Jesus began the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” (Matt. 6:9)
Jesus shows us here that it’s important to recognize the holiness of God’s name. This creates in us a reverent heart and an attitude of worship. “Hallowed be your name” is really saying, “Lord you are holy. Your name is holy. I worship you.”
Remember that Jesus is modeling for us how to pray. And notice that He goes straight into worship here at the beginning of His prayer.
I think He is showing us a few things:
Firstly, worship fixes our focus. It puts our focus in prayer on Him and not on us. It helps us to calibrate and look to Jesus at the very beginning of our prayer before we get into talking to Him about anything else.
Secondly, worship changes our perspective. Many times we usually go into prayer facing all kinds of problems and issues on our minds. But when we begin to worship and say, “Hallowed be Your name, Lord I worship You, I praise You, I give honor to Your holy name,” we fix our focus on Him. And then that begins to affect not only how we see God, but also how we see our problems. Worship elevates God and shrinks our problems. When we worship, we remind ourselves how faithful, how awesome, and how mighty God is. And when we realize that, our needs and issues begin to shrink in comparison. Worship puts everything into divine perspective.
Lastly, beginning prayer with worship automatically affects every other part of our praying. Worship gives power and perspective to the rest of our praying. For example, when I begin my prayer in worship, my focus is fixed on God and my problems are put into proper perspective. So, then when I start praying for my needs, I already believe that He is more than able to meet them. When I begin praying for situations beyond my control, because I’ve already worshipped, I have put those situations into their proper perspective under His feet! Worship causes us to pray with faith and to believe that we are praying to a mighty big God Who is more than able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think!
Usually during a church service, we start with worship. Worshipping God at the beginning fixes our focus on Him, puts our problems into perspective, and gets us ready to give in the offering, hear God’s Word, and receive from Him in prayer.
Start your prayers with worship to God! Start your day in worship! Invite the Holy Spirit to fix your focus, shift your perspective, and fill your day with His presence.
The Azusa Weekly 