Psalm 25:11 For Your name’s sake, O LORD, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Psalm 79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name’s sake.
Psalm 106:8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His power known.
Psalm 143:11 For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.
Isaiah 48:9 “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, In order not to cut you off. 11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned?
Ezekiel 20:9 “But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
Ezekiel 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.
Eph 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
1 John 2:12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.
The above verses could be multiplied many times over. But in the verses given, we see another way of praying for the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer. We are to pray first and foremost for His name to be hallowed, exalted, revered, and glorified. Instead we pray for the things our wicked hearts desire or what we have been taught we should pray for. Our hearts long for what they love and we pray for what we love the most. When we pray for ourselves and our less than spiritual desires, though we may put a spiritual twist on them, we show that we love ourselves. If our hearts were truly taken with God and His glory first we would pray for His glory first.
What we can see from the verses above and point out in a short amount of space is that God always acts for the sake of His own name. We can also see what the hearts of saints longed for and loved the most. Perhaps we never thought of it this way before, but we are to love God and His glory so much that we should desire for our sins to be forgiven in order that His name would be glorified. How our hearts must learn to pant for and desire that His name would be exalted in the earth. We love little so we pray like this but a little.
The verses above teach us how to pray. We should pray for God to restrain His wrath upon us for His name’s sake. We should pray for revival so that His glory would shine forth. We should pray that He would save sinners so that the beauty of His grace would shine forth. We should pray for hearts that would love Him and His glory so much that our hearts, desires, and prayers are focused on Him and His own name. The verses above also serve as a mirror to show us our hearts. Do we desire revival in order that His glory would be seen? Do we desire revival so that His name would be honored? What else would God send revival for? We need to pray for hearts that would be taught by the Spirit to long for and love Him enough that His glory and honor is what our hearts really desire and pray for. When He gives us hearts that plead with Him in truth and love for His name’s sake, revival is close.
God Loves... Himself 
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