"Hallowed be your name." (Luke 11:2)
An essential element in all true prayer is recognition of the goodness and the greatness of God. The more we know of God, the more understandingly and confidently we can pray to Him. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)
Satan is always ready to try to discourage people with the very truths of Scripture that were written for our comfort; and too often he succeeds. So he tries to frighten us away from God by the thought of His holiness. The sinful one says: "I dare not come to the Lord: He is so holy, and I am so vile, that He could not have anything to do with me."
We must learn that just because God is absolute goodness, He receives sinners. Only the wicked turn from the wicked, and point the finger of scorn at them. The good are pitiful and merciful. So the name of the Lord is: "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." (Exodus 34:6-7)
When the psalmist, in his extremity and desolation, called on the Lord, he said: "But You are holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel." (Psalm 22:5)
God's holiness is the only hope of fallen humanity. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower." (Proverbs 18:10)
After the ascension of Jesus, the disciples went everywhere preaching always in "the Name." When the lame man at the gate of the temple had risen at Peter's command: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk," (Acts 3:6)
Peter preached Jesus to the wondering multitude, saying: "His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong." (Acts 3:16)
The next day he said to the council: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, even in Him, does this man stand here before you whole." (Acts 4:10)
From this last text we learn that Jesus himself is His name. "Jesus" means Saviour, and that is what Jesus of Nazareth is. So God's name is His own character, His own being; and His name is in Christ, in whose name we pray.
Therefore in coming to God and presenting petitions "in the name of Jesus," it is as though Christ came to the Father in person, making that request. God cannot reject any such request made in sincerity, for to do so would be to dishonor His own name.
Even among men the name stands for the person. If a business man breaks his word, or fails to meet his obligations, then his name is no longer of any value. The prophet Jeremiah applied this principle to the Lord when, having acknowledged his sin and the sins of the people, he boldly said: "Do not abhor us, for your name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of your glory; remember, break not your covenant with us." (Jeremiah 14:21)
This is in reality what we all say to the Lord when we say in our prayers, "Hallowed be your name." It is an appeal to the Lord to remember His name and His covenant: "Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin," (Exodus 34:7) and not to disgrace His name, but to honor it by doing all that it stands for. But this reminder to the Lord is not on His account, but on our own, for it serves to remind us that: "He cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:13)
Thus we are taught by the Lord Jesus that in true prayer there can be no shadow whatever of doubt. We are not to pray, and then to wonder whether or not God has listened to our petition, or will answer it. At the very beginning of every prayer we are to express our perfect confidence that God will certainly give us all that we ask for in the name of Jesus, and "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." (Ephesians 3:20)
The least doubt in prayer is to deny God, and to place Him, in our own minds, on a level with the gods of the heathen; for it is a denial that "He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)
His name is holy, and must remain so, and therefore we come with the boldness of absolute trust, making our requests known to God. How natural and easy, therefore, is it to: "Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness," (Psalm 30:4; Psalm 97:12) even before we make our request.--Medical Missionary, December 1905--Luke 11:2.