father".

In the Old Testament God was seen and addressed as Awesome, Majestic, Great and Mighty Lord who reigns on HIGH. That still remains to date because God is all that and more but with the coming of Christ we were taught to call Him Father. Christ bought us the right to be called God's children through His painful death on the cross.

1 John 3:1 (NIV) 

3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

John 1:12-13 (NIV)

¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

God is loving, patient, kind and as our Father we should trust Him. He knows our every need and we should approach Him with that in mind. I would give anything to have the conversations I once had with my dad. To tell him about my day, to share with him my dreams, my disappointing moments......what could be better than having him kiss me goodnight as he and mom tuck me in every night? Well, how about this....a heavenly Father who is always by my side and knows everything about me. A Father who gave His ONLY son to die for me....my broken life. He gave me eternal life..... a chance to one day praise Him eternally with my dad by my side.

My Father who art in heaven, I approach Your throne of grace with confidence, so that I may receive mercy and find grace to help me in my time of need. (Hebrews 4:16). 

I love you God!! 

 

TEACH ME HOW TO PRAY.

When my son was almost two, I taught him a simple bedtime prayer.  "Dear Lord, thank you for (all family members by name), bless us all as we go to sleep and protect us till morning. In Jesus Name, AMEN". He learned how to pray that prayer in a matter of days. A couple of months go by and I realized that while praying for meals, he would change a few words in his bedtime prayer. He'd pray..."Dear Lord, Thank You for rice,.......,....and.......,bless us all as we eat rice,......,..... and.......and protect us till morning. In Jesus Name, AMEN!" That was one of the sweetest prayers I've ever heard and the beauty of it is that he put his own words in there and even though he'd pray this for breakfast and lunch, it didn't matter to me that he still had a little bedtime prayer in there.
My son was too young to ask me to teach him how to pray but I did anyway. As a Christian parent raising my son to learn and know about God, it was important for me to teach him how to pray and the sooner the better.

Jesus Disciples were probably in awe, the many times they had seen and heard Jesus pray and they wanted to know of this relationship/convos He had with his Father. Imagine this, Jesus' time: He's praying all night, most of the day, before healing, before raising the dead, before teaching,...giving all the glory to His Father, and then you, a follower, put two and two together and BAM!...behold the power of prayer and prayer being THE link. Even I would ask as they did: Lord, teach me how to pray......

Our Lord's Prayer becomes a model prayer. A very simple prayer that carries a lot of weight. It's a prayer that I say each and every Sunday in church and unconsciously with time it becomes a routine weekly chant.

At some point in life I never cared to know if this prayer was like a guideline for prayers that Jesus gave to His followers but at the back of my mind I knew. So, for the past few months, as our local Church went through the prayer series, I took it upon myself to sort of go through it and try to understand exactly how Jesus intended for us to pray using His guidelines. I want to learn how to pray......Jesus Way! I want to experience the power of prayer!

Join me as I do so for the next few weeks. I will appreciate your feedback and contribution as I share my understanding and God's guidance through "The Lord's Prayer" Matthew 6:9-13 and/or Luke 11:2-4 and bear with me all Theologians and teachers of The Word :).