Hallowed Be Your Name

“Hallowed be Thy Name,” this is not a task for us to accomplish. It is our request to the Father that He would cause His name to be hallowed, where it is not yet hallowed.

Admittedly, in English it sounds like an instruction for us to do something to sanctify God’s name. But consider the New Testament Greek word for “hallowed,” which is “hagiazo.” Grammatically speaking, it is in its aorist imperative form, which is to say that the “Hallowing” of God’s name is already completed by God in the past and that we are asking that God’s name would be holy among us also. Consider also that this petition in biblical Hebrew, “yitkadash shimcha” is a request to God, asking God to make His own Name holy in our world. And this is the first thing we ask God to do, before His kingdom, daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil.

What we pray for is what God has already declared He will do. In Ezekiel 36:23, God declares, “I will sanctify my great name… and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I am sanctified in you before their eyes.”

As you pray the Lord’s Prayer this week, pause at this first petition. Consider where you observe or realize that God’s Name is not being hallowed. Let’s pray “Hallowed be Your Name” over what we cannot fix or change and ask God to do what only He can do.