How to Pray Using the Lord’s Prayer – Part 2

The Lord's Prayer is probably the most recited prayer in the Bible. It is beautifully written, poetic and simple, but Jesus did not intend for us to merely recite it. This prayer contains a series of index sentences, which are used as a memorization technique in oral societies. For more on this, please check out Part 1 of this series. Let's take a look at the first verse of this prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" Matt 6:9 (KJV). We discussed, yesterday, about the pronoun, our, so let's look at the next word, Father. The Greek word for Father is Abba, which is a word of endearment meaning Daddy. Jesus is telling us that we can call our holy creator, Daddy. The Jews so reverence the name of God, Yahweh, that they will not spell it out in full on paper in fear of the paper being defiled. As a believer, we have such a close relationship with, Yahweh, that we can call Him Father or even Dad.

The next part of this verse I want to focus on is, “Hallowed be thy name.” Even though we can call God, Our Father, we have to remember that His name is holy. We are not to use His name as a curse word. Believers have the Lord living in their hearts, so don’t take the Lord anywhere he wouldn’t want to go or let Him see anything He wouldn’t want to see. In the Old Testament God says, “Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you” Deut. 23:14 (NASB). In America, many Christians have forgotten how holy God is. The definition of holy is something sacred, consecrated to God. If you want to learn more of God’s holiness, then study the Old Testament. In Job we read of God’s splendor and majesty, in Isaiah we see Him sitting on the throne and even the angels have their eyes covered, and in the New Testament we see God as Jesus, the suffering servant. But Jesus is no longer the suffering servant; instead, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When you pray, call God your Father, but in a reverent way.

Now that we understand the meaning of the first verse in the Lord’s pray, let us apply it to our prayer life. This index sentence shows us that we are to begin our prayer with praising a Holy God. This is actual praise, which is different from a prayer of thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is praising God for what he has done, but praise in prayer is praising God for who He is. When praising the Lord in prayer, I like to use the different names of God in the Old Testament. I will list some below with their meanings:

El-Shaddai: God Almighty – Gen. 17:1-2
Jehovah-Jireh: God will provide – Gen. 22:8
Jehovah-Rophe: God heals – Ex. 15:26

There are many more, but that is enough for now. By the way, I love to pray Exodus 15:26 as a disease prevention verse. “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians for I am the LORD who heals you” Ex 15:26 (NKJV). To me it is much better to pray for disease prevention than pray for healing. I pray this verse over my entire family.

Please pray united prayer for America today. Begin you prayer time with praise to the Lord as Jesus taught us to do in the Lord’s Prayer. Tomorrow we will look at the second index sentence. “May the Lord bless you and keep you…and give you peace” Num. 6:24-26 – Shalom.

Please see my other posts to continue learning How to Pray using the Lord’s Prayer

How to Pray Using the Lord’s Prayer – Part 1

How to Pray Using the Lord’s Prayer – Part 2

How to Pray Using the Lord’s Prayer – Part 3

How to Pray Using the Lord’s Prayer – Part 4

How to Pray Using the Lord’s Prayer – Part 5

How to Pray Using the Lord’s Prayer – Final