6.13.23 | Matthew 6:9

By

PRAYER ROOMS

Tuesdays (online only today)

Thursdays in June

  • 7-8pm: 12 Bassett St

Sundays

  • 8:30am: 15 Hayes St

PRAYER GUIDE

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name“

Matthew 6:9

After instructing us to pray to God as our Father, Jesus tells us to pray for God’s name to be hallowed. This is not just a statement that God has a holy name, but it is a prayer for God’s name to be revered as holy. God’s name is His reputation, His character, it is the word that captures his essence. Jesus says our first concern in prayer is the reputation of God, and that God’s name would be hallowed. By whom? Who are we praying to revere God and His Name? Where are we praying that the Name of God would be hallowed? We are praying for His name to be known and revered everywhere and by all.

This is the first concern of prayer. That God and his Name and his Character would be known and revered by all people everywhere. This is how God wants us to pray. This is what He wants us to care about first and foremost. 

But how do we come to prayer? What are our primary concerns and agendas as we approach God in prayer? If you are like me, most days, I come to prayer with other agendas on my heart. God help me with this concern of mine today. God please provide for this need. Or this person. And of course there is nothing wrong with these kinds of prayers. Jesus tells us to pray for our daily bread later in the Lord’s prayer. But where do we start in prayer? We start by concerning ourselves with the Name and the Reputation and the Honor of God. 

When we pray the Lord’s prayer, one of the first things it does is to remind us that we are not at the center of the universe. God is. God’s glory and His honor is our reason for existing. “What is the chief end of man,” the Westminster catechism asks us? The answer is this: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Father, hallowed be your name.

Jesus, when he knew his time had come and he was about to suffer and die, prayed, “What do I pray? Father, save me from this hour?…No! Father, glorify your name.” And the voice thundered back from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” (John 12:28) 

For the next several weeks we are going to pray for God’s name to be known and loved and revered. And the first place we are going to pray for this is among the next generation. We live in a moment of profound secular decline in America. With each passing year, the number of people who consider themselves Christians decreases. By some estimates, the percentage of “nones”, those with no religious affiliation, is increasing at a rate of nearly 1 percent per year! By demographic standards, this is a cataclysmic change. And the groups who are increasingly most rapid in their disaffiliation from Christianity are the youngest generations. Gen Z is less Christian than the Millenials. And if the trends continue, Gen Alpha will be even less Christian than Gen Z.

One critical place we can pray for God’s name to be hallowed, then, is among the next generations. Let’s pray that way today:

For Prayer:

  • Pray for revival to sweep through Gen Z and Gen Alpha. For God to hallow his Name by revealing Himself to the next generations.
  • Pray for new expressions of Christianity that reach the felt needs and core concerns of these next generations.
  • Pray for parents and families to raise resilient disciples among Gen Z and Alpha who are able to bear witness to the gospel among their generation.
  • Pray for God to renew His fame and deeds in this current moment.
  • Pray Psalm 145:4 – “one generation shall commend your works to another.”
  • Pray for young people who do not know the Lord to come to know Him.