Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Last Saturday when I wrapped up the week of rest with focusing on the Sabbath rest, I became fixated that Exodus 20:11 said, the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
I specifically meditated on the word hallowed. Accordingly, I did a Google search and found Oxford Languages defines hallow as…

• made holy; consecrated.
• greatly revered and honored.

So this week, we’ll devote our time to hallowing God.

Today’s scripture, Luke 11:2 (KJV)…
[2] And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Consider…
I found it interesting that the day after I fixated on the word ‘hallowed’, I heard a sermon based on the Lord’s prayer. Although the preacher didn’t exegesis today’s scripture, I became fixated on…
Hallowed be thy name.

I wondered why Jesus used that phrasing?

The Holy Spirit directed me to another translation for the answer. Luke 11:2 (NLT) says…
[2] Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon.

Aah that’s what Jesus was saying, Heavenly Father before we begin, make us remember that You are God and reverence You accordingly.

This begs the question, do you reverence God with and in your prayers?

Jesus continued to demonstrate what reverencing God with and in our prayers with the statements after “hallowed be thy name”…
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

You see the Lord’s prayer is actually about aligning with God’s will, not getting our way.

The Holy Spirit also led me to Exodus 20:7 (NLT) to emphasize…
[7] “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

Then the Holy Spirit showed me an example of the consequences of misusing God’s name in Ezekiel 36:19-22 (NIV), which shares that God said…
[19] I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. [20] And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the LORD’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’ [21] I had concern for my holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. [22] “Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.

This shows us that God doesn’t play about His name. As a matter of fact He said in Leviticus 22:32 (NLT)…
[32] Do not bring shame on my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy.

Talk about convicting, God says don’t embarrass me. Here’s something I have long believed, God hates people saying and doing things in His name without His authority. I don’t think we appreciate the fact that our actions either proclaim or profane the name of the LORD!

So, if call yourself a CHRISTian you must be like CHRIST in everything you do.

Our Heavenly Father wants us to know that like Romans 8:14 (ERV) says…
[14] The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them.

Being God’s child means bearing His name and following His lead.

Another thing the Holy Spirit showed me regarding hallowing God’s name is recognizing a name describes who you are, whereas a title represents what you do. The Holy Spirit used a sermon I heard yesterday where the Pastor said, Adonai is God’s title of Lord, but YHWH is God’s self given name.

Exodus 3:14-15 (ERV) affirms…
[14] Then God said to Moses, “Tell them, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ When you go to the Israelites, tell them, ‘I AM’ sent me to you.” [15] And God said, “Tell the Israelites that you were sent by YAHWEH, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. This will always be my name. It is how I want the people to remember me from now on.

I have always focused so much on the I AM self-identification of God, that I overlooked verse fifteen where He confirms He’s the same YHWH that revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Full transparency, I like the I AM, because I used it to support Him being whatever I need Him to be. But God identifying Himself as YHWH is saying I AM LORD!

God is LORD of all!

Psalms 24:1 (ERV)…
[1] The earth and everything on it belong to the LORD. The world and all its people belong to him.

In my finite thinking, God declares Himself LORD because He created and owns everything!

Not only does everything belong to God, He’s King over everything.

Psalms 47:1-2 (NLT) tells us…
[1] Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! [2] For the LORD Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth.

By the way, everytime you see LORD in all caps in the Bible, it’s referring to God by His name, YHWH!

So today, make sure you’re vigilant and consistent in hallowing YHWH, in your words and actions.

Whenever you think about saying, using or representing God’s name, pause and remember His name is to be hallowed, which means kept Holy.

In fact, whenever you think of God him the opening lyrics of today’s song…

Yahweh (Yahweh)
Yahweh (Yahweh)
Holy is Your Name (holy is Your Name)
I don’t wanna take it in vain

Today’s song is…
No One

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)