Tag Archives: God

Hallowed Be Your Name

Hallowed Be Your Name

Audio Coming soon.

Notes:
2025.06.01_JasonGraham_TDPS_HallowedBeYourName.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 4

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He didn’t just tell them to address the Father—He added “Hallowed be Your name.” This phrase is more than an acknowledgment of God’s holiness—it’s a call to action.

What Does “Hallowed” Mean?

At first glance, one might think Jesus was simply stating a fact: “Father, Your name is holy.” But holiness is an adjective—hallowed is a verb. The Greek word hagiazó means to sanctify, set apart, and consecrate. Jesus was teaching us that we have a role in honoring God’s name.

Why Acknowledge His Name as Holy?

God is not just holy—He is thrice holy. When Isaiah and John both glimpsed the throne room of heaven, they heard the seraphim crying out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” This repetition wasn’t redundant—it was a proclamation that one “holy” isn’t enough to describe God’s fullness. It’s been sung for thousands of years—and if we were face-to-face with Him, we’d be singing it too.

The Name Above Every Name

But what name are we setting apart? Philippians 2:9-11 tells us: “God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name—so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.” This isn’t about language—whether it’s Jesus, Yeshua, Lord, Adonai, Jehovah—it’s about the One who bears the name.

How Do We Hallow God’s Name?

The Bible gives us three primary ways to set His name apart:

  1. Do not profane His name
    • To profane means to make common—to treat God’s name as ordinary instead of holy.
    • This includes misusing His name, swearing falsely by it, or using it for manipulation or control.
  2. Praise and Worship Him
    • Worship isn’t just singing—it’s recognizing God’s worth.
    • True worship happens in Spirit and in Truth—not just routine actions, but a heartfelt response.
  3. Be Holy in Conduct
    • When Peter quoted Leviticus “be holy, because I am Holy,” he explained that this means we are to “be holy in all we do.”
    • As believers, we are a royal priesthood—our holiness reflects His holiness.
    • We are made holy in nature by God, but holiness in conduct requires daily growth and surrender.

Holiness Is a Journey and a Destination

Being holy doesn’t mean perfection overnight—it’s a process of maturity. Jesus Himself said: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) The Greek word teleios means complete, mature, unfoldinglike a telescope extending stage by stage until it reaches full clarity. The Apostle Paul used the same root word in 2 Corinthians 7:1 when he told us to “perfect holiness out of reverence for God.” Both Jesus and Paul, by using this word, indicate a recognition that we are going through a process of maturity to reach an end goal.

Encouragement for the Journey

  • Holiness is because of salvation—not a condition for it.
  • It’s about loving God more than ourselves.
  • Failure isn’t falling when we try—it’s failing to try.
  • God enjoys us in our weakness—He knows our frame better than we do.

To hallow His name is to live in reverence, worship, and holiness—because His name is worthy.

Dive deeper into this truth through the full message, audio, and notes.

In Heaven

In Heaven

Experiencing Grace Podcast
Experiencing Grace Podcast
Disciples’ Prayer 3 | In Heaven | Ep. 15
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The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 3

In Heaven: Understanding God’s Position and Nature

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began with “Our Father in heaven.” Why that phrase? Why not just “Our Father”? The placement of “in heaven” is deliberate—it speaks to God’s exaltation, authority, and holiness, distinguishing Him from everything profane or common.

Heaven: God’s Throne and His Position as King

Scripture consistently defines heaven as God’s throne, emphasizing His position above all creation. Isaiah, David, Jesus, and even Stephen—the first Christian martyr—all affirm that God reigns from heaven. If God has a throne, then He must be King. And not just any king—He is King of Kings, the Most High, the Creator of heaven and earth.

The Paradox of God’s Nature

Here’s where things get profound: God is both transcendent and immanent. This means He is high above us yet draws near. He is incomprehensible and ineffable, yet He chooses to reveal Himself. The phrase “Our Father in heaven” captures this paradox perfectly—Father (close) / In Heaven (beyond us).

  • Transcendence: God’s ways are higher than ours, His thoughts beyond our understanding.
  • Immanence: Through Jesus, He dwells among us—Immanuel, God with us—and even within us.

Approaching God: Father and King

How do we approach such a God—so grand yet so personal? The Bible guides us:

  • With thanksgiving and praise – Enter His courts joyfully.
  • With songs of understanding – Worship that instructs and exalts.
  • With humility – Honor His holiness.
  • With listening hearts – Few words, open ears.

Our Position with Him

God, in His grace, has seated us with Christ in heavenly places. We are heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ, no longer slaves to sin, but victorious through Him.

And yet, does that diminish our need to worship? Absolutely not. If anything, understanding our honored position should increase our reverence for Him. Even the twenty-four elders, exalted in the heavenly vision of Revelation, cast their crowns and worship. The more we grasp God’s greatness, the more worship becomes our natural response.

The Conclusion: He is King, We are Worshipers

At the end of the day, God is King. He is exalted. He is worthy of worship. What does He ask of us? That we love Him and love others—for love fulfills all the commandments.

Dive deeper into this truth through the full message, audio, and notes.

In Heaven

Notes:
JasonGraham_InHeaven_DisciplesPrayerSeries.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 3

In Heaven

After Jesus uses the word Father in the disciples’ prayer, a word that expresses great intimacy, affection, and acceptance in God, He immediately uses a phrase that makes God completely untouchable: In Heaven.  Why the great disparity?

On the one hand, we seem invited to accept God as absolutely close and accessible.  On the other hand, he is lifted into the cosmos.  Ineffable.  Unreachable.

How are we supposed to manage such a dichotomy in our daily lives?  How do we wrap our theology around a God who is both so imminent and transcendent?

This teaching attempts to give some biblical clarity around these two ideas about God, and shows how–for the believer–God being “In Heaven” doesn’t put him so far away as we may have thought; although, His worthiness of being highly exalted is not diminished in the least.

We will come to this conclusion by looking at scriptures that answer the following questions:

  • What is Heaven?
  • What does that make God?
  • How do we approach Him?
  • What is our position with the God In Heaven?

I think you’ll enjoy this message.  You can read the attached notes and listen to the audio above.  Feel free to “like” this post below and leave your comments.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.


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Father

Notes:
JasonGraham_Father_DisciplesPrayerSeries.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 2

Lion and Cub

The devoted have repeated this word in their prayers for centuries. Jesus modeled the use of this word when teaching us how to pray in scripture. Why? I think it is of utmost importance to understand in-depth what it means for God to be our Father–and us to be His sons–from the rest of scripture.

In the teaching attached to the top of this entry we look into what the scripture explains about God our Father.  We’ll look at why we are sons, and how we are made into sons.  We answer the question, “Are we sons like Jesus is the Son of God?”

The teaching also explains what the benefits are for us to be sons of God, and they are amazing.  Among other things, this teaching also seeks to explain how our relationship with God the Father is defined in His acceptance and discipline, as well as presents an answer to the often-asked question, “If we are sons, then are we still servants?”

As a side note, being a Son of God is a spiritual position, and has nothing to do with physical gender.  Women believers are Sons of God in the same way that men believers are the Bride of Christ.  Both of these terms indicate spiritual truths about our position in God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.

For those of you who like to download or stream the audio of these lessons, unfortunately there were technical difficulties that prevented this lesson from being recorded when I taught it at my church.  I will update audio if I’m able to get it recorded at some point in the future.


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What is Love?

Notes:
JasonGraham_WhatIsLove.pdf Download
whatIsLove

The Bible explains what it is in beautiful, yet easy to understand language.  This is one of the most important things that God wants us to get.  What is Love?

Is it a feeling?  A commitment?  A choice?  No.

Well, not in the context of what we are talking about here anyway.  The truth is that Love is God.  The Bible makes this very clear.

So, that begs the question, “If God is love, then how does love act?”  I believe the scripture gives us a concise picture of the nature of God in the description about love in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV) 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

The degree to which we love like the scripture says is the degree to which we are like God.

This teaching breaks down all 16 attributes of love given in the passage above, and seeks to bring better clarity to what love should look like in God’s people.  When I taught it at my church, there was such a sweet spirit of unity that arose from it that is hard for me to explain.  God is truly amazing.

I hope you enjoy this teaching.  We can discuss it in the comments section below if you’d like.


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Kingdom Law: Love and Kindness

Kingdom Law: Love and Kindness

Experiencing Grace Podcast
Experiencing Grace Podcast
Kingdom Law: Love and Kindness | Ep. 9
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God is not nice.

You can’t find a scripture that ever says that he is, and you can’t find him displaying the attribute of “being nice” in the scriptures.  What He is, though, is so much better…

God is kind.

In this lesson I talk about what the debt was that Jesus really paid, and what the most natural reaction from us should be to the grace he showed us: walking in love and kindness.

I then talk for some time on the differences between being nice and being kind, why it is important to understand the difference, and why being kind should be our goal–not being nice.

Here is a chart from the attached notes that gives you an idea of some of the things that I talk about:

KindnessNiceness
Gentle, Mild, Sympathetic, Forbearing, AffectionatePleasant, Agreeable, Polite
Kindness has to do with one’s nature.  Inward condition.Nice has to do with how we appear to others.  Outward action or appearance.  It is so much related to outward appearance that it is commonly used to say things like:That’s a nice car.
That’s a nice house.
He has a nice smile.
Is always rooted in the Truth (based on scriptures about Kindness).Can be rooted in DECEPTION.  “I was just being nice.”
The Bible tells us to be Kind.The Bible NEVER tells us to be nice.

Finally, I present some warnings from scripture to those who do not walk in love.