guilty.

". . .it is true that over & over again carelessness in conduct, carelessness in speech, carelessness in life & discipline bring shame upon His name, I ask you what value it is to repeat in the house of God on Sunday 'Hallowed by Thy name,' if we are responsible for that name being dishonored in office & home during the week? What value is there in coming piously to pray, 'Lord, hallowed be Thy name,' & then to drag it down by our conduct the other six days?"

-Alan Redpath (Victorious Praying)

Guilty, plain & simple. 

I'm not going to defend myself or anybody else. . .we have all been guilty of this at some point or another & we all have people in our life that do it too. Recently God has been calling me to a life led by prayer & constant communication with Him & His Spirit. Let me rephrase that, He has ALWAYS been calling me to that lifestyle, but more recently, I have had this passionate longing within me for a life that relies solely upon His Spirit. . .to achieve that, I am learning that prayer must be my life.

Along with learning how to live a life full of prayer, I have been reading Victorious Praying by Alan Redpath (thank you Mikey for letting me borrow your book!). Last night as I was reading the chapter on "Hallowed be Thy name," I was convicted of the many times in my life that I have been a participant of the above quote. I have been responsible for my Father's name being dishonored & I can't express how difficult it is to type this because I, quite frankly, don't want to be honest about it. It breaks my heart that I & others are dragging down the name of the Lord, the powerful & gracious name of Jesus, by our conduct & then we feel it is our right to call upon that name in times of trouble.

Let me ask you. . .

Do the people around you know the powerful, gracious, always loving, unchanging, selfless, freeing name of Jesus or do they know the wavering, selfish, hurtful, greedy, sometimes faithful, sometimes loving name of Jesus YOU portray?