Tony Evans - The Paternity Of Prayer (08/28/2022)
Prayer is relational communication with “Our Father” in heaven, whose name must be hallowed as unique and sacred, setting the foundation for inviting His kingdom rule. From Matthew 6:9 and various Scriptures on God’s names (Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai), the preacher emphasizes approaching God as relational Father—provider, protector, and sovereign—while revering His holy name to experience heaven’s power on earth.
Prayer as Relational Communication
We have defined prayer as relational communication with God. You are not merely talking to God; you are talking to your Father. That is a relationship—as a child would approach his father. Honor, respect, with clarity and honesty. God invites us to approach Him.
So, when we have a long-distance relationship with God because we are not pursuing intimacy—we are just coming to Him for stuff—then that means that our prayer is not getting through because we do not want Him; we just want to use Him.
So, our Father—who is operating in a whole different realm—who art in heaven—I am going to make a big deal about Your name. And after He has been given the worth due His great name in a relational conversation with Him, the next part of the prayer says, “Your kingdom come.” That is as far as we got last time—those three words, “Your kingdom come.”
The Flow of the Lord’s Prayer
Now, the Lord’s Prayer is divided into a very simple flow—two halves, if you will. The first half is concerned with God: “Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” It is about Thy or You.
The second half is about us: “Our daily bread. Our trespasses. Lead us not into temptation.” So the first half is all about God. The second half is about you. And then, of course, He closes it with prayer about God again: “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever, amen.” So it is God, us, God.
What leads Jesus into this prayer from verse 8 is His statement that God knows our needs. Your Father already knows—before you ask—what you are coming in to talk about.
So prayer is not an informational session to inform God. He says, “I already know what you want to talk about. I just want to know—do you want to talk to Me about it?”
Here is the key: Just because God knows something does not mean He will act on it. He has knowledge of everything—but some things He will not act on until there is relational communication with Him about it. So His knowledge does not equal His action.
Jesus says, “Pray in this way,” in verse 9—“Pray like this.” This is really not a prayer to be repeated word for word. It is really a framework—a guide for praying.
Today we want to look at verse 9—for verse 9 is pregnant with principles for prayer.
Our Father
First of all, our Father—our Father. Point: You are not an only child. It is not just your Daddy. It is our Father. But He is Father.
He is Father. Let us talk about that. You only have a father because you have got kids. That is what makes you a father.
Everybody who has accepted Christ—John 1:12—has been made a son or a child or daughter of God. So you have a Father.
So when you approach God in prayer, He wants you to approach Him relationally—not just God way up there, but Daddy up in here. He wants a relational communication as a Father.
First of all, He is Father by position. Because in the Scripture, the Father was the head of the home. “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”—the breakdown of the Father. God always did His covenants through the Father—because the Father held the post of responsibility.
So if you are a man here, God holds you in ultimate place of responsibility for your home by position—and for your children. Maybe you did not know that—but every man here needs to know.
In the Bible, it is the father’s responsibility to raise the children—not the mother. The job of the mother is to help and fill in the gaps when the father cannot be there—because that is your role.
So if the father does not own it, you may be father by title—but you are not father by position—because you are not carrying out the rearing responsibility that belongs ultimately—certainly with the help of the wife—but ultimately belongs in the hands of the man.
Father as Provider and Protector
The most beautiful thing is that if we start with our heavenly Father, He takes responsibility for all of His children—and for all of us who name the name of Jesus Christ. He owns that. God owns that—because that is what fathers do.
In addition to that position of raising the children, His job is to provide. God told Adam—before He gave him a family—“I am going to make you a provider—and I am going to provide for you. So I am going to provide for you so that you can provide for them. Because I am your Daddy—I want you to be their daddy.”
In addition to the position and the provider was the protection. He says, “You are to guard the garden. And if you guard the garden under Me, I am going to guard you. I will guard you while you guard the garden—and you cover the family.”
So it was God fathering Adam. Adam was to father the family—and Adam was to get his clues of fathering from God.
If you start with your human father—and your human father was not a father worth following—and you transfer that to God, you have a bad attitude toward God because you had a bad situation with your human father.
And so our heavenly Father has a position. He is a provider. He is a protector. And that is who you talk to when you pray: our Father.
Who Art in Heaven
The second thing you need to know is our Father who art in heaven. Translation: our Father who is not on earth.
Your Father is a heavenly Father. Now this is critical—because you and I live on earth—and on earth we operate by our five senses—and we are limited by time and space because we are earthbound.
Let me tell you something about your Daddy. Your Daddy is not subject to the limitations of time and space—because your Daddy’s house is in heaven.
Daniel 4:26 says heaven rules over earth. So what you need to know when you pray to your unseen Father is that He is very much operative. He is in heaven—and heaven overrules earth.
So therefore, the limitations of your earthly father are not the limitations of your heavenly Father—because your earthly father is as bound to earth as you are—but your heavenly Father is not.
Therefore, if you put all of your marbles on your earthly father—with their limitations—you are going to miss out on the potency of your heavenly Father—who is not subject to this world order.
I am glad to know that earthly fathers do not have the last word. So if you were raised without a father—if you were raised with an abusive father—if you were raised with a neglectful father—I want you to know right now that that earthly father does not have the last say-so over your life, over your recovery, over your stability, over your provision—because your daddy has got a Daddy who is in heaven—that is, He operates out of a whole different realm.
Jesus’ Relational Prayer
Now, when Jesus was on earth, He prayed to God as His Father. Every time Jesus prayed, He prayed relationally. In fact, the only time that I have seen in Scripture where Jesus prayed and called His Father God was when He died on the cross: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
Every other time, He calls Him Father. The reason He has to call Him God on the cross is He is covered with our sin. So there is no fellowship with the Father. So He has got to have Him way out there as the transcendent God.
But when He was walking on earth, He called Him Father.
This is why I love John chapter 20, verse 17—because John chapter 20, verse 17 says He tells His disciples, “I am going to My Father.” He is getting ready to leave earth and go to heaven. “I am going to My Father.” But then He says, “and yours.”
Ooh, wait a minute. “I am not only going to My Daddy—I am going to your Daddy too.”
Now, why do you need to know that? You need to know that because what Jesus was telling them—that He is telling us—is, “The same help that My Daddy gave Me when I am on earth—now that I am leaving—He makes available to you because you are as much of His kid as I am.”
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is seated on the right hand of the Father in heaven. And guess what it says in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 6: We are seated with Him.
So the same level of intimacy—based on God’s will—that He had with Jesus—He says He wants to have with you—if you relate to Him as Daddy.
Our Father who is in heaven—who operates out of that realm. But I am praying because I need You in this realm.
Hallowed Be Thy Name
And then He comes to it. Here it is: “Hallowed be Thy name.” Hallowed be Thy name.
The Greek word “hallowed” means to be sacred, separated, and unique. It is to treat as one of a kind. It is to treat as special—a class by itself. It is from one of the cognates of the word “holy”—to be separate, unique, special.
Daddy, there is nobody like You.
When you know the price God paid for your salvation—for your deliverance—it should not be a problem hallowing His name. That means to put it in a class by itself. He is not to be treated like just another deity or just another greater. No—you are diminishing His name.
That is why the third commandment says do not take the name of the Lord in vain. That means do not not hallow His name. Do not treat His name as ordinary. The word vain means empty—with no real reason. You are just throwing it out and not recognizing the significance of it.
Okay. I have said this before—but to understand this idea of hallowing—making it sacred—treating it like it is unique: Hallowed be Your name.
So that means we have got to talk about His name.
Now, the Bible does not use names like we use them. We use names because we like them. We name our kids maybe after somebody or because we like the sound of that name. That is how we do it.
But in the Bible, typically, names were tied to meanings. So kids were named by a parent based on the meaning of the word.
When God wanted to express Himself, He does it through name—including His own.
So the better you know His name—now, we know the name God. Okay? Okay—but that is a generic umbrella name. Okay? I want to break it down. Break it down.
Key Names of God
In my book on the names of God, I have in the back listed 85 names in the Old Testament for God—85 names—because those names have meaning.
So when He says “Hallowed be Your name,” if you do not know His name, you cannot hallow Him. To put it another way, the better you know His name, the more you can hallow Him—because you will have more information on your Daddy.
So let us go over God’s names.
First of all is the name Elohim. That is the name in Genesis 1: “In the beginning Elohim—God—created the heavens and the earth.”
Normally, in the Bible, when you see G-O-D—God—it typically is referring to Elohim. That is the Creator God.
Now, Elohim is a plural term. “Im” is plural. “El” is strong one.
The context of Elohim—“In the beginning God created the heaven and earth”—discusses God as the Creator God. This is His power name. So El or Elohim is His power name. He creates with that name.
Now you need to know that name because you are going to need power in your life. You are going to need God to do something.
So let me tell you a little bit about Elohim’s power. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 3 that God created out of things which do not appear. We call it in theology ex nihilo—which means out of nothing.
So God made the heavens and earth without having any raw material to work with. He created creation out of nothing.
Now, your children are being lied to in school by being taught the evil doctrine and religion of evolution—because it is a religion. The religion of evolution—or what I call fairy tales for adults—says that nothing produced everything.
They even have this ignorant theory out there called the big bang theory—where there is an explosion bringing the universe into existence.
Well, have you ever seen a bomb explode something and everything fall back down to be unified? Blow up a building—but all the bricks are going to fall back down and be in place. Okay?
This is because men do not want to have to answer to God—so they have got to come up with a theory that keeps God out of the issue—because they do not hallow His name.
Why do you need to know His name is Elohim? Because you need to know that God can do stuff without you knowing or seeing or having any idea of how He is going to pull it off—because He does not need raw materials to do what He is going to do. He can do what He is going to do when you do not know how He is going to do it.
That is why God had to tell Mary—when He told Mary, “You are going to have a baby even though you are a virgin.” She says, “That does not make sense. There is no sperm involved here. There is no man involved here. What You just said cannot happen.”
The angel looked at her and said, “You do not know His name. Let me explain something. Nothing is impossible with God. He is Elohim. He does not need raw materials if He plans to pull it off anyway.”
When you know your Daddy is so big that He does not have to have raw materials—you do not have to be able to figure it out; you do not have to understand how He is going to hook it up—because your Daddy is so big He can bypass raw material to pull off answered prayer—that is the Daddy you want to talk to.
Jehovah and Adonai
Second name—foundational name—Jehovah or Yahweh. That is the name God gave Himself.
When you read your Bible and you see capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D—that is typically Jehovah or Yahweh. That is God’s relational name. It is His covenant name. It is His connect-with-you name.
Moses asked, “Who shall I say sent me?” He says, “You tell them I AM THAT I AM.” That is the Tetragrammaton—the four letters. These were four letters—and these four letters, consonants. That is why they had to add vowels so that we could pronounce it Yahweh or Jehovah.
He said, “I AM THAT I AM. I am not what you want Me to be. I AM WHO I AM. I am a relational God.”
You have to understand God—that is why He uses Father—is a relational being. So if you do not want to relate to Jehovah, you may not get the benefit of Elohim.
See, everybody wants Elohim—show me Your power. But not a lot of folk want Jehovah—give me the relationship.
And God will not give you all of Elohim if you do not want none of Jehovah. You do not want to spend time with Him. You do not want to get to know Him. You do not want to study Him. You do not want to learn Him. You do not want to apply Him. You do not want to interact with Him. You do not want to include Him. But you want the blessing—you want the power—you want the deliverance.
Uh-uh. His name is Jehovah when it comes to relational expression of Elohim.
That is why in Genesis chapter 1 the only name in Genesis 1 is Elohim—because He is creating the stars and the moon and the sun and the animals. He is doing all that. But in chapter 2, verse 4—when He begins creating people—you do not read Elohim anymore by itself. You read Jehovah Elohim—or as you will see it in the Bible, the Lord God, the Lord God, the Lord God.
Why? Because man would see Elohim when he got connected with Jehovah.
So if you want to see more power—get closer to Daddy—because Daddy is the one who dispenses the Elohim power of God.
Do not have a long distance with God and expect close-up deliverance—close-up blessing—close-up fire—close-up protection—close-up provision—but you keep a long distance from your Daddy. No—He wants to be Jehovah.
Then the third foundational name is Adonai. Adonai—when you read your Bible—is capital L, small o, small r, small d. Capital L, small o, small r, small d. That is typically Adonai.
Adonai means your boss—your manager—your supervisor—your owner—the one in charge of you. That is Adonai.
So Elohim is His power. Jehovah is His relationship. And Adonai means that He is in charge of you.
So if you do not want God telling you what to do—do not be calling on Elohim—and do not be thinking you are getting close to your Jehovah—because He is in charge. He wants to call the shots.
The greatest insult you can give to God is when He clearly says something—and you tell Him what you think. “Let God be true,” Scripture says, “and let every man be a liar.”
So whenever you—your people—your mama—your daddy—your auntie—your uncle—your posse—disagrees with God—everybody wrong—because this name has no imperfection associated with it.
We think about understanding it—then applying it—but never determining it. And the worst insult a Christian can give their Father is, “Daddy, You do not know what You are talking about.”
That is not hallowing His name.
Honoring and Magnifying God’s Name
Just some of the key Scriptures about the name of God—some of the key Scriptures that we need to be aware of.
He says, for example, in Psalm 34, verses 1 and 3: We are to magnify the name.
He says in Hebrews 13, verse 15: He says that you are to give thanks for God’s name.
He says in 2 Timothy 2:19: He says, “When you go public, you ought to wear God’s name.”
He says in Psalm 8, verses 1 and 9: “O magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together.”
He says in Psalm 111, verse 9: “Awesome is His name.” And if His name is awesome, nobody else’s name is. He says, “Awesome is His name.”
He says in Psalm 29, verses 1 and 2: “Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name.”
The Bible says, “From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, may the name of the Lord be praised.”
In Proverbs 18, verse 10: He says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower—and anyone who runs into it will find safety.”
So we are not just talking about nomenclature. We are talking about a name above every name. And guess what? The greatest name in the world is your Daddy. The most powerful name in the world is your heavenly Father.
So you ought to magnify the name. That is not just being emotional.
See, emotionalism is when you are making a lot of noise about nothing. But true emotion is when you are making a big deal about something.
So when God does something in your life because you joined Him in prayer—then you are to hallow His name.
And then all the combination names—we do not have to go into it—but oh, if you run out of provision, He is Jehovah Jireh—He is the Lord who provides.
If you are being attacked, He is Jehovah Nissi—the Lord is my banner who gives me victory.
If you are in turmoil, He is Jehovah Shalom—because He is the God who brings peace.
If somebody over you is treating you wrong, He is El Elyon—the Most High God. That means that whoever messed over you does not have the last say over you—because it is Somebody over them.
If you are going through a struggle and you do not have enough strength, He is El Shaddai—He is God Almighty. He can pull the weight when you cannot pull it.
If nobody knows what you are going through because you are going through by yourself, He is El Roi—He is the God who sees—and He knows what you are dealing with.
Now, we could go on and on and on. My whole point is He has got a name for your every situation.
But I know you will not remember 85 names—and you may even forget the three names—but if you forget how to technically call the name, just do what the old folks used to do. Because they would say He is the doctor in a sick room. He is the lawyer in a courtroom. He is the balm in Gilead when you are sick. He is the rose of Sharon. He is the bright and morning star.
If you cannot remember the name—just describe the Person. And then when you see Him show up—and the power of hallowing His name—as you treat Him as Father—do like the team will do when the defense scores. They just go and they do that. They say, “Give it up, give it up.” What they are saying is, “I want everybody to join me in celebration of what just happened.”
When you discover the heavenly Father—and what He can do—you better not keep it to yourself. You better give it up. You better give it up. You better give it up. You better give it up—and give Him the glory due His holy name.
I am standing here at the Cliffs of Moher—a beautiful, scenic demonstration of the power of God in creation. Standing over the Atlantic Ocean here at the western edge of Europe in Ireland, you can see how great our God is by seeing how powerful He is through the things that He has made.
The heavens and earth declare the glory of God—and that is why we pray to Him—because anybody this great and this good deserves to be consulted with on every area of life. And that is why we call Him Father.