CD - The First Petition - Exodus 20:7

God’s name is holy. We cannot make His name holy, neither can we, by ourselves, keep His name holy. God’s name is holy because it is His name and He is holy, thus His name is holy. We pray in this petition that, because we are unable to make or keep God’s name holy, that He would help us to keep His name holy among us.

How do we keep God’s name holy? We keep His name holy when we become consciously aware of how we use His name. Do we use His name to call upon Him in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks? Or has He become a spare tire God? We take Him out, we call upon His name only when we are in need. God wants us to use His name. He does not want us to misuse His name.

God’s name is Yahweh. This name, Yahweh is brought over into our English Bibles as the name Lord printed in all capital letters. This dates back to the time that people, not wanting to misuse God’s name, said Lord instead of Yahweh, when calling on the Lord. Again, God wants us to use His name, but not misuse it.

We keep God’s name holy by using it in the proper way. The proper way of using God’s name is to believe His Word and to live a godly life according to His Word. When we make it known that we are a Christian, when we wear the name Christian, others look at us and see Christ shine through us. Or, they look at us and see why they do not want to be a Christian, if we are making a bad witness. Keeping God’s name holy begins with the Word. As we read and hear the Word of the Lord, that Word springs up within us to move us to think godly thoughts, speak godly words and do godly acts. As we absent ourselves from this means of grace, we absent ourselves from God’s good gifts and blessings and we begin to lose the faith that was given to us.

We keep God’s name holy by hearing God’s Word, believing it, and living it. We do not do this on our own, but only as we are moved by God, through His Word. This is not an easy thing to do because we are still sinners and so we have that inner struggle between sinner and saint moving us to not keep His name holy, rather than to keep His name holy. Which leads us to the prayer which we pray, to have Him help us to keep His name holy.

Dear Father, forgive me as I struggle with keeping your name holy. Stir in me a desire to be in Your Word so that Your Word will work in me to listen to Your Word, to believe Your Word and to live my life according to Your Word. Father, help me to keep Your name holy. Amen.