"It's God Almighty, Not God All-matey" (Rory Cropper)

Since my last Blogpost I have bought a wedding dress- hooray! When not shopping at a shop with a ridiculously blunt dresser/salesperson it was a really awesome experience :) How exciting! Anyway, this is SO not a wedding blog.
For my next series of Blogposts, I thought I would follow the last lot of 'S's with a series based on one of the most popular and repeated prayers of all times: The Lord's Prayer. I will be going through it line by line and seeing what is revealed, and what new elements we can learn through each section.
The first section I will be going through is:

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."

A very short and seemingly small line.

So what can we deduct from this small opening line? Well I have felt that four 'S' words have really stood out for me with what can be learnt from this opening line which first and foremost puts God where he needs to be.

1) Servility- (a very posh word I used the Thesaurus for- it needed to start with an S!) 

This prayer puts God at his rightful place. Top of the list. Sovereign. Numero Uno. Not only does it state God's authority with the mention of 'Father' but it reminds us all that God is in heaven, not on earth like the rest of us, but belongs and exists in heaven. Do we sometimes forget this? I know often I place God into the 'friend' category, forgetting that actually he created the heavens and the earth and deserves to be respected.

As Rory Cropper said once: 'It's God Almighty not God All-Matey.'

Or as Revelation states: 'For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts.' As the prayer reveals: an all powerful God.

2)Speech- We need to be careful with our speech. This opening line shows how important and holy God's name is with Hallowed also known as sanctified, divine, anointed, sacred. Back in the Old Testament times the name of God was so sacred that it would not be spoken and was not allowed to be written down. 

In today's age, the name of God is more than often used as a swear word rather than used correctly and appropriately. Or if not it is used as a joke. But this prayer shows exactly how God's name should be used. Not as anything other than holy and revered and certainly not anything like a curse, joke or another inappropriate function. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 141:

'Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! 

showing how important what we say is. 

3)Sin- Now we have seen how respected and almighty God is, the next reaction is to look at ourselves, and how un-almighty and unworthy we are to have such a God. Yet he still wants a relationship with us. 

In Isaiah 64v6  it states: 'all our righteousness are as filthy rags.' We all sin. I've sinned. You've sinned. We all have. And whilst simply the name of God is anointed, enshrined and consecrated we exist in all the bad things we have done as the complete opposite. I know personally that often I will think, 'ok I make mistakes, but at least I'm not a murderer,' and will often down play my sin. But when you look at how respected God you can see how awful our sin and how much we truly need a saviour. 

4)Sacrifice- However, though God's name is hallowed and he is in heaven and to be respected, he still humbled himself to become a baby in a manger and to eventually offer himself as a living sacrifice. As John 3:16 states: 'For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.' How amazingly incredible is that? Just awesome. So we need to all step into that sacrifice and accept it on a personal and daily basis. 

As the bible states: 'whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us!'

Just a short one this week- so respect God, watch your tongue, realise your sin but accept that sacrifice!

Peace out!<3