Praying for the Glory of God

Hallowed be Your name Matt 6:9

“Hallowed be Your name” is the first prayer request in what we call The Lord’s Prayer. It is the foundation of the entire prayer. We don’t often use the word “hallowed”. When is the last time you used the word “hallowed” or “hallow” in a sentence? You probably cannot remember. The word hallowed means revered. So when you pray for God’s name to be hallowed, you are praying that, through answering your requests God will be revered or glorified. It is also important to know just what it means to pray that God’s name be glorified. Many times when “name” is used in the Bible it means more than just a proper name; it signifies the character and attributes of the one that is named. In God’s case, His name represents His mercy, faithfulness, grace, power, love, knowledge and so on.  So for us to pray, “Hallowed be Your name… give us this day our daily bread”, we are praying that God would be glorified as the loving provider of our needs.  To pray, “Hallowed be Your name…forgive us our debts” is to pray that God, in answering our prayer, is glorified for His great mercy. 

Starting our prayers by praying that God’s name be glorified should be a hedge against asking amiss. “God glorify Your name by ordaining that I win the lottery!” “God glorify your name by making my enemies suffer.” “God glorify Your name by making the Bulldogs win a championship. It’s been so long!” Good luck with these. A simple guideline for a prayer request is the following: Does it glorify God?

Most people that have followed Christ for a number of years are able to look back, and in hindsight thank God for the prayers He did not answer. At the time, we wanted what we thought was best. We never got it, years went by, and looking back we say “Thank God He did not answer that prayer!” We see that He was wise in not giving us what we wanted. Thus, God is even glorified for His wisdom and mercy in unanswered prayer. 

Begin your prayer time asking God to glorify Himself through answering your prayers. In seeking that above all God be glorified in our prayers, we are also seeking what is best for us. That which glorifies God is ultimately best for us.