The Lord's Prayer: Exploring the Depths of GodSample

In the Name of our Heavenly Father

Names are important. Names identify whoever or whatever they belong to.

Often, expectant parents spend the entire pregnancy trying to decide the perfect name for their child and sometimes won't know the name when the child is born.

The Bible certainly seems to place significant emphasis on names. God often gave specific instructions as to what someone's name should be, even renaming individuals upon occasion. There are many places in the Bible where special words are given to a person or place because of a significant event or meaning.

The name of God is the name above every other name. There is no way to fully know or grasp the name of God because we can't comprehend all that God is. We see this when God told Moses His name. He said, "I am who I am," or "I will be who I will be." He then told Moses, "Tell them I AM sent you." That is the perfect name for God because it describes His transcendence. The Bible ascribes many other names to God to help us understand more fully who He is.

He is El Shaddai, The Almighty God, The Lord of Hosts, The God who Provides, and so much more!

Jesus tells us much about the name of God and, therefore, about God Himself when He instructs us on how we should pray. First, Jesus tells us the name we can use in our prayers to God is "Father." Imagine that! The God who is so transcendently majestic and powerful also desires personal intimacy with us. He wants us to call Him "Father."

We are instructed to use the most personal and intimate name, "Daddy," as we pray to God. The Great "I AM" is also our Daddy!

Jesus reminds us that He is not like any Daddy we have known in our lives already. He desires to be a familiar Father, but His name is to be hallowed or reverenced, lest "familiarity breed contempt." As our Father, He is close, intimate, full of love and mercy, and always approachable, yet He is also to be honored as one like no other. He is holy, and our reverence for Him should reflect that. Beyond any other characteristic of God, Jesus says we must remember that God is holy, and when we come to Him in prayer, we must honor God as Holy.

This is so important because if God were not always completely holy, then He could not always be completely trustworthy. Jesus reminds us that the name of our transcendent God is a holy Father. In other words, God is our entirely trustworthy Daddy. What a great name His Name is!