The Lord's Prayer Part 4 Kathryn Kuhlman "Our Father Who Art in Heaven Holy is Your Name"

The Lord's Prayer is the most important of all the Christian documents. And that's really saying something. But it's just like that. You and I have been having some very excellent heart -to -heart talks together on this glorious prayer that Jesus taught. You and he taught me to pray. And in teaching us how to pray, he begins with two words that are vitally important. Our Father. And this simple statement in itself constitutes a definite and a complete system. of theology. Our father. Before we come to our business, before the throne of God, there must be a solemn address to him with whom our business lies. There is a person into whose presence we come. We address a person person, not a spirit, not something that is just a figment of our imagination, but a person with a definite personality. And Jesus taught us that that person and the one to be addressed is God himself, our Father. And right here at the very beginning, we're taught to whom to pray. Oh, this is so important. Please pause for just a minute. Get to this all -important phase of praying to God. At the very start, we are taught by Jesus himself to whom we are to pray. It makes all the difference in the world. To whom you pray. When you pray, you are to pray to God only. Not to the saints. Not to angels. Not to Mary, the mother of Jesus. But to one and one only. God is the only person. to whom you are to pray. Consider a moment. The saints do not know your need. The saints do not have the power to answer your prayer. The angels are powerful, but the angels do not know your need. The angels do not have the power to answer your prayer. Mary does not know your need. Mary does not have the power to supply your need. Only one has that power, and that's God Almighty. Know that. And you dishonor God. You dishonor literally the eternal God You pray to anyone else except God Almighty. And so we're taught how to address ourselves to God and what title to give Him. It's just like that. We must address ourselves to Him as our Father. We must call Him our Father. He is in a very special manner a father to the saints by adoption and regeneration. And it's an unspeakable privilege that you and I have to be able to come into the presence of an eternal God, an almighty God, and say, Father. There's no greater privilege that men and women have. There is no greater privilege that I, as an individual, have here on earth than to come into the presence of an all -powerful God, the one who literally spoke the worlds into existence, who said, let there be light, and there was light. You do not have a greater privilege as a human being than to be able to come into the presence of God and address Him as Father. A privilege that's yours through Jesus Christ the Son. After your regeneration. After that glorious new birth experience. And you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior in the forgiveness of your sins. The truth is that Jesus, the Son of God, has made all of this possible. After that marvelous experience of regeneration, the new birth experience, after you have accepted for yourself individually what Jesus did for you on the cross, in accepting that pardon, in the forgiveness of your sins. At that very moment, you belong to God by adoption. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. You and I do not have to wait until after death to be His through adoption. We do not have to wait until death to be able to come before the throne of God and address Him as Father. Now, this very moment. Beloved, now are we the sons of God through adoption to that which Jesus Christ did for us in the shedding of his blood. If you have, as an individual, accepted for yourself what Jesus did for you on the cross, literally by faith, accepting the pardon, then you are gods to the means of adoption. An heir of God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. Doesn't that do something to you? Isn't that thrilling? Do you really know what salvation means? Sometimes I think we speak of it so lightly, we take it so matter -of -fact. When it's so great. I stand in awe sometimes when this experience and all that it involves, the inheritance of it all, literally overwhelms me. Our Father. My Father. Even in prayer, Jesus addressed him as Father. When Jesus prayed, he didn't address the saints. Consider that. Jesus did not address the saints. When he prayed, he always addressed God as Father. And as our Father, he'll pity us under our weaknesses and our infirmities. Who has the pity? Who has the love? Who has the compassion? Like a heavenly Father. Consider some things that are vitally important. He knows what's good for us. He's perfect wisdom. He's perfect knowledge. We can come to him with holy boldness. We have an advocate with the Father and the spirit of adoption when we come repenting of our sins. The saints cannot forgive our sins. Please know that. Mary cannot forgive our sins. No one can forgive sins but the perfect one. No one can give grace but the perfect one. When we come begging for grace, when we come begging for peace, and the inheritance and blessings of sons, oh, it's such an encouragement that we come to God, not as an unreconciled, avenging judge. No, my friend, no. When I come into the presence of my heavenly Father, and I say, Father, I've sinned, I failed. I'm sorry. I've come short of the glory of God. I've made this mistake and I'm sorry. And when I come into his glorious presence, I do not come to the presence of one who is an avenging God. But I come to the presence of one who is a loving, a gracious Father. My Heavenly Father. And as our Father in heaven, so in heaven all the saints of God who through generations have come to him receiving mercy and grace. Not one having merited the mercy and the grace that was given them. Oh, that's glorious. Our Father, who art in heaven. Remember something. Heaven is a place of perfect purity. And we must therefore lift up pure hands. We must study to sanctify his name. who is the Holy One, and he dwells in that holy place. That's one reason I believe that Jesus taught us that we are to say, our Father who art in heaven, we must always remember that heaven is a holy place, that God is the Holy God. Sometimes I think that we forget these things. Sometimes I think we forget. That heaven is a holy place. No sin can enter there. There is no sin in heaven. There's no unrighteousness in heaven. That's the reason when Lucifer, when he began to ascend into heaven to dethrone God, Lucifer the angel, with sin in his heart, becoming jealous of God, began to ascend, he was thrown. to the earth because no sin can enter heaven. Heaven is a place of purity. God is a holy God, greatly to be praised. Thus all of our prayers should correspond with that which is our great aim as Christians. And that is to be with God in heaven. Oh, this is something. Hallowed be thy name. It's the same word that in other places is translated sanctified. But here, the word hallowed is retained only because people. We're used to it in the Lord's Prayer. In these words, we give glory to God. Hallowed be thy name. In so saying, we recognize the fact that we're not coming into the presence of a mere man. We're not coming into the presence of one of the saints. We're not coming merely into the presence of angels. Hallowed be thy name. There is no name above the name of our Heavenly Father, God Almighty. We give glory to God. Remember that. It may be taken out as a petition, but as an adoration. As that. As an adoration, the Lord be magnified. The Lord God be glorified. For God's holiness is the greatness and the glory of all his perfection. And so we must begin our prayers with praising God. We must begin our praise praising the Holy One. He is the one to be served first. We should give glory to God before we make any petition known. Before we expect to receive mercy and grace and forgiveness from him, we must first of all magnify him and glorify him. Give him the praise of his perfections and then let us have the benefit of his mercy. And his power and his giving. Oh, if only I could get you to see something that means so much in my own life. And it'll mean everything in the world to you if you learn his glorious secret. That is the reason why it's very often in a great service. You've heard me say it over and over. Perhaps standing before thousands of people on the stage. Posing right now. at the very beginning of the service and say, now, we're going to pause for just one full minute. Not asking him for a single thing, but just stand quietly and worship him. Don't say a word. Be absolutely quiet. We have forgotten that there's such power in quiet. It's so noisy out there. Oh, there's so much confusion out there. That's the reason there's so much frustration. That's the reason most people are suffering from a nervous condition, a nervous disorder. They've never learned that wonderful secret of blessed quietness. Blessed stillness. Blessed worship. Worshiping a holy God as we come into the presence of the one altogether holy. Be still, be quiet. There's such strength in quietness. Oh, there's such strength in just being still in his presence. There's such encouragement. There's such glory in just being still in His presence. In silence there can be worship. Sometimes I think we've lost the art of worship entirely. We've forgotten how to worship God. It'd be so wonderful in all of our services if we would just take so much time to just worship you. That's the reason I did the chorus. Alleluia. Only one word is spoken. And that one word is universal in all languages. That's one reason that that little chorus is literally sweeping the world. We began singing it in our services in the Shrine Auditorium, and it wasn't long until the whole world was singing it. If I could get the whole world to adore him, to worship him. Just the one word, Alleluia. In the book of the Revelation, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, heard the saints, the voices of the saints, worshipping and adoring him. Alleluia. Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Hallowed be thy name. We adore you. A God to be magnified. A heavenly Father to be glorified.