It was a wonderful word about prayer that Jesus spoke to
His disciples in John 16:23, "Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may
ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you."
Prayer in the name of Christ has power with God. God is
very pleased with His Son Jesus Christ. He hears Him always, and He also always
hears the prayer that is really in His name.
But what is it to pray in the name of
Christ?
There is nothing mystical or mysterious about this
expression. If you go through the Bible and examine all the passages in which
the expression "in My name" or "in His name" or similar
expressions are used, you will find that it means just about what it does in
modern usage.
If I go to a bank and hand in a check with my name signed
on it, I ask for money from the bank in
my own name. If I have money deposited in that account, the check will be
cashed; if not, it will not be. If, however, I go to a bank with somebody
else’s name signed on the check, I am asking in his name, and it does not matter whether I have money in that
bank or any other, if the person whose name is signed on the check has money in
their account, the check will be cashed.
So it is when I go to the bank of Heaven, when I go to God
in prayer. I have nothing deposited there and if I go in my own name I will get
absolutely nothing; but Jesus Christ has granted to me the privilege of going
to the bank with His name on my checks, and when I go, my prayers will be
honored to any extent.
To pray then in the name of Christ is to renounce the
thought that I have any claims on God whatever, and approach Him on the ground
of Christ's claims. Praying in the name of Christ is not merely adding the
phrase "I ask these things in Jesus' name" to my prayer. I may put
that phrase in my prayer and really be resting in my own merit at the time.
On the other hand, I might leave out that
phrase but really be resting in the merit of Christ.
But when I really do approach God, not on the ground of my
merit, but on the ground of Christ's merit, God will hear me.
A lot of our modern prayer is ineffective because men
approach God imagining that they have some claim upon God where He is under
obligations to answer their prayers.
Great light is thrown upon the subject of "How to
Pray" in 1 John 5:14-15: "This is the boldness which we have toward
him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. And if
we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions
which we have asked of him." This passage teaches us plainly that if we
are to pray right, we must pray according to God's will.
But can we know the will of God? Can we know that any
specific prayer is according to His will?
We most surely can.
0 Comments