Prayer, God Is Holy And Sacred

Prayer, God Is Holy And Sacred

Scripture:
Matthew 6:7-15 (NIV)

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Devotional:

Hallowed be your name.  When I grew up I use to think hallowed was the same as hollow, empty.  I couldn’t understand why we would want God’s name to be empty.  How often do we look at scripture and not realize what it says?  We read the words but the true meaning eludes us.  When we do not understand the context of the text or words we will get a completely different meaning than what was intended.

Look at hallowed, what I thought it meant made no sense.  Why would we want God’s name to be empty or meaningless?  However, hallowed, being holy or sacred gives a completely different meaning.  God is holy.  God is sacred.  Do we really treat God’s name as being Holy or sacred?  Do we treat God with the reverence that we should? 

God is holy, sacred and we should respect Him above all else.  Jesus teaches us to begin our prayers with focusing on this.  This in turn sets the tone for the rest of your prayers.  It will help us put our focus where it needs to be.  It will help us to put into proper perspective who we are and who God is.  We need to acknowledge God’s holiness and who He is.  It is important to do this not only in our prayers but in all aspects of our lives and daily routines.

Remember God is holy and sacred.