Part 3 Jesus Helps Us Pray (2)
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”
We start by focusing our attention on God, and consider that He is our Father. As Christians, we are both born and adopted into His family – He wants to be our Father. We also acknowledge that He is in heaven – we can’t see Him – and so we pray by faith. This means we need to trust that He is listening to and hearing our prayer. As we saw in an earlier lesson, Jesus made a promise: in Jn 16:23, He said, “… Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” So based on Jesus’ own words, we can pray with great confidence.
“Hallowed” means holy. Holy means set apart, and it also implies purity. God is set apart from the sinful things of this world – He is not connected with them. He is pure light; there is no darkness in Him. He is perfect, and perfectly good. There is no one like Him. As we pray, it’s important to acknowledge the nature of God. The more we understand this, the more we can reflect His nature in our own lives.
So as you pray this simple phrase, remember the weight of what you’re saying: that God loves being your Father, and that as we connect with Him by faith, He shows us how He made us holy – and that we can continue to be set apart from the sinful things of this world. This way, we can walk in His perfect light, allowing Him to lead and guide us through life. It’s truly wonderful!
Consider:
What kind of Father do you think God is like?
If you knew God would answer your prayers, what would you pray for?
How does God’s holiness affect your life?