In this season, God has called us into more in our devotion and as we heed this call, we have considered over the last two days the need to go deeper in prayer and in fervour.

On the first, we took a deep dive into the place of consistency and spending long hours in prayer. Today, our focus would be the importance of making God our top priority in prayer and how this can radically change our devotion.

Luke 11:1-2

New King James Version

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He responded with what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. Contrary to popular belief, this prayer is not a set of words to be recited. Rather it serves as a blueprint for our entire prayer life. It tells us how to pray. Today, we’ll focus on the second verse.

The Greek word for “hallowed” is hagiazo, which means to make holy, to consecrate, or to purify. It signifies reverence for God’s holiness. This term is also used elsewhere in Scripture to mean sanctify, which involves setting something apart as sacred.

In essence, when Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray, He emphasized the importance of consecration and the theme is consistent throughout the entirety of the Lord’s Prayer.

When Jesus gave us this blueprint for prayer, He was showing us that God should be our first priority. He should be set apart in our hearts as more important than anything else.

This understanding shifts our perspective on prayer from being merely about meeting our needs to being an act of consecration to the will of God. His plan should always be our chief agenda.

Consecration should radically transform your focus in prayer. While we often come to God with our own prayer points, we must also recognize that God has His own points in prayer, and He desires to communicate them to us.

Our minds must be open not only to our own desires but also to what He wants. His will is paramount. Our prayers become more effective when we grasp what Jesus was teaching—prayer is not just about asking for what we want but becoming sensitive enough to discern what God desires.

Luke 11:2

New King James Version

2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

What comes next after consecration in this prayer blueprint is the prayer for the kingdom. The phrase ‘Your kingdom come’ reveals where the Father’s priorities lie in prayer. Those who heard this phrase would have immediately thought it to be the Messianic prayer that points to the prophecies of the reign of a political leader who would come to free the Jews from the oppression of the Roman leaders.

However, Jesus was actually praying and telling them to pray for the day that he would be crucified to come so that he can reign as king in all our hearts by paying the price for our salvation on the cross.

In our case, the kingdom has come because Christ has paid that price and those who believe are now heirs of that same kingdom. That means now, we pray for the expansion of the kingdom of God, that it fills the whole earth because it has always been about the salvation of men.

We consistently see patterns showing us that the Father’s priority is souls and this reflects in the way that prayer was done in the New Testament. Hardly would you see a prayer for personal needs. Instead, what we see are prayers for spiritual growth, prayers for the churches, prayers for the salvation of others, and prayers of thanksgiving.

Let’s take a look at the prayers of the Apostle Paul for the church in Ephesus and Colossae.

Ephesians 1:16-18

New King James Version

16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

Colossians 1:9-10

New King James Version

9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Do your prayers sound like this? Any believer that has a thorough understanding of what it means to be consecrated to God’s will would have his priorities in prayer overcome with God’s priority. In such a life, there would be a great emphasis on praying for souls, a necessity of praying for those being disciples, and the burden to pray for nations and the spread of the work of ministry.

He will find himself praying that the Gospel spreads to the ends of the earth, that souls are saved, that people see the light, and that they turn from their evil, wicked, and perverse ways. If you truly understand consecration, all these signs aforementioned would also be true about you.

1 Timothy 2:4

New King James Version

4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Consecration means that this is your desire as well. This must become your priority in prayer as well. It is a sign of spiritual growth when we have the right priorities in prayer.

It is discernible whether you have developed a deeper understanding of the things of God by your priorities in prayer.

The Bible tells us that we ought to set our minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, not on things on the earth. In prayer, where is your priority? Who is your focus?

When our focus is on God and His kingdom, we find that our prayers become more effective. And as we go on in our day, consciously redirect your heart to God in prayer. Deliberately make Him the center of your priority.

Prayer Point:

Lord God, as I continue in this week of Prayer and Fasting, I grow in consecration to you. You become the priority more than any other thing.