In the infinite tenderness
and pity and patience of the infinite Father, in His loving
readiness to hear and to help, the life of prayer has its joy. O
let us take time, until the Spirit has made these words to us
spirit and truth, filling heart and life: 'Our Father which art
in heaven.' Then we are indeed within the veil, in the secret
place of power where prayer always prevails.

'_Hallowed be Thy name._' There is something here that strikes us
at once. While we ordinarily first bring our own needs to God in
prayer, and then think of what belongs to God and His interests,
the Master reverses the order. First, _Thy_ name, _Thy_ kingdom,
_Thy_ will; then, give _us_, forgive _us_, lead _us_, deliver
_us_. The lesson is of more importance than we think. In true
worship the Father must be first, must be all. The sooner I learn
to forget myself in the desire that HE may be glorified, the
richer will the blessing be that prayer will bring to myself. No
one ever loses by what he sacrifices for the Father.

This must influence all our prayer. There are two sorts of
prayer: personal and intercessory. The latter ordinarily occupies
the lesser part of our time and energy. This may not be. Christ
has opened the school of prayer specially to train intercessors
for the great work of bringing down, by their faith and prayer,
the blessings of His work and love on the world around. There can
be no deep growth in prayer unless this be made our aim. The
little child may ask of the father only what it needs for itself;
and yet it soon learns to say, Give some for sister too. But the
grown-up son, who only lives for the father's interest and takes
charge of the father's business, asks more largely, and gets all
that is asked. And Jesus would train us to the blessed life of
consecration and service, in which our interests are all
subordinate to the Name, and the Kingdom, and the Will of the
Father. O let us live for this, and let, on each act of
adoration, Our Father! there follow in the same breath, _Thy_
Name, _Thy_ Kingdom, _Thy_ Will;--for this we look up and long.

'_Hallowed be Thy name._.' What name? This new name of Father.
The word _Holy_ is the central word of the Old Testament; the
_name_ Father of the New. In this name of Love all the holiness
and glory of God are now to be revealed. And how is the name to
be hallowed? By God Himself: '_I will hallow_ My great name which
ye have profaned.' Our prayer must be that in ourse