Praying in Jesus’ Name
Bible Text: John 14:13-14
Preached on: Sunday, May 04, 2008, 11am
Call Unto Me Sunday
Tabernacle Baptist Church
7020 Barrington Road
Hanover Park, Illinois 60133
Phone: (630) 289-4110
Website: www.GodCentered.info
Introduction: Open your Bibles to John 14:13-14. What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ Name? Jesus said in John 14:13-14, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. Christ will accomplish works in and through us that are more far reaching than the ones He had while on earth if we ask “in His Name”. He says, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
This is a radical promise. This is a radical promise that is jam packed with reward. Jesus states that whatever we ask in His Name He will do it! The question is what does that mean? With a reward like this, I’m sure you are anxious to know what it means to pray “in Jesus’ Name”.
I think all Christians understand that this is not a blank check that if we will say the words “in Jesus’ Name, Amen” we can have what ever we have. We just fill in the blank. Some of the health and wealth preachers falsely take this to be a magical formula to get whatever they want if they just pray with enough faith. They want to “love the world and all that is in the world” in Jesus’ Name. Turn away from these false teachers.
Some well meaning Christians legalistically believe they must end every prayer with the words “In Jesus’ Name” or their prayers might not be answered.
I want to show you today, that praying in Jesus’ Name is not a magical formula. Simply attaching Jesus’ Name to your selfish desires is meaningless. The Precious Name of Jesus is not a wishing star or a genie’s lamp. What then, does it mean to pray in Jesus’ Name?
“to ask in Jesus' name means to ask for something in behalf of Christ. You are saying, ‘Father, I want this because Christ wants it.’ This attitude will help keep you from making any selfish prayer requests.”[1]
To pray in Jesus’ Name means to go to God on behalf of another.
· I am SAFE in Jesus. I can pray to the Father because I am covered in Jesus’ blood. I am robed in His righteousness. I can safely come to God in Jesus’ Name because Christ has removed the sin that provokes God’s wrath toward me. Christ is my Mediator, my Representative before the Father.
· I am SURRENDERED on behalf of another. I get my directions from Jesus who allows me to live. My prayers are ruled by Jesus desires. I want His control and Lordship over my life. He owns me I want nothing more than my requests to bring glory to Jesus. I am totally surrendered to what would bring honor to Jesus Name.
· I am in SERVICE for Jesus. He exchanged His perfect life for my wretched life. I am now forever in His service. My prayer is to always be doing Jesus’ will. I am Christ’s ambassador on earth! I am His hands, His feet, His mouth. When I pray in Jesus’ Name, I am also willing to go and do His will and live in Jesus’ Name.
· I am SATISFIED in Jesus. My fullest joy is asking and receiving all that Jesus is and has for me to do for Him in this world. Jesus truly is all the world to me. He is my highest joy!
To pray in Jesus name is to express Jesus’ desires to God, and to be a vessel united with Jesus! Is that you this morning? Are you fully living and praying on the behalf of another.
[Prayer for Guidance]
With that in mind, let us turn to John 16:23b-24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”
We can go to the Father in no other Name!
I. First, Praying in Jesus’ Name means I am Safe in Jesus as my MEDIATOR! I am SAFE in Jesus.
Illustration: Sudden storm. I remember when I was seven years old on a bright Saturday morning. I rode my bike to a field a mile from my house to see the Little League games. When they were over I began to ride my bike home. You know how the weather is in Chicago. If you don’t like the weather, wait a little while, it will change! And the sunshine turned to sheets of rain. Listening to the thunder from inside my house is one thing, but for the first time I saw the lightening, and the sound of thunder shook the ground. In a moment I went from riding my bike to running as fast as I could looking for safety.
I realized my brother’s best friend lived a block away. I left my bike and ran to his house. I don’t remember his name, but I do remember his sister Sherri. Sherri introduced me to one of the best gourmet dishes a human being can have. Peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich!
The point is I went from the ground shaking to the shelter where there was peace and delight!
Now when we are outside of Jesus Christ we are unsafe because we are sinners!
I can pray to the Father because I am covered in Jesus’ blood. I can safely come to God in Jesus’ Name because Christ is my Mediator, my Representative. There is POWER in Jesus’ Name.
Maybe you’ve asked yourself the question: Why should God listen to my prayers? That’s a good question. And the truth is—there is no good reason in you why God should listen to your prayers.
This morning we are going to find that to pray in Jesus’ Name is to pray with the awareness of Jesus’ as our Representative before the throne of God. And all that we pray and desire and live for in this life is to be conformed to His will.
God would never hear your prayers if it weren’t for Jesus Christ. God is holy. He is perfectly righteous. And all mankind is perfectly wretched. We could never approach God on our own account. To come to God in Jesus’ Name is to come to God through One who is wholly unlike us, One who pure and perfect and holy and completely without sin! 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”. You see, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). He is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13).
We were the enemies of God by reason of our sinful condition as the seed of Adam. Yet God loved us; sent His son to die for us; and thereby justified us (gave us a right standing).
In prayer we appear before the throne of a holy God and we ask Him to unite with us in our life and in our endeavors. A holy God could never unite with sinful creatures, unless those sinful creatures were saved from their sin and made holy.
Romans 5:8-11, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
Without Jesus’ blood stained cross that satisfies God’s hostility toward us, we would still be the object of God’s hatred. The heavens would be as brass and our prayers would never be answered. Pure Goodness must hate all that is evil. And that is what we were without Christ. Without Christ, we would appear to God as the devils now appear to Him. They can never have the stains of their sins removed from them. But those who come to God in Jesus’ Name can approach God’s throne as boldly as the Son of God Himself. In Christ we are forgiven—in Christ we are washed, and in Christ we are now called “saints”! “Now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own!
Why do we pray in Jesus’ Name? Because we need a Mediator. Without Jesus we are God’s enemies. We cannot come to God on our own. We need the Lamb of God who “taketh away the sin of the world” to stand between us and God. Now listen to Jesus’ promise you blood washed saints! “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you” (John 16:23).
It is in the Name of Jesus that we come to the Father. He took our place on the tree. He is the propitiation. He is our scapegoat. He is our Passover Lamb. He is our substitute. He became “sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him!” It is IN CHRIST that we have “all spiritual blessings”. My hope this morning is that Christians will see how lovingly our Saviour intercedes for us, and that we will want to pray more. My hope is that we will see the great price our Saviour paid for His children, and how He loves them, and how He constantly stands now and forever on their behalf, and that we will have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.
In Jesus’ Name we pray! In Jesus’ Name we live! In Jesus’ Name we will one day die and approach God’s throne boldly.
This whole doctrine is summarized for us in the most brilliant point of all of Scripture, Romans chapter 8. My dear Christian brother and sister, read the words of the first verse, and weep for joy! “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”. Outside of Jesus we perish. We are undone. We are eternally damned. Forgotten of God! Woe is me and woe is you! Outside of Jesus’ Name God eternally shuts His ears to us. But in Christ Jesus, there is now therefore NO CONDEMNATION, and God invites us to approach Him boldly!
The merits of Christ gain us access to the Father. Because we are “in Christ” we gain an affirmative hearing.
Praying in Jesus’ Name means I am safe in Jesus. I can pray to the Father because I am covered in Jesus’ blood. I can safely come to God in Jesus’ Name because Christ is my Mediator, my Representative.
II. Secondly, Praying in Jesus’ Name means Surrendering to Jesus as my MASTER!
People who pray in Jesus’ Name are saying they want to totally surrender their will for God’s will. Remember Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane? He prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42)? This is the essence of all true communion with God. It is making Him our master. “Thou art the potter, we are the clay” (Isaiah 64:8). God says to us “Behold, as the clay is in the potter‘s hand, so are ye in mine hand” (Jeremiah 18:6). Psalm 100:3, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” The potter can do with us whatever He wants.
We say to God, “Not my will! Not my way!” As the clay, we pray to our Potter, “Mold us in whatever way you want! Bend us. Break our stiff hearts. Pour water onto our dry, hard spirits and make us pliable and yielded and surrendered to You!”
Are we better than our Lord? Then let us all pray, “Not my will, but thine be done”. This is truly a prayer that will always be answered! Jesus will always accomplish this prayer! “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). If you ask anything that lines up with Christ’s will, He will do it!
How can we pray this way? Three suggestions…
A. First, Acknowledge Jesus' Lordship...
What does that mean? I need to be totally aware that as my Master, Jesus owns me. He bought me with His own precious blood.
1 Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”.
1 Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
As a person bought with the precious blood of Christ, I must surrender all my rights and desires and plans and agendas to my Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. I willingly and lovingly do so.
To pray in Jesus Name means we turn away from making ourselves, our wishes, and our wants the focus of our prayer. Only as I delight in the Lord as my Ruler and Master can I safely ask God to give me the desires of my heart.
B. Second, Ask God to provide answers to our prayers in ways that are consistent with the character and the will of Jesus. In essence, when we pray in Jesus' Name, we subordinate ourselves to the will and the infinitely greater wisdom of God...
Christ’s meat was to do the will of the Father. He lived a totally surrendered life as a model for us, and He models a totally surrendered prayer in Matthew 6. Look at the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-11, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen”. It is filled with total surrender.
1. Surrender yourself to make God’s Name holy with your life.
2. Surrender yourself to bring God’s kingdom to earth in the hearts of those you influence.
3. Surrender yourself to depend on the daily bread God provides to do His will. Be content with what things that you have. Whatever He has provided is sufficient to accomplish His will. It may be a few loaves and fishes, but it can feed 5000!
4. Ask God in total surrender to keep you from temptations that will derail you from doing His will
5. Ask God to forgive you for any sinful rebellion that you clung to that derailed God’s perfect will in your life. Renounce it and surrender yourself anew to Christ’s Lordship and total control of your life.
6. And pray, “Thine be the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever!!” Amen! May God rule over me; may He have complete power and control over me and through that He might get glory from our lives for ever!
The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer that is truly praying in Jesus’ Name, according to Jesus’ will. It is a total surrender to Christ as my Master!
C. Second, be Assured that your prayers are heard...
Now this one principle should change your life. It will change how you view the world. It will change how you pray.
As my Master, Jesus conforms me as one of His choice instruments as I pray to Him and surrender all that I am to Him. When we pray in Jesus’ Name, we summon the power of the Spirit of God to conform our heart’s desires to Jesus Christ.
Your prayers are part of God’s plan to make you into Christ’s image. Of course He hears us! Our hearts are conformed to the heart of Christ. Our May theme verse says it perfectly in 1 John 5:14-15, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him”.
Surrender to Christ in your prayers with Christ as the Master of your life, and your prayers will be heard.
Are you praying in Jesus’ Name, totally surrendered to those things that Christ Himself would ask for?
III. Thirdly, Praying in Jesus’ Name means I am in SERVICE for Jesus. Christ is my MONARCH. I am His ambassador. He is my Head and I am His hand. I am to do His will on earth.
The result of praying in Jesus’ Name is that you will be God’s hands and feet and mouth on earth. You are the Body of Christ. As His Body, God will work “in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Paul said this life is one that “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).
We are Christ’s Body, His instruments on earth. We see this in 2 Corinthians 5. Turn there if you would.
He moves us and places us where He wants us to be. We pray for His will to be done, and then we go out and accomplish it. We pray in Jesus’ Name and then we beseech people in Jesus’ stead! We are Jesus’ hands and feet and mouth in this world. We ask that His will be done.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
God has committed to us the “Word of reconciliation”! Christ is not here physically preaching any more. He’s left you. You are Christ’s mouth in this world. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” In other words, you are duly commissioned by God to “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature”. Praying in Jesus’ Name means you are willing to get up off your knees and stand between men and hell
We represent the good intentions of a Holy God toward sinful men. We who have been washed in Jesus’ blood are now appointed to pray to the Father that others be reconciled to God in Jesus’ Name!
It is through our prayers that we become instruments of righteousness for God on earth and men “see thy good works and glorify your father in heaven”.
We pray in Jesus’ Name and then we beseech people in Jesus’ stead! We are Jesus’ ambassadors! Everything we do now is in Christ’s Name and in His place. Christ takes our place before God and we take His place before men!
IV. Praying in Jesus’ Name means I am SATISFIED in Jesus.
Jesus as my MANNA. He is my Bread of Life. I eat His flesh and drink His blood. My fullest joy is asking and receiving all that Jesus is and has for me to do for Him in this world. Jesus truly is all the world to me. He is my highest joy! Listen, you need to come to this realization. Jesus is the only one that will give you a full and joyous life.
· You can have cancer and have a full and joyous life.
· You can be poor and live paycheck to paycheck and have a full and joyous life.
· You can work in a difficult demanding job and have a difficult spouse and have a full and joyous life
Your joy depends on your communion and prayer life with Jesus—it does not depend on this world!!
Look over a few chapters to John 16:23b. Why do we pray in Jesus’ Name? Is it just a nice way to end a prayer? Jesus says this again in John 16:23b-24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”
The chief end of man is to pursue God’s glory, His kingdom, His way in your life, and to enjoy all that God is. Surrender your worldly desires. They won’t satisfy you. You will find joy by praying and receiving and living for Jesus. Enjoy yourself by enjoying God. “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalms 37:4). Glorify God by enjoying Him!
Ask for all that God is to be given to you in your life, and you will receive it, and you will find ultimate happiness. Prayerlessness always produces joylessness. Pursue the fullness of your joy! PRAY. Why? Because prayer is the nerve center of our fellowship with Jesus.
We see this in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
What Jesus then says is as a result of your union with Jesus you are going to…
1. Pray
2. Bear much fruit
3. God will be glorified
4. You’ll keep His commandments
Then Jesus tells us the result of praying and living in total surrender to Jesus’ Name: John 15:11, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Jesus says I told you to live and pray in total surrender so that you will be satisfied in Me! I want your joy to be full in Me!
Conclusion: This is truly a message about how Jesus our Lord intercedes for us before the Father. He never ceases to call out on our behalf. He has planned our salvation ten billion years ago, for this morning we are speaking of the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).
The Scripture tells us that “he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
How do you know if you are praying in Jesus’ Name? Are you happy in Jesus? Are you totally surrendered to Jesus? Are you serving Jesus and seeing fruit in your life? Are you SAFE in Jesus? Can you say: “Christ liveth in me!”? Praying in Jesus’ Name means God has so filled your heart with the Presence of His Son that you delight in Him and He gives you all the desires of your heart! Your joy is full in Jesus! Let us live and pray “in Jesus’ Name”! Amen!
[1] John MacArthur on the meaning of asking in Jesus’ Name, accessed at the Grace to You web site: http://www.gty.org/Resources/studyguides/160.