5^th May

“Pray like this: Our Father in Heaven, may Your Name be kept holy..”

Matthew 6:9

Jesus’ model prayer, ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ as it is more commonly known, sets us an important structure for how we should pray. Jesus didn’t intend that we all just become puppets and follow His words exactly every time we pray (although it is good to regularly pray this prayer), but rather it was a model prayer for us to help us know how and what kind of things we should be praying for.

Jesus starts off His prayer, with the following words, “Our Father in Heaven, may Your Name be kept holy..”. Why did Jesus start with these words? Because every prayer we pray should always be centered on who God is. It should start with God, include God’s will and finish with God. ‘Our Father in Heaven’ gives us a clear indication that when we pray, although we are petitioning the Father for our requests, more importantly, we are acknowledging the authority of who we are praying to.

Our Father and our God, of course is the giver of all good things. He wants to shower His blessings upon us His children. Yet we should also remember that He is a Holy God and deserves the respect a Holy God should be given. ‘May Your Name be kept holy’ is a call for us to keep His Name holy by living lifestyles in accordance with His holy standards and always leaning on Jesus’ forgiveness and grace when we stumble. It is also a call for us to intercede for the nations, so that God’s Name may be kept holy throughout the world. Finally it is a commission for us to keep God’s Name holy, not just in the comfort of our own homes but in our workplaces, school and even in our churches.

May we remember that the God we serve is our loving Heavenly Father, the Creator of the world and our Shelter. He is holy and deserves to be treated as a Holy God. Yet His holiness doesn’t mean He is inapproachable. His loving arms are always wide open, beckoning us into His Holy presence, because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.