"Pray then like this: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day 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 evil.'" Matthew 6:9-13

Heidelberg Catechism, Question 116

Q. Why do Christians need to pray?

A. Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. And also because God gives his grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thanking God for them.

“The fundamental problem in the evangelical world today is that God rests too inconsequentially upon the church. His truth is too distant, his grace too ordinary, his judgments too benign, his gospel is too easy, and his Christ is too common.” David Wells, No Place for Truth, p. 30 (1993)

We come with confidence as we continually understand the Fatherly goodness of the triune God, secured (and poured out) by the power of the cross (Galatians 4:4-7).

“There are two ways in which a practical moralist may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of the world–either by a demonstration of the world’s vanity, so that the heart shall be prevailed upon simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy of it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment, so that the heart shall be prevailed upon not to resign an old affection, which shall have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection for a new one. My purpose is to show that from the constitution of our nature, the former method is altogether incompetent and ineffectual, and that the latter method will alone suffice for the rescue and recovery of the heart from the wrong affection that domineers over it.” Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection

We come as messy children.

Larger Catechism, Question 90

Q: What do we pray for in the first request?

A: In the first request (which is, “May your name be hallowed”), acknowledging the inability and lack of motivation of ourselves and all people to honor God properly, we pray the following:

• that God would enable and incline us and others by his grace to know, to acknowledge, and to highly esteem him, his titles, his attributes, his ordinances, his Word, his works, and whatever he is pleased to make himself known by;
• that we would glorify him in thought, word, and deed;
• that he would prevent and remove atheism, ignorance, idolatry, profaneness, and whatever is dishonorable to him; and that, by his providence ruling over all things, he would direct and use all things to his own glory.

The hallowing of the name of God (revering, honoring, treasuring) is not a proclamation, but a pleading request in the life of a believer.

Why should we earnestly desire the hallowing, the honoring, treasuring, revering of the name of God?

1. When his name is hallowed, our light shines before men, and you make Him…(Matthew 5:16).

2. This desire was the motivational factor in the life of Christ.

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, 'An angel has spoken to him.' Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out." John 12:27-31

3. The hallowing of the name of God brings wholeness, rest, and purpose to our lives.

“Great are you, oh Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise, and your power is immense and your wisdom beyond reckoning. And so, we men, who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you– we also carry our mortality with us, carry the evidence of our sin, and with it the proof that you thwart the proud. You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Confessions of Augustine, Chapter 1-3 

4. The worship and treasuring of God holds our life together (Colossians 1:15-23).

“The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. In English we call it peace, but it means far more than just peace of mind or ceasefire between enemies. In the Bible shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as the creator and savior opens doors and speaks welcome to the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things are supposed to be.” Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It's Supposed to Be