• May 2023

    • What should we pray for?

      Author: Rev. Douglas McCallum

      Dear CPC Family,

      Do you ever struggle to know what to pray for? I suspect we all do. At such times, I find it helpful to let the Lord’s Prayer shape my prayers and to allow its petitions to become my own.

      The first thing Jesus taught his disciples to pray was, ‘Hallowed be your name.’ All of the requests we find in the Lord’s Prayer are important, but it seems to me that a particular significance attaches to this opening petition. When it comes to what we should pray for, Jesus first wants us to be concerned about God and not about ourselves. He wants our chief desire and main prayer request to be that God’s name be hallowed.

      Of course, God’s name is, in one very important sense, already hallowed; it is holy. For God is, in his being, character, attributes and works, infinitely holy. He is holy in all that he is and in all that he does. He is high and lifted up, transcendent and set apart from everything outside himself, altogether glorious and magnificent in beauty. God’s holiness is, we might say, the very ‘Godness’ of God.

      So when we pray, ‘Hallowed be your name,’ we are not praying that God would become more holy than he already is; that would be impossible. Rather, we are praying that our lives would testify to God’s holiness and bring him honour and praise. We are praying that our thoughts, words and deeds would be consistent with, as well as a manifestation of, the holy God to whom we belong. We are praying, ‘Father, may the beauty of your holiness be seen in me. May your holy character shine in and through me more and more. May I, together with all people, worship and glorify you more and more.’

      God’s glory – the manifestation of his holiness – ought to be the chief desire of our hearts. Above everything else, above even the salvation of lost sinners, our longing should be that our Father’s name be hallowed. God should be the most important person (or persons!) in the world to us, and therefore the first and primary subject of our prayers. And when he is, you will find that at least two positive benefits result.

      First, you will experience a greater measure of stability and poise in your life. I remember a few years ago sailing on a small boat to a Scottish isle. The waters were very choppy, the boat was bobbing up and down, and I, without going into too much detail, was feeling decidedly worse for wear! Thankfully, the friend I was with told me to focus on the horizon instead of looking around and about me, and, when I did that, all was well. In the midst of choppy waters, I was now secure. My own inner choppiness had been calmed!

      Centring your prayers on God and praying first and foremost that he be hallowed is a bit like focusing your eyes on the horizon when you’re being tossed about by the waves. It steadies your soul and gives you the strength to stand firm in the midst of often troubling and choppy circumstances. It is an anchor that holds you fast.

      The second benefit of praying more than anything else for God’s glory and praise is that you will start to pray with greater joy and delight. God is the most joyful and delightful being, and that joy and pleasure will be communicated to you as you focus increasingly upon him. And when this happens, you will find that your prayers become more expansive and wideranging – you will pray bigger prayers – as you long for others from all nations to know the joy of communing with such a wonderful and beautiful God.

      I think we often struggle to pray and perhaps lose the joy of praying because we’ve got into a bit of a rut, praying for the same things and the same people in an almost mindless, formulaic fashion each day. Re-focusing your prayers on God and his glory, praying above all else for his name to be hallowed, will save you from the myopic tedium that can all too easily seep into your prayer life; it will renew your soul with an expansive, God-centred joy.

      So, when you’re struggling to pray and you don’t know what to pray for (or even if you’re not struggling to pray and have a good idea what to pray for!), let the chief prayer request of Jesus become your own. Hallow your Father by praying, ‘Father, hallowed be your name.’

      With love in Christ,

      Doug