As we move into the seven petitions of Jesus’ heart that He shared with His first disciples, the passionate pleas enrobed in His humble nature amazes me. Here is the man Jesus Christ, yet without sin. The pattern of true holiness, who possessed His own human soul that we might gain possession of ours.1
Consider with me part of the Prophet portion of his human spirit. As Creator, He the Light spoke Light into the worlds’ existence as the Word of God. As Redeemer of humanity, He’s given by His Father a name above every name.2 From eternity past, present, and to this age’s End – with endless ages to come – Jesus is the fullness of God. And still, He prayed to His Father in Heaven.
Therefore, after this manner pray…Our Father in the Heavenlies:
Holy is His Name
A name is a key identifier of a person. We know, too, it is much more than that. A name can bring to mind a person’s character, reputation, notoriety or unknown who? Proverbs 22:1 says that “a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, loving favor rather than silver or gold.” One’s name is intricately tied to one’s integrity. It is this that Jesus jealously (closely, protectively, in holy regard) held onto as He poured out His soul.
I believe Jesus’ Prophet portion took a lot of hits in this regard. His earthly beginnings were colored in people’s suspicious minds. Whether through whispered gossip or verbal hand grenades, Jesus was not a stranger to a maligned and unholy disregard for His name. He, the Father, Holy Spirit, Mary, and Joseph knew who He was. Five people. That beautiful number of grace as a holy little nod among them as Jesus grew in stature and wisdom. He was named among His family of earthly origin; fastened to an unbroken cord of fellowship with His heavenly Father; taught, favored, nurtured, protected, comforted, and strengthened by precious Holy Spirit.
That is how Jesus lived His one holy life. It is why He, the Pattern, can exhort us, “Be ye holy, as I am holy.”3 Before you bat that away, consider what the word holy/holiness means. It comes from the Greek word hagiastheto and means to be set apart from common condition and use; to sanctify or make holy; dedicated to one use only, and that a holy use.
Dedicated to One Use Only
The world, the flesh, and the devil challenge holy.4 Jesus knew this well from experience, for these three arenas constituted Satan’s wilderness temptation tests.5 Jesus withstood Satan, girded with the Belt of Truth. The truth of Who He was, Whose He was, and the Name He refused to dishonor with less than holy regard.
Scripture records two occasions when holy angels were sent to minister and attend to Jesus: after the forty days of fasting and Satan’s temptation in the wilderness, and after His gut-wrenching, urgent prayer to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, brought to resolve in His humanity’s surrender to His Father’s will.
Jesus hung on the Cross fulfilling the purpose for which He came as God in human flesh. The integrity and power of His Father’s Name – thus His own, flows through every drop of blood He shed for you and me. It is why He also tells us who belong to God – “You are not your own; you have been bought with a price.”6
When a soul grasps the immensity of Jesus’ sacrifice for the world and the depth of His single love for them, I dare say God will not renege on what He began in that moment of surrender to His Son. II Thessalonians 2:13b tells us it is because “…God from the beginning has chosen you for salvation through the Spirit’s sanctifying influence and your belief in the truth.” Paul and his comrades, Silas and Timothy, grew from Jesus’ sacrifice.
Hallowed be Thy Name
Let Your Name be sanctified…NOW, in this very moment!
There are ones who hold a mindset that these days in which we are presently living have grown far worse than any other time in history. I do not agree. What I do hold to is that we are visibly seeing the much-nearer approaching of the end of the age. It makes, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe (lit. set on high)”7 very real. The Word of God shows itself truthful beyond doubt in troubling times.
A review of history as far back as we can go reveals the depravity of humanity. Nothing has changed. It has always been there; it is simply more openly portrayed and its influence more widely spread due to technology that did not exist in Jesus’ time on earth, or back to the time of the ancients. When we consider that every age and generation has always belonged to the Redeemer of our souls – before and since His Cross – we find ourselves in the company of a multitude of believers gone before and present now. Set in our time amid this world’s order, Holy Spirit is active in hearts and lives, drawing to the Father’s heart and revere of His Name.
Those who hold little regard, ignore, or take pleasure in impure defiance of the Father’s Name, do not realize that His Name carries all authority and holiness that will be revealed in all the earth on the Day of the Lord. But while we wait for that Day, Holy Spirit is stirring in believers growing in their walk with the Lord, a cry of the soul with the same jealous regard Jesus held for the cleansed and sanctified use of our Father’s Name.
The Urgency with which Jesus Prayed
The urgency of this prayer, NOW, in this very moment! cannot be implored for its release in the earth apart from its release in our own soul as well. This kind of prayer that Jesus prayed was not from outside Himself. It rose from His depths as longing and immediate necessity, not only for the world but for His own life as well. The desire to see His Father’s Name named with holy regard meant honor and pure worship as His offering.
He Called Him, FATHER
In the New Testament, the epistles repeatedly open with God the Father, or God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, or God our Father. Jesus entered close communion with the One He knew held all power and righteous authority when He called Him, FATHER. This first petition Jesus taught – holy regard for Your Name, Father – is as essential to embrace to our heart and understanding in our NOW, as it was in Jesus’ time. Let’s pray ~
Father, I desire to see Your Name held in the holy regard due You. To know that You are in all and over all, yet witness an unholy, growing disregard for Your Name, pains my very soul. Grant me Your Holy Spirit to embrace and become more fully a living witness of honor and praise to You in the circumstances of my life! Inscribe on my heart that though many in Jesus’ day followed the Law, He followed Your heart, Father. I thank you that You, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, are my Father also. To know you as Abba Father is life’s privilege. May my whole life, like Jesus, become a praise offered to You; both in the world and among those I love who need Your love, are called to love, and whom You are calling to love You. May Your Name be sanctified in us. Amen.
~ Nancy
1 Hebrews 10:36-39 2 Philippians 2:5-11 3 I Peter 1:15-16 4 I John 2:15-17; Ephesians 2:2-3 5 Matthew 4:1-11 6 I Corinthians 6:20 7 Proverbs 18:10 NASB Related Reading: The Book of Hebrews
Click here for a printable PDF of this article: Redemptive Gifts Pattern of Seven – Holy Regard for Your Name, Father
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