Is there power in praying in the name of Jesus? The Bible commands it so there must be GREAT power in praying in the name of Jesus. In John 16:23 And on that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. How many of us have used In Jesus' Name as a tag at the end of a prayer and never realized what we were saying? Probably too many of us have done this. All of this is totally explained in the John 16 scripture above and the power of praying In Jesus' Name is a reality to living a life of power for God.
In John 16, prior to the verses where Jesus tells us to ask ANYTHING in His Name Jesus has explained to His apostles about the death and resurrection that is to happen soon. The apostles were saying to each other "what does He mean by a little while" and Jesus goes on to tell them of the joy they will receive when He comes back. But Jesus explains in the present that they will have the power to handle things without Him being with them because He is giving them and us the Holy Spirit as a helper. In the context of the scripture, Jesus shows them that His work will continue on through them if they will rely on His Name and His power.
We sing songs that say "there is power in the name of Jesus" and don't even ask for anything in His name as He told us to. In verse 24 Jesus said "you have not asked for anything in My name and then He goes on to tell them to ask anything in His name so their joy might be made full! Strong advice to ask for whatever in His Name and we should heed His words as being real and true. Don't just make the words or Jesus' name a tag at the end of your prayer. WE RELY ON HIS NAME!! To further emphasize that this scripture is "real" and true Jesus goes on to tell them that He is not speaking in figures of speech, but plain truth. I guess we could say Jesus was speaking in Plain English." Lol, maybe not, but you get the idea.
Part of this action is getting connected to God's Will and His ways, and we will get to a place of trust by spending quality time with God. I will not put stipulations on Jesus' words, since they are plain truth with not a hint of mystery or confusion. I will say that getting alone with Him is a sure way to come to an understanding of what Jesus wants in those times of prayer. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 what to do to get in touch with God in a very intimate way where in verses 5-6 Jesus says 5 “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.6 But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Parading our self-righteousness before others doesn't impress God, so get in a quiet area where you can spend time with God and get the power to live a life of victory. Spend deep time in God's Word and immerse yourself in the pure truth of the Word and believe it all! Not just the parts you find acceptable for your understanding. Paul said that those who truly know Jesus will accept these fantastic words of power by faith and those who doubt are still held by the natural or flesh life. I believe in God's Word. ALL OF IT! So the power of closing my prayer to give it substance has to be In Jesus' Name. As Jesus puts it ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE. Nuff said!!
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren