God’s name is used in scripture in reference to his relationship with his people. When we ask that God’s name be made holy, we ask that the relationship that he has established with his people might be set apart and recognized as great in the world.

“Therefore thus says the Lord God:’Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name'” (Ezekiel 36:25).

Here God’s jealousy for his own name is a jealousy for the purity of his relaionship with his people. In the beginning of God’s relationship with his people he does not even give a name other than I Am. He says “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” His identity to man was not an objective title, but a indicator of the nature of his relationship with his people.

This is seen all over scripture, like in Psalm 111:9;

“He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awsome is his name!” and again in Ezekiel 36:22-25 God gathers his people for the sake of his holy name.

So just as in the first phrase of the Lord’s prayer God establishes the intimate relationship that is the basis of our approach to him in prayer, so also in the first petition we ask that that relationship be of such a nature that it is glorified and made holy. For God has revealed to us that the relationship that he intended, and that is most glorifying, is that of his loving presence in redemption.

So we are commanded to pray for what he has promised so that our faith might be strengthened and our assurance made firm that we will receive what he has given.