In Matthew 6:9, Jesus tells his disciples to “hallow God’s Name." What He is really telling them is to spend time in the spiritual exercise of Worship. Earlier we learned we need to change our focus from ourselves to God, since too much of our lives is spent focused on what we think, what we want, our problems, our perspective, our solutions, and so on. Instead, we need to exercise our spiritual, mental, and emotional muscles by focusing completely God - by lifting up His majesty, adoring Him, reminding ourselves how powerful and amazing He is. (See Break through Self Focus to God Focus.)
This can be a very difficult thing to do. In fact, one of the most difficult things to do in our modern world is focus our minds on God. There are so many distractions and nonsense toys meant to capture our attention. It is time to put those aside and contemplate Him. So how can we do that? How can we experience God’s presence during our time of worship?
For me, there is no greater way to be ushered into the presence of God than by listening or singing to great worship songs that exalt God. This may be what some of you need or do already. For others, it may mean singing along, not just listening. For some of you it will mean composing your own songs, writing, painting, or photographing something for each one of the names. The goal is to focus on God and exalting who He is and what He is all about, so reading a list of the Names of God may remind you of how AWESOME He is. The idea here is not that it is a set ritual or rote thing, but inserting creativity into your regular time of relating to God a time of reminding, reverencing, and repeating the wonder of God. After all, God is tremendously creative and created us to also be creative, each in our own unique way.
If you are like me and must sing to enter into His presence, then I would suggest that you have a rich playlist of worship songs that allow you to contemplate the wonder and majesty of God in the musical style that fits you. Some have found that painting, dancing, or exercising to music while focusing on the majesty of God is very powerful. Over 2,000 years of Christian history has shown the Christians using visual, musical, intellectual, emotional, and physical arts to Hallow the Name of God in their minds. All of it is wonderful. All of these ways are an important spiritual exercise to enter into the presence of God. Try some new creative ways to expose yourself to the biblical content of who God is and let His name be hallowed in your midst.
Enjoy!
I would love to hear from you and your experience with God your Father. Feel free to reach out to me at info@ptlb.com. Remember, your greatest life is just ahead.
In His service,
Gil Stieglitz
P.S. Want more of Life Is Relationships? Click here for past issues!
Happy People Have 8 Key Qualities.
True, long-lasting happiness comes from the inside out. God wants us to have our best life, so He enrolls us into "classes" to develop the ingredients needed for a happy, quality life. Deep Happiness examines what Jesus said about true blessing when he delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and expands on the concepts with the whole of Scripture. We can either cooperate with God or fight against what He is trying to do in our lives. This book shows you practical ways to cooperate through the tests and courses God gives you, so that you can live with great joy.