Currently, we’re in a message series entitled “Praying with Jesus.” In this series, I believe God wants to teach all of us how to pray better. What should be our goals in prayer? Our goals in prayer should be two-fold. First of all, God wants you to get to know Him better through prayer. Prayer can build your relationship with God in a way that no other activity can. Secondly, God wants your prayers to be answered. God wants to answer your prayers and the Bible contains a large amount of teaching on how to see your prayers answered.
James 5:16b (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Powerful and effective prayers are prayers that get answers, even in difficult or seemingly impossible situations. But one of the hindrances to prayer, is that we don’t approach God in prayer with the proper respect. Prayer is not just about getting our prayer list to God and then moving on with life. Prayer ought to be two-way communication. We talk to God and listen to what He has to say as well. That’s how our relationship with God grows and that’s how we will see more prayers answered. However, often-times, we forget to listen to what God has to say to us. Something is wrong when we do all the talking in prayer and Jesus can’t get a word in edge-wise. Perhaps we have an exaggerated view of our own importance and not enough awareness of who we are speaking to in prayer.
My message today is entitled “The Fear of the Lord.” People don’t talk much today about the fear of the Lord. It’s not a popular sermon topic. Yet, it is talked about many times in Scripture.
Proverbs 9:10 (NIV) “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
When we understand better what it means to fear or be in awe of a holy God, it will lead to wisdom and understanding, particularly in our prayer life. In this series, we will be expanding on the meaning of the various parts of the example prayer that Jesus taught, the Lord’s prayer. Today, we are going to be talking about what the request “Hallowed be your name” actually means. Hallowed means to set apart or treat as holy. The name of God is synonymous with God’s person and character. So, this request is asking God to move first on our hearts, that we would treat Him as holy. Secondly, that others will also recognize and acknowledge God’s holiness, by treating Him with respect and reverence. God’s name is not hallowed in our society. Nor is there much fear of the Lord in our culture or in many of our churches. We must pray that that would change.