“Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.” (Matthew 6:9) These opening words of the model prayer help us to draw close to God by addressing him as “our Father.” Like a child, who is naturally drawn to a loving and understanding parent, we can approach our heavenly Father confident that he wants to hear us. “O Hearer of prayer,” sang King David, “even to you people of all flesh will come.”—Psalm 65:2.
Jesus instructs us to pray for God’s name to be sanctified, or set apart as holy. But what is God’s name? The Bible answers in these words: “You, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:18) Have you ever read the name Jehovah in the Bible?
Actually, God’s name, Jehovah, appears nearly 7,000 times in ancient Bible manuscripts. However, some translators have gone so far as to remove this name from their versions of the Bible. Rightly, therefore, we pray for our Creator to sanctify his name, or make it holy. (Ezekiel 36:23) One way to act in harmony with such a prayer is to use the name Jehovah when we pray to God.
