The Lord's Prayer, line by line
Hallowed Be Thy Name
The first request Jesus puts on our lips is not about us at all. Before daily bread, before forgiveness, before rescue, He teaches us to ask that God's name be hallowed. To hallow is to treat as holy, to set apart, to hold in reverence. It is a strange and beautiful priority. We might expect prayer to begin with our urgent needs, but Jesus begins with God's honor. This line asks that the Father be known and loved and revered as He truly is, in our own hearts first and then throughout the earth. It quietly reorders the soul. When God's name is hallowed within us, our fears shrink to their proper size and our lives find their center. Slow down here and let your first desire become His glory.
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”Matthew 6:9
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”Exodus 3:14
What Jesus is teaching here
In Scripture a name is not a label but a revealed character. God gave His name to Moses as I AM, the self existing, faithful One who keeps covenant. To pray that this name be hallowed is to ask that God be recognized and honored as holy, both by us and by the world. It is a petition and a surrender at once. Jesus, having just warned against praying to be seen by others, teaches us to seek God's reputation rather than our own. This request confesses that we do not always treat God as holy, and it asks Him to change that, starting with the one praying. It is worship shaped into a plea, a longing that the whole earth would honor the One who alone deserves it.
How to pray this line today
Pray this line as both praise and confession. Begin by naming who God is to you, His faithfulness, His mercy, His holiness, and let adoration rise before petition. Then ask honestly where you have treated His name lightly, in careless words or a divided heart, and ask Him to hallow His name there. Widen the prayer outward, asking that His name be honored in your home, your work, your city, and among people who do not yet know Him. This is a good place to be still and simply worship, letting God be big. When His name is holy to you, the anxieties clamoring for attention lose their grip. Let this petition tune your heart before you ask for anything else.
How this line leads to Christ
Jesus is the One who makes the Father's name known. He said He had revealed the Father's name to those given to Him, and His whole life was the hallowing of that name in flesh and blood. Where we profane God's name by our lives, Jesus honored it perfectly, even to the cross. And the Father answered by giving Him the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, as Paul writes to the Philippians. The holy name I AM is not distant from us now, because it has drawn near in the Son who bears it. When you pray hallowed be thy name, you are longing for what Christ accomplished and will complete, a world where the Father is honored through the Son forever.
Questions people ask
What does hallowed actually mean?
Hallowed simply means treated as holy, set apart, honored with deep reverence. To hallow God's name is to recognize Him as utterly holy and to give Him the honor He deserves, in our hearts and in the world. It is an old word, but the request is timeless: that God would be known and loved for who He truly is.
How can we make God's name holy when it already is?
We cannot add to God's holiness. The prayer is not that He would become holy but that His holiness would be recognized and honored, first in us and then everywhere. We are asking God to open eyes, including our own, so that His name is treated as the treasure it is, rather than ignored or misused.