I had the awesome privilege of watching both our children graduate from the same highschool as their Dad. They shared common teachers, walked the same route to school daily, and proudly marched on the same football field to receive their diplomas. Dondero was a small suburban highschool, had excellent academic ratings and was loaded with small-town charm. Despite all these endearing qualities, it had one more that made a lasting impression on our kids that never left them. In the fall, they were greeted by the assistant principal, Mr Chinchuk. He met students at the door on the first day of their freshman year and greeted them by name. The entire freshman class had this impressive slightly scary experience. Mr. Chinchuk took on the commitment every summer to take the yearbooks from the 2 junior high schools home and memorize faces and names together so he would be prepared to greet all the new freshmen personally. Despite the somewhat unimpressive teenage mindset with an often flip attitude toward authority, even the most hardened adolescent went away feeling a little awed by this guy knowing their name.
Most of us are not that different from these youngsters. We like it when folks remember our names, pronounce it correctly at roll call and if we are honest, secretly like, monograms. Marketing tactics ambush us with dialogue where our name is used repeatedly to attempt to personalize the sale, hoping we will be enticed to buy all the more. Names are usually the first word a child learns to spell. Names are an important part of our identity. When something happens around the house or something gets repeated, we will say, “That’s Erin” or “that sounds like Ricardo.” We learn early on in relationships to associate character qualities with a person’s name. Over time as we get to know a person, our understanding and knowledge of that person deepens, usually draws us closer and strengthens our ties.
When I look at the model prayer in Matt 6, right after we are instructed to pray to “Our Father,” reminding us that prayer is personal, it reminds me God has a name and it is Hallowed. Holy. I remember reading where a little tyke had attempted to learn the Lord’s prayer and it went something like this:
“Our Father, who does art in heaven, How’d you know my name?
I chuckle at both the innocence and the clarity his version reveals. God does know our name, but I have to ask myself, “How well do I know God’s name? Have I taken the time to examine the amazing qualities His name reveals about His character. In my prayer closet, have I become more familiar but less reverent? Do I regard His name as Holy and Hallowed? Have I taken the time to examine the amazing qualities His name reveals about His character? In 2020, where has holiness gone? Am I part of the problem or the solution?
One of the ways God grew me in this area was through a Jewish population I had the privilege to care for in my professional life. Over and over again, as we discussed faith and beliefs, they regarded the name of God, “Jehovah” with such reverence that they would not speak it out aloud. For many of them, they never spoke of the name of the Lord casually and OMG was absolutely out of the question. Despite our new testament doctrinal differences, I couldn’t shake the impression this choice of reverence left on me.
Some time later, I pursued a study of the names of God in the bible and was overwhelmed by the impact it had on my prayer life. I began to see I had short changed my perspective of my Father and my concept of God and all He wanted to be to me. I began to understand more fully the verse in Psalm 18:10 “The Name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and they are saved”
God’s names cannot be dissected from His qualities. God is not loving, He is Love. God is not honest, He is truth personified. His name is the name above every name. It is Holy and hallowed. When I pray in His name, I am accepting the invitation from the secular chaos to sacred safety. I can be transported from human despair to divine hope.My confused confessions before Him are transformed into cleansing commitments to His way of thinking and living. Christ made this possible as He came to be Immanuel —”God with Us.” The scriptures confirm in Romans 8:34 that “Christ is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.” Yep!! My prayer closet is a lot like the fiery furnace in the old testament where there were not three folks in the fire but 4. The account says the 4th was the Son of Man. In my intimate prayer time, I am not alone, the trinity is with me. God the Father hearing my petition, the Holy Spirit helping me to express the inexpressible and comforting me, and Christ my righteous advocate. The prayer closet is a Holy place occupied by a deity with a hallowed name. Here are just some of the names God has given Himself in the Bible:
He is Jehovah… the” I AM .” Exodus 6
Jehovah Jireh… “The Lord will provide” Genesis 22.
Jehovah Rohi…”The Lord, my Shepherd Psalm 23
Jehovah Rophe..” The Lord, my Healer” Exodus. 15
Jehovah Shalom… “The Lord is my Peace” Judges 6
Jehovah El Roi.”.The God who sees” Genesis 16
Jehovah Nissi…”The Lord, our banner” Exodus 17
El Shaddai… “All sufficient, God Almighty” Genesis.
M Kaddesh…”The Lord who Sanctifies” Leviticus 20.
Whoever coined the phrase,”It’s all in a name,” probably wasn’t making a spiritual reference but I am refreshingly convicted when I look at what God has told me about Himself when He tells me His name. When Zechariah, the prophet, declares there is only one Lord and His name is the only name It agrees with the New Testament scriptures that declare in Acts 4, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no name under which is given, whereby men must be saved.” God’s name is powerful. It reminds me who I am talking to. His name calls me to an oasis of reverence in a crazy world. Prayer with the Father is a Holy place uncorrupted by men and evil forces of darkness. His name is hallowed, and any whenever or wherever it is called on, that is hallowed ground.
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