Praying in the Name of Jesus |
What does this priviledge really mean? |
by David A. DePra |
| What does it mean to "pray in the name of Jesus?" This is a |
| fundamentally important question, for it stands at the center of our |
| relationship with God. |
| (1) It means to pray with the authority of Jesus. In other |
| words, if I pray "in Jesus' name," I am speaking the will of |
| Jesus. |
| This is not overstepping the promises of Christ. If we are coming |
| in the name of another -- namely Jesus -- or making a request in |
| their name, we are speaking in their place. We are saying what |
| they would say -- that is -- asking according to THEIR will. So, in |
| effect, to pray "in the name of Jesus" is to pray what Jesus would |
| pray in the situation. |
| This shows that to pray "in the name of Jesus" means more |
| than to merely say the words, "in the name of Jesus." The words |
| are important, but not the issue. Praying "in the name of Jesus" is |
| a matter of the heart -- I desire to ask God only for that which Jesus |
| would ask. |
| Ok. But let's suppose I'm mistaken about the will of God? Let's |
| suppose I pray "in Jesus' name," and it is NOT something for which |
| Jesus would pray? What then? |
| Well, then thankfully, God won't grant my request! God is |
| faithful even if all of us are off the track! If I am not praying what |
| Jesus would pray, then I am not speaking for Christ -- for I'm not |
| praying according to His will. Thus, God won't do what I ask. |
| Now ask: Would you want Him to? If you prayed for something |
| which was NOT the will of God, would you want God to grant your |
| request? The answer should be obvious. |
| Being honestly mistaken about the will of God isn't sin. Neither |
| should I refuse to pray unless I think I'm sure about God's will. That |
| is nonsense, for it is through prayer that we discern God's will to |
| begin with. We should always pray -- but do it with the knowledge |
| that there is more to God and His purpose than our perception can |
| grasp. We should always be of the attitude, "Nevertheless, not MY |
| will, but THINE." |
| That is surrender to the will of God. That is praying according |
| to God's will. And that is praying in the name of Jesus. Surrender |
| in prayer means that included in my request is the desire that God |
| look past MY words and MY desires and do HIS will, instead of |
| mine. This is the way Jesus prayed, and if I am praying "in His |
| name," it is the way I will pray. It will be my attitude in prayer. |
| (2) To pray "Jesus' name," I must pray according to the |
| will of God. What this reallly means is quite simple: I |
| must ask God to do what He already wants to do. |
| This might seem a strange statement to some. But it is a fact. |
| To pray according to the will of God means that I ask God what He |
| already wants to do. Imagine the alternative: It would suggest that |
| prayer is asking God what He DOESN'T want to do. Or it would |
| suggest that prayer is asking God what He never thought of. Or it |
| would suggest that prayer is asking God about something he has |
| no will on whatsoever. None of these alternatives are possible |
| regarding the Eternal One. God HAS a will. He is not undecided or |
| in the dark about anything. He has already decided about what I |
| am going to ask Him. |
| Now, of course the minute you say that we must ask God to do |
| what He already wants to do, it sounds like you are saying that God |
| is depending upon us to ask before He CAN do. But this is not so. |
| God can do anything He wants, anytime He wants. And He does |
| many things we never ask. But generally, He wants us to ask. |
| Why? Well, if you are truly asking God to do His will, what does |
| it say about you? It says you are BECOMING His will. Sure. And |
| it says that you are surrendered to His will. Otherwise, you |
| wouldn't be asking for God to do His will. |
| God wants us to do MORE than just ASK for His will. He wants |
| us to BECOME His will. Our asking will then be more than words. |
| It will be the product of our relationship with Him as our Heavenly |
| Father, and the by-product of knowing Jesus Christ. |
| God is so great that He has determined not to force Himself |
| upon us. Thus, He puts us in a process wherein we ask as we |
| become. We ask because we truly want God to do His will in our |
| lives. |
| God is so great that He tells us to ask Him to do what He |
| already wills to do. He has that much respect and love for us as |
| individuals. To pray in "Jesus' name" means that I will never ask |
| God to override His will to do mine. It means I want Him to override |
| my will to do HIS. |
| (3) To pray "in the name of Jesus," I must point only to |
| Jesus as the reason God should answer. I must never |
| point to myself as the reason. |
| This can be subtle. When you pray to God, do you feel it is |
| more possible He will answer you because you have recently |
| obeyed Him? Do you feel like an answer is less likely because |
| you have failed? If so, then you aren't praying in the name of Jesus. |
| You are praying in "your own name" -- for you are basing God's |
| response on YOU, not on Christ. |
| The Truth is, there is nothing about ourselves which can move |
| God on our behalf. Likewise, there is nothing about ourselves |
| which can hinder God on our behalf. Prayer is not to be based on |
| anything about US. It is to be based on Jesus Christ. |
| What this means is this: When I make my request of God, and |
| say, "in the name of Jesus," I point to Jesus as the reason God |
| should answer. I do not point to me. And pointing to Jesus |
| immediately accrues to me all the priviledges of access to God |
| which Jesus possesses. It also means that I am telling God that |
| ONLY if my request is the will of God, and a request Jesus would |
| make, do I want Him to answer. |
| Ok, but isn't it true that if we have sin in our lives that God will |
| refuse to answer our prayers? Well, first of all, if we say we have |
| NO sin, we make God a liar. In other words, we DO have sin in |
| our lives. The question is therefore, what kind of sin? |
| If we are in deliberate and intentional sin, having no thought of |
| seeking God for a way out of our sin, then the question of prayer |
| becomes moot. In that case, we aren't going to pray according |
| to the will of God -- because by definition we don't WANT the will |
| of God. THAT is our whole problem. And God won't answer us |
| unless we pray according to His will. |
| But there is a prayer God will answer. Even in sin, we still have |
| the priviledge of asking God for deliverance. That IS His will. And |
| we can always pray that prayer and be sure it is what Jesus would |
| pray. |
| If we pray "in the name of Jesus" we already acknowledge that |
| even the slightest sin on our part is enough to keep our prayer |
| from God. That is why we tell God to look, not at us, but to His Son. |
| And incredibly, because God looks at His Son, His answer to our |
| prayer is as sure as His answer is to Jesus. |
| What we see here is this: If I pray in the name of Jesus, God's |
| answer is as sure as Jesus' name. If I pray what Jesus would pray, |
| God will answer us as He would Jesus. |
| (4) I must pray in "Jesus' name" in FAITH. I must believe |
| that God will give to me what I ask. |
| This is a tough one, isn't it? How do I get from where I am, with |
| all my doubts and fears, to where I have no doubt that God will |
| grant my request? How could I ever be that sure? |
| Actually, this isn't as hard as we make it. Faith is predicated |
| upon all of the other things we have seen about praying "in the |
| name of Jesus." If I am praying what Jesus would pray, asking |
| God to do what He already wants to do, and pointing to Jesus |
| alone as the reason God should answer, then how can I NOT |
| believe? Faith will emerge as the by-product of praying in the |
| name of Jesus according to the will of God. |
| I can believe I will receive what I ask of God only if I am asking |
| Him to do His will. How could He then NOT answer? How could |
| God ever refuse to do His own will? He could not. Ask God to do |
| His will in my life, and then surrender to it, and I can be sure He'll |
| do it. I can and will believe. |
| Herein we see HOW to have faith: Surrender to the will of God. |
| And if I really understood it, I would see that I cannot have real |
| faith for anything which is NOT the will of God. There simply is no |
| such thing. There is only a soulish, human, religious faith. |
| Just as I cannot pray "in the name of Jesus" for anything Jesus |
| wouldn't pray for, I cannot have the faith of Christ for anything |
| Jesus has no faith for. The minute I begin praying for the will of |
| God in Jesus' name, faith will be there. The faith of Christ is |
| ALWAYS there for the will of God. |
| Faith is not a state of mind wherein I have convinced myself |
| that something is true. Faith is not intellectual assent. Faith is not |
| a rest in what is comfortable. True faith does not originate, nor is it |
| generated, from myself as the source. Faith is a deposit from God |
| which enables me to believe and embrace what is already the |
| Truth in Jesus Christ. In effect, the will of God carries the faith of |
| Jesus Christ. Surrender to His will and you will have faith. |
| Now, it would be silly to think that I could possibly generate |
| faith from myself as the source -- up to heaven -- and with that |
| be able to move God to do my will. Yet some false teachers today |
| teach this. They say faith is a "force" generated by myself -- |
| through thoughts and spoken words -- which creates reality and |
| creates what I request. They suggest that my faith somehow acts |
| upon God and impresses Him so much that He will do what I |
| insist. But this is error. There is no such thing as real faith unless |
| it is in the will of God. The will of God always genders faith. If you |
| want faith, surrender to God's will. You'll find that all the faith in |
| the world is carried in what God wants to do. |
| But how about false faith? What does it sometimes seem as if |
| we believe -- when in reality we don't believe? Or worse yet, why |
| does it sometimes seem as if we DON'T believe, when we actually |
| DO? |
| Self-will can create the illusion of faith. If we want something bad |
| enough, it is quite possible to think God also wants it. And this can |
| create a pseudo "peace" or "faith." It can create a false certainty. |
| But there may be no reality or real faith behind it. |
| Fear can create the illusion of unbelief. If we are afraid that |
| something is true, our fear can often make it seem so real that we |
| think it IS true. Thus, if we are afraid that God won't hear us, this can |
| often make it seem as if He isn't hearing us. And if we buy into this, |
| we will be led into unbelief. Yet none of it is based in reality. |
| Emotions are great liars. They can mimmick faith and mimmick |
| unbelief. They can make us "feel" like we believe, or don't believe. |
| That is why we are never to base anything on emotions. We are to |
| step aside from them and base Truth on God Himself. If I am |
| praying "in the name of Jesus" I am not praying in the name of my |
| emotions -- this is, based on how I feel. I am praying through |
| those emotions and basing my faith on the will of God in Jesus |
| Christ. |
| (5) If I am praying "in the name of Jesus," my prayer is |
| not based on MY understanding. It is based on Jesus' |
| understanding. |
| I do not need to understand all of in's and out's of a situation to |
| pray about it. God is not sitting in heaven waiting for me to figure |
| out what He is doing so that I can pray about it and get Him |
| moving. No. It is sufficient that GOD understands. Prayer is a |
| means by which I discern the will of God, and come to understand |
| Him. And more than that, it is the means by which I surrender to |
| God -- whether I understand Him or not. |
| It is human nature to think that if WE understand what God is |
| doing that we can have more faith. But this is not what the Bible |
| tells us. The Bible says, " |
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own |
understanding. (Prov. 3:5) |
| If we are to "lean not upon our own understanding" then it means |
| that leaning upon our own understanding is going to take us to the |
| wrong place. And we can lean upon our understanding in two ways, |
| one positive and one negative. We lean upon our own |
| understanding when our faith is based on what we can understand, |
| or when our fears are founded upon what we can't. Both are not |
| true faith. They are actually based upon faith in ourselves, instead |
| of in God. |
| The true knowledge of God found in Jesus Christ is never the |
| result of ME having gotten through to God. No. It is the result of |
| God having finally gotten through to ME. God is not moved by |
| our prayers. WE are moved by our prayers. God's answers are |
| merely the outcome of US having been moved to where God has |
| always been waiting. And when that happens, our understanding |
| of what God is doing often comes with it. |
| (6) Prayer in "Jesus' name" will keep our hearts and |
| minds in Jesus Christ. |
| God never bargains with us. He offers everything free of charge, |
| but on HIS terms. Thus, we must surrender to God without |
| conditions attached. In prayer, this means that we must surrender |
| our request to God. |
| The Bible tells us what happens when we surrender to God. |
| Paul says, |
| Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication |
| with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And |
| the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your |
| hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6-7) |
| The peace of God "passes all understanding," that is, we can |
| rest in faith -- not because we understand -- but because we know |
| God understands. And if we will surrender to God in this way by |
| faith, then God will "keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." |
| If we want to know how to keep centered in God through prayer, |
| right here it tells us: Be anxious for nothing. In other words, refuse |
| all fear. And then surrender all to God. If we do, our hearts will not |
| only be right with God, but our minds will progressively undergo a |
| renewal according to the will of God. The result? Yes, we will |
| KNOW the will of God. But we will BECOME His will. |
| Jesus gave us the authority to pray in His name, not so that we |
| could get God to do our will, but so that God could give us HIS will. |
| And it is good to know that if we pray for God's will, that we cannot |
| fail to realize it. |