A central part of Prayer is the art of reverence to the LORD GOD. A time of prayer is a time we re-enact the splendour of His Majesty, His goodness, His Sovereignty His Omnipotence, His Omniscience. We see this in our Lord’s pattern of prayer which He gave to the disciples in Mathew chapter 6 verses 9-10
“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Relationship is key because God is the Father of all. He is our Father in heaven and anyone that comes to Him must acknowledge that He is. The sanctity of our lives, having His will dominant in our lives and believing that God is faithful and true are also important elements. This is the essence of prayer.
Our Lord Jesus went further to say: “hallowed be thy name”. To hallow is to set Him apart from ourselves as a Divine Being of highest honour, holiness, majesty, power, wisdom, riches and glory. Our Lord Jesus not only taught this but also demonstrated same. In Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7 we read: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”
Our Lord Jesus was heard because of His reverence for Divinity. When the LORD appeared unto Moses in the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3 verse 5, the Lord demanded that he takes of his sandals. It was for Moses to regard the LORD GOD as holy. Our Lord Jesus would later wash the feet of the disciples and believers after them to usher us together with Him into God’s holy presence.
To Hallow God’s name is to hallow His Person. It is to show Him, regard Him and separate Him as holy, hence our prayers to Him, our Rock of Salvation who is higher than us (Psalm 61: 2). Of a truth, the lesser is blessed of the greater ( Hebrews 7:7) and that is what we proclaim in prayer.
Prayer in essence is not only a petition but eminently acknowledging who God is and it prepares the ground for our being heard. When the LORD revealed Himself to Moses at his awesome request that the LORD should show him His glory. The Lord did and the bible accounted in Exodus 34: 6: “And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.. ” In prayer as we hallowed Him, we proclaim who He is. He that comes to God must acknowledge Him for who He is (Hebrews 11:6).
Our Lord Jesus was not haughty, He claimed no equality (Phillipians 2: 6) with God but set God apart in holy reverence. This is the value of prayer to us as believers. What did the Psalmist say in chapter 100 verse 4: “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name.” We give thanks to Him for who He is (Psalm 97: 12 : Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name). We praise Him for He is the source of all things and we bless Him as the Most High and for all His Divine attributes (covenant keeper, faithful, merciful, true, just, eternal, righteous, longsuffering, unchanging, Helper, deliverer, sovereign ruler and more).
The spirit of reverence is central to the spirit of Prayer, when we so hallowed the name of the LORD, He will extend to us His scepter that we may ask of Him what we will. Solomon understood the art of reverence of God. He was lavish in the honour of God in 2 Chronicles 5 from verse 6 at the dedication of the temple, we read of the sheep, goats and cattle that cannot be counted which he sacrificed unto God. We are the temple of God, we ought to be lavish in how we honour Him and not be in a hurry in His sight. Let us hear Solomon still in 2 Chronicles 6 verse 14: “And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts”.
Solomon first of all sets God apart from himself and the people saying there is no “God like thee in heaven nor in the earth”. He proclaimed who God is before he made any petition in the verses that followed and he concluded the great supplications in verse 41 with this:
“Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.” The bible accounted that when Solomon finished with his supplications, fire came from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
Solomon was heard because of his godly reverence which is the essence of prayer. It did not end here, the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night in 2Chronicles chapter 7 verse 12 and the LORD gave him wisdom which he asked for and more.
We must get back the spirit of prayer and learn how to hallow the name of the LORD, set Him apart in holy reverence and as our Divine Being of worship, then with consuming fire He will accept the sacrifice of our lips and our petitions will be heard of Him.
