Hallow?

What does it mean to "hallow" God in prayer?

It means to worship him because of who he is - holy, set apart from us, great and awesome, and even terrifying.

In Christ's model prayer, it comes immediately after the very intimate term he uses for God - "Father" (Matthew 6:9-13).

As Elmer Towns writes, Jesus introduces the concept of God as "Abba" or "Daddy" to his followers - very different from the Old Testament terms for God.  A picture of a loving father cuddling his child springs to mind.

So, what does that tell me?

It tells me that I am to rejoice in the fact that God is my Daddy.  And, at the same time, I must realize I am in the presence of the creator of the universe, the Almighty God who has me and the whole world in the palm of his hand.

Intimacy and awe together.

Sometimes we fall into the trap of ignoring one of these very important aspects of God as we pray.

We may be feeling depressed and imagine that God must be displeased with us.  That may lead us to view the Lord as a terrifying judge.

On the other hand, we may approach him as a kind of Easter bunny, handing out whatever chocolate eggs we ask him for.

In what is known as "The Lord's Prayer", Jesus says "hallowed be your name", a prayer that God's holiness be celebrated. 

I believe he is asking us to praise God for his unique qualities.  I think it also means we are requesting that God be worshiped throughout the world.

The Lord has said that, at some point, "every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God" (Romans 14:11).

We haven't yet reached that stage, but we should be praying for that even now.  It will be an amazing day when people all over the world bow before God.

Elmer Towns tells the story of watching a dramatic lightning storm over darkened Mount Rushmore in South Dakota with round after round of lightning blazing above.

He says it drove him that evening to "hallow" God's names in scripture.  He was reminded of God as creator, his kindness, his role as master of men, and his almighty power.

In his book Praying the Lord's Prayer for Spiritual Breakthrough, Towns writes:

"When you pray 'Hallowed be thy name,' you climb to a new level of respect for God and reverence for his person.  You are ascending into the very heart of God to recognize who he is, and what he has done for us."

When you pray "hallowed be your name", you are "placing God on the throne of your heart", says Towns.  As you enter God's presence, you know he is concerned for your needs and loves you deeply.  At the same time, "you also enter reverently and fearfully into the throne room of a God-King who demands obedience and reverence".

May the Holy Spirit help me understand ever more deeply how great is God - and how loving, too.

Dynamic, united prayer

United, Spirit-led prayer is a dynamic force.

We see it in the Bible and Christian history as people turned to God to transform their world.

I sense that we are moving in that direction in North America.

Houses of prayer are popping up in North America and Europe as people pray for themselves but also for the society around them.  The International House of Prayer in Kansas City is one of the best known and Pete Greig's 24-7 Prayer International has had a particularly great impact on young people in many countries around the world.

In our city of Ottawa, Canada, the National House of Prayer was established some years ago to pray for our government.  And in recent years, Pray Ottawa has organized a week of prayer annually for our city.

When people come together to pray for what God wants, great things happen.

A good example is the young Christian church just after Jesus' resurrection and ascension to heaven.

In Acts 4, we read how the believers reacted after Peter and John were arrested and told by the religious authorities not to preach the gospel.  They heard from the apostles and then prayed together as one.

Defiantly, they prayed: "And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.  Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

God confirmed their prayers by shaking the house in which they were praying and giving them the boldness they requested.  Many people were healed and many became followers of Christ.

In Matthew 18:19-20, Jesus says that he will give whatever people request if they pray in unity and according to "my name" or will. 

Unfortunately, Christians are less likely to put aside their differences and seek God's will when times are peaceful and pleasant.  But as social tensions rise, the economy worsens, and persecution begins, Christians increasingly turn to God.

Some of those symptoms are already evident in our society.

The other elements in spiritual transformation are repentance and a vision of what the world can be.

Great revivals begin when Christians acknowledge that they have wandered from God.

And vision played a major role in the remarkable 100-year, round-the-clock prayer vigil of the Moravians which launched a great missionary movement around the world.

May we, as Christians, become conscious of the need to draw together and pray as one for God to change our world.

God's prayer request

What a request!

Through Jeremiah the prophet, God asked the captive Jews to pray for the welfare of the state of Babylon (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

To many exiled Jews, it must have sounded incredible.  "Pray for the evil people who enslaved us?"

But that's exactly what God wanted.

And Erwin Lutzer, author of The Church in Babylon, says that we should heed the same call in our own world where Christ and the church are either under attack or simply thrown aside.

Lutzer points out that Jeremiah's letter to the Jews in Babylon explicitly says that God "sent" them to Babylon for his own purposes.  They were certainly being punished for their rejection of God - but God had plans for their good in the long term.

In the meantime, they were to settle down in Babylon, build homes, have families, work for the welfare and peace of the city - and pray for the Babylonians.

Lutzer says God is "sending" us into our society to work for the peace and prosperity of our cities and nations - and to pray for them. 

I rejoice that many in North America are doing exactly that - praying for our cities and nations.  I sense that this prayer movement is growing.

In my own city, a group of Christians has founded a lay organization called "Love Ottawa" which has for several years worked to serve the needs of the city in various ways - including through regular annual prayer weeks.

Canada's National House of Prayer is based on our city.  It's purpose is to mobilize prayer for our government.

Lutzer, long-time senior pastor of Moody Bible Church in Chicago, cites similar prayer efforts in his own city of Chicago.

But he pleads for more prayer. 

"Despite our great needs here in America, few evangelical churches have a regularly scheduled prayer meeting," he writes.  "When I asked a megachurch pastor if they had a regular prayer meeting and he replied, no, I asked a follow-up question: 'How bad would it have to get before you scheduled a regular prayer meeting?' He did not give me a clear answer."

Prayer matters to God.  He works with us as we pray.

Several Bible passages make that clear, such as 2 Timothy l:1-2, 2 Chronicles 7:14, and Ezekiel 22:30.

So, how can we pray?

Some obvious topics spring to my mind: godly values in our schools; honesty and integrity among our civic and national leaders; sacredness of life rather than abortion; caring for the needy and oppressed; revival in our churches; and open hearts for the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout society.

A friend of ours recently sent us a note about advisors to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spending one minute a day at a prescribed hour during World War II to pray for the safety of Britain and its people and for peace.  She suggested we all do the same.

My wife and I are heeding this call and making a regular practice of praying for our country.