”This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed is Your name.’” - (Matthew 6:9)
Many of you will recognize this as the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer, memorized and repeated by Christians for centuries. However, the Lord’s Prayer is not a religious ritual to be repeated in order to gain the Lord’s favor. Rather, it is a blueprint to follow of how our prayers should be structured. When Jesus taught us how to pray, He didn’t say that this is what we should pray, but how we should pray. And the Lord’s prayer starts with worship.
Each time we come to the Lord in prayer, we should start by recognizing who He is. Calling Him “hallowed”, or “holy”, shows that we see how totally different He is, how far above us He is. When we see God for who He truly is, the natural overflow of our hearts is to worship Him.
Does your prayer life seem dry? Start your prayers in worship. Read through some Scripture (Psalms 8, 24, 66, and 96; Revelation 4-7; and Isaiah 6 are good ones to start with). Sing a song to Him (“Holy, Holy, Holy”; “How Great Thou Art”; “Majesty”; “I Exalt Thee”; “The Lion and the Lamb”; “Revelation Song”; or others). Or just voice your praise. You will be amazed how this simple act changes the atmosphere as well as your perspective on the rest of your prayer.
In Christ,
Amy Smith