Friends, would you like to draw closer to the Lord and experience His manifest presence more every day? If so, I have a word today that will help you do that.
Our friend Geron Davis wrote a song many years ago that the entire Christian world loves. He wrote:
“We are standing on holy ground, and I know that there are angels all around, Let us praise Jesus now, We are standing in His presence on holy ground.”
That song is always a reminder of the Scripture where God meets with Moses at the burning bush–but the bush was not consumed. When that happened, God said to Moses, “Do not come any closer. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Taking your sandals off was a sign of reverence and respect in Bible times.
It still held to be so in many cultures. In fact, you are required to take off your shoes at many temples–especially in Jerusalem. Yet, in the entire Bible there are only two times where this is instructed: one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, that one time someone was instructed to take off their shoes was when Moses was at the burning bush. In the New Testament, it was when Stephen recounted the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, to the Sanhedrin Court. In essence, a person was instructed to take off their shoes when they were at a place where the presence of God was.
Here is the takeaway for you:
Anytime we enter into the sanctuary–or anywhere that is set-apart with the presence of God, whether it is the place of your abode, business, your car or anywhere He happens to show up–it is to be considered holy, awesome, and held in deep reverence. Wherever the presence of God is, IT IS HOLY!
Recently, my husband and I did a series at our church’s Wednesday night Bible study on the seven-fold Spirits of God. It was a very deep and involved study from Isaiah 11. That chapter declares:
“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
All of these are all so incredibly amazing to study and dig into; but the one that I want us to look at together is the last one: the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.
I want us to look at the Spirit of the fear of the Lord so we can examine His holiness.
Maybe in the future we can look at all of these together in a webinar. 🙂 But for today, when you consider who this great God is that we serve, we can understand why we are to hallow Him.
One of the most beloved Prayers is something we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” In this prayer, Jesus teaches us to start our prayers by saying, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name ….”
The first thing we are supposed to do when we come into the presence of God is to acknowledge who He is.
He is the eternal Being who created and preserves all things. He is the God of the universe; the One who slung the stars into space–and here’s what I love so much–“and He called them all by name” (Psalm 147:4).
After we acknowledge Him in our prayer, then next we are supposed to recognize His position in the Heavenlies. The Bible says that God sits HIGH, enthroned in the heavens. He is seated in the high places! The great thing is that we get to be seated together with Him in heavenly places.
Isaiah 40:21-22 declares this about our God:
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”
David describes this God in this manner:
“All he had to do was speak by his Spirit-wind command, and God created the heavenlies. Filled with galaxies and stars, the vast cosmos he wonderfully made. His voice scooped out the seas. The ocean depths he poured into vast reservoirs” (Psalm 33:6-7 TPT).
THIS GOD WE SERVE IS A MASSIVE GOD!
Then we come to the theme of this post today: “Hallowed be thy name.”
Our God is a holy God. He is not like other so-called gods–gods that have lived and are now dead. THIS GOD, our God, is THE ONLY TRUE AND LIVING GOD! HALLELUJAH!
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). When we confess His Lordship in our lives–when we come to Him humbly and confess our sins, as 1 John 1:9 commands us to do–then we realize how big, awesome, and holy He is … and how utterly insignificant we are.
This is what we need to know about God:
He is a God of mercy, but He is also a God of judgement. I feel very compelled to share with you for you to to begin to understand who this God is in your life, and then to teach it to your children. Then they, in turn, will teach it to their children’s children.
The “fear of the Lord” is something that has become ordinary, not-to-be-taken seriously. People treat it very passively and they don’t show interest or emotion in revering God. They lack zeal for the house of God and the things of God.
But this word “holy” is in deep contrast to how most people treat God.
In its purest form, it can be defined as:
“Extreme purity, sacredness, divine, hallowedness, dedicated, consecrated, sanctified holiness, or awesome.”
It bothers me to hear the name of the Lord taken in vain–or worse, cursed!
In our culture there has arisen a sense of “It’s okay for me to use curse words because I am mature enough in my walk with God to know I live under grace.” I am not here to be in a debate about all of that; I will leave that for another time. But right now I want us to grasp who He is in our lives–and, most of all, WHAT He means to our lives.
When we reverence and cherish His name, we recognize His holy ground.
If we love His name, we will hold it in HIGH ESTEEM because we adore and love that name so much. For example:
Take the word “awesome.” We associate the word “awesome” to God, but also to our favorite fruity drink. Now I’m quite aware how culture can take words and change them and make them to fit to whatever we want them to be, but I think that God is calling us back to Himself. I believe the Word when Paul says, “Come out from among them and be separate.”
Anybody can live as the world lives, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too!
You have to realize your position as a soldier in the army of the Lord. If you are going to come out from among the world and have all the best in your relationship with Him …
… if you are going to know Him as no one knows Him …
… there must be a separation. There must be a commitment.
God wants ALL OF US! Joshua said it best: “Choose you this day whom you will serve!”
When we come into the house of God, we should do as David instructed us: “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”
The first thing we do when we come into the place of His presence is to recognize that we are on holy ground.
Then, we must come with thanksgiving. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.” The Bible says we should “Magnify the Lord” because He is holy! And when His presence is manifest, THAT IS WHEN WE REALIZE WE ARE ON HOLY GROUND!
Let this be a word of encouragement and equipping–but also a word of correction, if it needs to be.
The Holy Spirit is the one that convicts; not me. I don’t condemn or put down; I simply am a messenger. And the message that God gave me is simple and clear:
“Recognize My holiness and come into alignment with who I am. When you do, everything in your life has to come into alignment also.”
I believe this Word is for somebody. I ask you to receive it as the Word of the Lord and be strengthened by it. Put it into practice; you will find yourself drawing closer to the Lord.
Expanded blessings,
Pastor Judy