SA Ep70 - Becoming a Prayer Warrior (Part 4)

SA Ep70 - Becoming a Prayer Warrior (Part 4)

In this episode we continue through the Lord’s Prayer by focusing on the phrase “Hallowed be thy name.” After establishing relationship with “Our Father” and recognizing God’s authority in “which art in heaven,” Jesus now teaches that worship must be the priority in prayer.

The word “hallowed” means to treat as holy, to revere, and to honor. When believers pray these words, they are not making God holy but acknowledging His holiness. God’s name represents His character, His nature, and His authority, and it is worthy of reverence above all else.

This episode emphasizes that prayer should begin with worship, not requests. By focusing on who God is before asking for what we need, believers shift their perspective from self to God. This strengthens faith, deepens reverence, and aligns the heart with the purposes of God.

Listeners are also reminded that honoring God’s name is not limited to words spoken in prayer but should be reflected in daily life. As believers lift up the name of God, they establish the proper foundation for everything that follows in prayer, recognizing that before anything else, God is worthy of glory, honor, and praise.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Seeking Approval Podcast. I'm Dr. Chris Smelster from Gilead Baptist Church. You know life moves fast and faith is not meant to be rushed. I want to take some time and slow down with you and have some honest conversations from the Word of God about daily living. So join me here today on Seeking Approval. If you were to walk into the presence of a king or maybe the president or someone of high rank that you have much respect for, would you walk to the person and the first thing you say is, Hey, I need this. I don't think we would, but oftentimes that's the first thing that we do when we go to the Lord in prayer. We just walk up and begin telling him everything we need. And not that there's anything wrong with that from time to time, that you know sometimes we don't have time to get down and and recite a proper uh structure of a prayer. Sometimes we are in a dire situation. Sometimes our our mental and spiritual anguish is so deep that we just don't have the wherewithal. Now that does say that that's why we practice as a sports guy, we would practice things so that in a time of high stress we would we would go back to what we have worked on or knew the best, that we had committed to memory. So I guess I could say that you know, if we prayed more often, that even in those times of high stress and distress, we would resort back to the prayer that we know the most often, the one that we have rehearsed, the one that we have practiced. But there are those times that we maybe are just in one of those moments. But Christ gives us a model, a framework, a skeleton of a prayer that we ought to use whenever we enter into the presence of God to speak to him for anything. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6.9, he says, after this manner, pray, uh therefore pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And the last couple of times we've got together and dealing with becoming a prayer warrior, we talked about the paternity, the our Father, and we talked about his position with art in heaven. Now I want to look at this hallowed be thy name. Before we begin asking for anything, Jesus tells us that we need to focus on the name of God, who he is. Every time I pray, uh talking about how we rehearse things, every time I pray, I will always begin my prayer in some manner of Heavenly Father, thank you for uh being exactly who you are, high and lifted up. And that's that is the the framework that Christ has given us. After I taught this many years ago on the Lord's Prayer in our adult Bible class, it it really changed the way I pray. And it's been that way for many years now. And I always go down the line of thanking him for who he is, uh being high and lifted up, being the uh the the creator of of the cosmos and and uh the the creator of of everything that I am. And then I thank him for his blessings that he's poured out upon me, that I'm so undeserving and unworthy of, that if he never gave me another one, I would already have too many. And uh ask him to forgive me whenever I think that I have anything to do with the blessings in my life, like I've worked hard for them or something of that nature, that all good things come to him. And that's been the pattern for my prayer for for years now. And Jesus tells us something very similar. He says that we need to focus on who God is. He's our Father. He's in heaven. That means he is royal. And he says, hallowed be thy name. This word hallowed, it's not a common word that we use in our everyday language. But the meaning should be very clear. But if not, just to make sure that we all understand, it means someone or something that is holy or set apart, something that is to be revered, something or someone that is to be honored. So when we say, hallowed be thy name, or when Jesus tells us to say hallowed be the name, we're not just making God holy, we're not just saying that He's holy. He's already holy. We are the ones acknowledging his holiness. I think we forget sometimes how holy and and righteous God is. And and uh I think we we come to him sometimes, if I can say this word foolishly. Enter into his into his throne of grace boldly, into the prayer room, into his throne room. And we are to do that. We are to come boldly, but we are not to come foolishly. I said many years ago as a teacher that I thought we were making a mistake, and I remember the the uh meeting I was sitting in, I remember exactly where I was at. I remember people that were around at the time and who our leadership was, but I remember when they were encouraging us to start referring to the students as friend, right? That we should start calling them friend. And even back then, as a young man, I was I was still in my early twenties back then. I I still remember then uh speaking out in that meeting of I don't know, there's probably um I don't know, fifty or sixty teachers in the room at the time, plus all the administration and teachers' assistants and whatnot. So I don't know, maybe a hundred people or so. And I remember speaking up as a young man, and I I I even said then, I said, I think that's a mistake. I don't think that we ought to make that I don't think we ought to elevate these kids to our friend level. Not saying that uh that we ought not to treat them in a way that is friendly. That's not what I'm saying. And not to say that we wouldn't uh accept them as a friend, but there has to be a level of respect and we have to demonstrate a level of respect. We have to walk and talk in a way that demands respect in that situation. Because if someone feels like they are on evil, uh even ground with you or level ground, then there's no authority. They can they can, you know, it's one step, and they're they're the authority, you know, you know what I'm saying? And so I thought that was a mistake back then, and now we look at what's going on in our in our classrooms, and there's there's many factors of this. This is not the only one factor. I mean, uh taking away, you know, corporal punishment, taking away, you know, Bible and prayer, and you know, many of the things that we can do to actually discipline kids. We're giving kids for eight hours a day a third of their life for you know the first you know 18 years or so of their life, and we're saying, no, here you go, go uh, you know, raise these children. Oh, but by the way, you really can't discipline them other than just maybe telling them where they're wrong. There's a lot more to where we're at in the state of our education system than than just calling kids friends. But that's part of the problem. And I think that's part of the problem in our churches today and in our prayer life is that we have, I don't want to say that we've elevated ourselves, I think we've lowered God. Maybe it's a little bit of both. I mean, you know, you uh you you'll call it which way you want, but I think we have evened the ground between us and God. And I think we have overstated, and I think I think I can say this uh with with good conviction, I think we have overstated the idea that God is our friend. Yes, I believe that I can pray to him about anything, I can tell him anything, I can talk with him, I can, I can I can uh he walks with me in the dark times and the in the nights. But there has to be a level of reverence. I mean, how many people that that's listening right now? I I I don't know, young or old, I don't know what nationality, we got people all over the world that are listening. I I don't know how your family dynamic was worked, but uh just giving you a little glimpse of mine. When when I was younger, and I'm I'm sure that I talked back, I'm sure that I was, I mean, I was a rambunctious boy. Uh I've always been that way, have kind of you know had my own mind and did my own thing, and I'm sure that I gave my parents fits as I was growing up, having to learn the hard way most of the time. But talking back to my parents just wasn't an option. And if I ever got away with it, it was just by the grace of God that I I did not uh you didn't read about me in the obituary one day. And uh it just wasn't an option. And that's with my my earthly father and my earthly mother. How much more then is my heavenly father that I would, you know, talk to him like, hey bud, I gotta, you know, you know, what I don't like what you're doing today, God. I I need this. My, you know, we we go to him like we're on on even ground. And and like I said, I don't know if we've elevated ourselves so much. I think this um secular humanism where we're all, you know, we're all gods in our own right, we've got a little bit of God in us and and all that, you know, trying to elevate ourselves uh in that way, or maybe we've we've pulled God's throne down a little bit lower to us to where we're you know we're more on an even plane. I I don't I don't know which one it is, but I I think that's part of the problem. And I think there's many factors that go into that. I think there's a lack of reverence for God in our homes, that's where it starts. I think there's or in our life, in our individual life and in our homes. That's where everything starts. I think there's a lack of reverence for God in our churches anymore. It's just kind of come and do and be as you want. And everybody will run back to the verse in the Old Testament. Well, God looks on the heart of a man, not on the outside. He doesn't care what you're wearing to church and all those things. That that when people say that, that just irritates the hound out of me. Because they're using a verse that actually disproves what they're saying. That's right, God does look on your heart. And when you're you know going into God's house of prayer and you're wearing your Tommy Bahama stuff and your flip-flops, and you know, showing off all your nakedness to you know God and country, and then you want to quote the verse that God sees the heart, yeah. And unfortunately you're putting yours on display. He does see the heart, he does see how much you do not reverence him by the way you dress. That that is an outward expression of an inward feeling. That's why for me, when I when I go into the house of the Lord, a place that is obviously very precious to Christ, go back and look at the times that Christ got angry in his incarnate life, go back and look at the times. And it has something to do with the house of prayer. So that's why for me, my personal conviction is that when I go to the Lord's house, I want to give him my very best. I want to make sure when I'm out on Saturdays or during the week, I've got my you know, stained and uh torn uh work uh work pants and my old work sweatshirts that I that I wear. I mean, I wear sweatshirts from September until through June. July and August are the only two months that I don't wear a work sweatshirt. But the other ten months of the year, I've got on one of my black work sweatshirts. I wear that almost every single day. And and my and my work boots. Now, if I had, if I if I just got off work and it was a choice of not going to church or going to church and that, I'm going to church on that. But if I've got a choice to be able to put my best on, why do you, preacher, why do you have that? I don't have that conviction. That's fine, but I truly believe in hallowed be thy name. I truly believe that God is holy, he's set apart, he's to be revered and to be honored. And I think that if I was to walk up to the to to see the uh some king of some country or the president of the United States or something like that, I probably wouldn't walk up with you know grease under my fingernails and uh you know wood chips all over me or or uh cobwebs from where I've been crawling under a house or something like that. I'd probably take a few minutes just to clean myself up. But if by chance I was working and the president happened to walk up, then hey, it's the best I got at the moment. That's fine. That's I think there needs to be some reverence to God. And I think that's what this the beginning of this prayer does for us is remind us who God is and that we need to acknowledge his holiness, to recognize the worth he has, and that's even a hard word to say. I mean, how do you put a worth on God? I don't think there is a worth on God. He is he is it's innumerable. There's there's no worth you can put on it. He's he's worth the life of every man, woman, boy, girl that's ever existed. But the Bible places great importance on the name of God. In Scripture, his name represents more than just a title. It's his character, it's his nature, it's his authority, it's who he is. My name, when you say my name Chris, there's there's many Chris's in the world. You can call me Richard, there's many Richards in the world. You can call me doctor, there's many doctors in the world. All those, to me, though for me, those are just titles. Those don't those don't speak to who I am. If you had 50 Chris's lined up, we're not, you know, we're not fungible. We're not, you know, one can't just replace the other. We're all different in our aspects and characteristics and personality traits and all that. And and I would almost say, thank goodness there aren't not many people out there like me because I don't know that the world and the people around can handle two of me. I'm very tough to deal with. But with God, there's none other like him. His name says it all. Three letters that we have in our English names, those three letters say it all. There needs to be nothing else. He doesn't have to have one other adjective or personality trait, but we all we have to say is God. And that that says it all. His name represents everything about him. Psalm 8 and 1 says, Our O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. That's just his name, not to mention his works, his acts, what he does, uh his power, everything about him is perfect and pure and worthy of our praise, not of our, you know, flippant uh, you know, well, God, here I am again. If you just bless me if you can, or or God, just uh, you know, you know what I got going on in my life, you know, bud. You just uh you just you know slip on in here. You know, I need money by the end of the week. Don't forget about that. I got groceries and rent I gotta pay. I got uh got a kid that's gotta have their uh their uh you know uh weekend tournament. We've got to be staying in a hotel and all that. So uh Lord, you know, you know I need that money, just you know, help me out with that. I mean that it it this is it's some of the ways that we approach God, it's almost embarrassing. It's embarrassing. I'm not trying to I'm not trying to be little people. I'm just saying this is what this word calls for. We are to say, hallowed be thy name. We are to recognize. We're to recognize that. Isaiah 6 and 3 says that in heaven right now, that there are angels that are that are flying, and and with twain they cover their face, and with twain they cover the feet, and twain did fly, crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. That is a hallowed name. In Revelation chapter number four, we're told about the four beasts, and in a very similar thing, they're crying, holy, holy, holy. The atmosphere, even in heaven, is filled with worship of a God that is hallowed, that is lifted high and above anything in anybody else. There is no casualness when it comes to the name of God in heaven, and yet in many of our prayer lives, God is just another name that we mention. Honoring God's name is a a direct reflection in the way that we believe who He is. It's often said that our relationship with the with the Word of God, our Bible, is a direct rela is a direct reflection of our relationship with God. If we need our Bible once a week, and you know, really probably not even then, because we're just going to go in and sit and let the preacher tell us everything we need to know, then I would venture to say that our re our uh relationship with the Word of God is also a direct reflection in our relationship to God in prayer. You know, we may, you know, come off with a prayer every so often in the morning driving to work. Well, God um you know, help so-and-so. And and we just keep on moving. It's casualness. And that is a that we are a product of our environment today. We have become our churches have become casual. You know, if well if you can't make it to eight o'clock, come to ten o'clock. If you can't make it to ten o'clock, come to twelve o'clock. If you can't make it to that, we're gonna, you know, give you an offering uh of service maybe for a Monday or a Tuesday. You know, you just whenever you can get around to it. You know, if you need to go to, you know, to you know, the shopping first and then you want to come to church after that, you know, do that. If you need to make sure you've got to get out by brunch time, you come to the early service, you know, what just fit church in whenever you can. I'm not saying that people shouldn't have multiple services. I I hope that our church, we're getting we're getting close to the point we're gonna have to start making some decisions on what we're gonna do with uh with with people because it's gonna get awfully crowded uh in in the church house. You know, we're gonna go to a second service to be able to hold people. I'm not saying there's a problem with having multiple services because of the need, but there's churches that will have multiple services just to make sure that people can have time to fit it in. You know, you know what I'm talking about. You know the difference. You know the difference. Don't let us don't, you know, you know, shy away from that. We we become we become casual, casual about this Christian thing. And and Christ is making sure that when we have this framework of prayer, hallowed be thy name, is above everything. This is our it's our moment to worship. When we pray to God, it's our moment to worship. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. This is how we should begin our prayer. If we want to become prayer warriors, we need to guard ourselves against a self-centered prayer life. Prayer begins with the worship of God. Prayer begins with recognizing who God is, where he's at, and what he's about. And he is holy, he is set apart, he is righteous, he is good and pure, he is everything that we desire, and he is the creator of all things. The one we call our Father is the same one who is hallowed, set apart, greater than all others in the world, and his name means everything. Thank you for joining us today on Seeking Approval. You know our faith oftentimes grows in quiet places. I hope today's conversation gave you something worth carrying throughout the rest of this day. And join me, Dr. Chris Smelser, again next time as we continue thinking, learning, and walking together. Until then, grace and peace to you from Seeking Approval at Gilead Baptist Church.