What do we mean when we pray, “in Jesus name?” A quick survey on the subject will reveal that there are a few options as to what people today think praying in Jesus name means. We will evaluate Jesus’ final instructions to His disciples before He departs from them, and we will see that the interpretation for repeated phrase to “ask for anything in my name” is wholly dependent on the context of John chapters 14-16.
What does it mean to ask in “Jesus name?”
Options:
1. Power – There is power in the name of Jesus
2. Position – We come to the Father through Jesus
3. Perspective – We pray as Jesus prays, after His purpose and will
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)
#1 – Context: Jesus is going away
John 14:3 – “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
John 14:12 – “…because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:16-18 – “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans.”
John 14:28 – 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’”
#2 – Connectedness: Jesus’ purposes though us
John 14:12 – “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing…”
John 14:19c-20 – “…Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
John 14:23 – “Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
John 15:5 – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:15 – “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:20 – “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”
#3 – Conclusion: The Father’s glory: bearing much fruit
John 14:13 – “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
John 15:7-8 – “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
John 15:16 – “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
Conclusion – 3 Filters
- The Glory of God – TO BEAR FRUIT
“In prayer we call on Him to work out His purpose, not simply gratify our whims.” - The Will and Purposes of Jesus Christ
“He will grant only such petitions as could be presented consistently with his character and purpose” - The Power of The Spirit
