The Prayer to Pray First

I grew up singing about the glory of God. “To God be the glory, great things He has done.” “Father, we love You, we worship and adore You. Glorify Thy name in all the earth.”

The words rolled easily off my tongue. I knew the melodies by heart. But if I’m honest, there were years when I had no real idea what I was singing.

That is one of the quiet challenges of growing up in a faithful church. You inherit language that saints have cherished for centuries words like glory, holy, majesty, worship. But without depth, they can slowly become religious background noise.

Then one day, God opens your eyes.

You realize the Bible is not mainly about your plans, your problems, or even your spiritual growth. It is about His glory. And suddenly, phrases you once sang absentmindedly feel weighty, alive, almost dangerous.

That realization sits at the heart of what Jesus teaches us when He says: pray this first.

When the Disciples Asked

The disciples approach Jesus with a request that should still astonish us: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

They had watched Him slip away in the early morning. They had seen Him commune with His Father. They had heard Him speak with an intimacy and authority unlike any rabbi they had known.

And when Jesus answers, He does not hesitate.

“When you pray, say…”

In during the Sermon on the Mount, He introduces the same model prayer with the same clarity: “Pray then like this.”

No disclaimers. No detours.

This is how the Son of God teaches us to approach the Father.

The Stunning First Words

Before any request for daily bread.

Before forgiveness.
Before deliverance from evil.

Jesus says:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

The address alone is breathtaking.

“Our Father.” Nearness. Tenderness. Adoption.
“In heaven.” Authority. Majesty. Sovereignty.

We approach a Father who is both intimate and infinite.

And then comes the first petition: Hallowed be your name.

Not, “Help me.”
Not, “Fix this.”
Not, “Bless that.”

But, “Let your name be made holy.”

What Does “Hallowed” Mean?

The word hallowed can sound archaic. But at its core, it means treated as holy. Revered. Honored. Set apart as supremely valuable.

Holiness, in Scripture, describes God’s utter otherness. His uniqueness as Creator, His moral perfection, His blazing purity. He is not common. He is not ordinary. He is not one being among many.

He is God.

His glory, then, is the display of that holiness the visible, knowable radiance of His infinite worth.

To pray “Hallowed be your name” is to pray:

Father, cause your infinite worth to be seen and treasured.
Cause your holiness to be recognized and revered.
Begin in me. Spread to the nations.

This first petition is not abstract. It is intensely personal.

The Only Human Response Named

There is something unique about this first request.

The other petitions in the Lord’s Prayer ask for things God must do: bring His kingdom, give daily bread, forgive sins, lead us not into temptation.

But here, Jesus asks for something that involves the human heart.

That God’s name would be hallowed esteemed, admired, cherished.

This is the one explicit heart-response Jesus teaches us to pray for first.

Not primarily that mountains declare His glory.
Not mainly that oceans reflect His power.

But that thinking, feeling, willing humans starting with us would treasure Him as holy.

Research consistently shows that what we value most shapes every decision we make. Studies in behavioral psychology suggest that core beliefs about ultimate meaning influence daily habits more than external pressures do. Jesus understood this long before modern science confirmed it.

If God’s name is not hallowed in our hearts, the rest of our prayers will drift out of proportion.

Why This Comes First

Imagine asking Jesus, “How should I pray?” and expecting techniques or structure only to receive this instead:

Start with God’s glory.

Jesus rearranges our instincts. Our natural impulse is to begin with our anxieties. Our to-do list. Our fears.

But Jesus says: before you pray about your kingdom, pray about His.

Before you ask for your name to be known, ask that His name be treasured.

This is not because God is insecure or needy. It is because He is the highest good. When His name is hallowed in us, everything else falls into its rightful place.

When God’s glory becomes central, daily bread becomes a gift, not a god. Forgiveness becomes a wonder, not an assumption. Protection from evil becomes part of a larger story.

Keeping the Words From Growing Old

There is a danger Jesus warns about just verses earlier in Matthew 6: empty phrases.

Ironically, even “Hallowed be your name” can become one of them.

So how do we keep this first prayer alive?

By expanding our language and our vision.

Instead of repeating only the word glory, we pray:

Father, display Your majesty.

Let Your beauty be seen.
Let Your wisdom be honored.
Let Your mercy be praised.
Let Your power be revered.

And instead of saying only hallowed, we respond with:

I treasure You.
I adore You.
I stand in awe of You.
I delight in You.
I cherish You above all.

The Bible gives us vocabulary from Genesis to Revelation to describe God’s splendor His dominion, His strength, His faithfulness, His steadfast love.

Statistics show that regular prayer is associated with lower stress levels and greater emotional stability. But beyond psychological benefit, prayer reorders our loves. It recalibrates what we consider ultimate.

When we begin by hallowing God’s name, we remind our hearts who sits at the center of the universe — and who does not.

A Lifetime of Praying This First

To pray “Hallowed be your name” is to consecrate your life daily.

It is to say:

May my thoughts honor You.
May my words reflect You.
May my work point to You.
May my joys not compete with You.
May my suffering not obscure You.

And when this prayer becomes genuine, the rest of life begins to align.

God will glorify His name. Scripture is clear about that. The question is whether we will joyfully participate in it.

Jesus did not give us a long technique. He gave us a priority.

Pray this first.

If this helped renew your understanding of prayer, share it with someone who longs to grow deeper in their walk with God or subscribe to our newsletter for more reflections on living for His glory.