When we pray “in Jesus’ name” what are we doing?
After Jesus’s resurrection/ascension the disciples were instructed to pray “in Jesus’ name”.
Jn 16:23-27 “In that day [Jesus’ resurrection/ascension] 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… 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you…”
They were promised repeatedly that God would answer prayers that were prayed “in his name”!
Jn 14:12-14 “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, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Jn 15:16 “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.”
Jn 16:23-24 “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.”
When we pray “in Jesus’ name” what are we doing? As I have been seeking to understand this better, I noticed what Jesus said about how God would send the Holy Spirit.
Jn 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
The Father will send the Holy Spirit in Jesus name. Why not just send the Holy Spirit? Why was he being sent “in Jesus’ name”?
This is how the Amplified Bible renders it …
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf] …”
Jn 14:26 AMP
The Holy Spirit was sent to “replace, represent, and act on behalf of Jesus”, who had ascended to be with the Father.
So, when I pray in Jesus’ name, I am speaking to and petitioning God in Jesus’s place, as it were. I am representing Him. I am speaking on His behalf. It is as if I am an ambassador speaking on behalf of the President before a foreign King. The words coming out of my mouth are to be heard by God as if Jesus was speaking.
When we have this understanding of what it means to pray “in Jesus’ name”, it cannot help but shape our prayers away from self-centeredness towards the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. And when we do so, God has promised that “all these things will be added unto us”!
“So don’t worry and don’t keep saying, ‘What shall we eat, what shall we drink or what shall we wear?! That is what pagans are always looking for; your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart on the kingdom and his goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course.
Matt 16:23 Phillips
