For the next few weeks, we are going to focus our thinking on prayer. I must confess that I am dong this for a very selfish reason. My own prayer life is waning. I know it is not at all what it should be and I want to return to a closer relationship with God. I hope you will walk with me through this adventure. 

In John chapters 14 – 17, Jesus was preparing His disciples for His death, burial, resurrection and life without His physical presence. One thing Jesus wanted them to understand was the potential of prayer. Here are some key things He told them…

John 14:12–14 (ESV)

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 15:16 (ESV)

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 16:23–24 (ESV)

23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Over and over, Jesus said, ’WHATEVER YOU ASK.”

Did Jesus mean “whatever you ask” as a sweeping statement to include whatever with no restrictions whatsoever?  Does this mean that all you have to do is say, “Father, in Jesus’ name I’m asking for a new car or a new house or for healing, etc.”, and it’s automatically given to you?  Too many people who have bought into the health-wealth culture have bought into that idea.

To understand what Jesus meant, we must understand the context of this promise. Jesus was talking to His disciples whom He was about to send out into the world to establish His church. The context of asking anything in His name had to do with anything they needed in order to carry out the ministry they were called to do.

IN MY NAME

When we understand the meaning of asking “in Jesus’ name” we will have a clear picture of both the potential and the limitations of our asking.

What does it mean to pray in Jesus name?

PRAYING IN JESUS’ NAME ….

1. It means we have been granted access to the Father.

Jesus’ death opened the way for us to have immediate, unhindered admittance to the Father’s presence. 

Mark 15:37–38 (ESV) 

37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

Before Jesus, only the priests were allowed into the holy of holies. There they would offer the blood sacrifice for God’s people. But on the cross, Jesus became both priest and sacrifice. When Jesus finished His work in making the final priestly sacrifice, the veil in the temple, which closed off the Holy of Holies from man, was torn in two from top to bottom. This symbolized the spiritual truth that access to God was now open to all who believe. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the right to talk to God directly without a human intermediary.

Ephesians 2:18 (ESV)

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Is it any wonder why in John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The only reason we have a right to come into the presence of the Father is because of the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. It is by that authority that we have been granted access.

Tomorrow, we will see a second meaning of praying in Jesus’ name.