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Prayer – it’s something all religions have and many people do, even when they don’t believe in God or a higher power. Some people recite lengthy prayers, while others might lift up a quick few words. Prayer is how believers of any faith communicate with the deity they believe in. People pray for blessings and for physical needs or desires. They pray to share their feelings and thoughts with their deity or the universe.
For Christians, we pray to God, the Creator and Father of our spirits. When it comes to the end of the prayer though, how should we end it? Do we just say “Amen” and be done with it?
We Pray in the Name of Jesus Because He is Our Advocate
Jesus says in the gospel of John,
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:13-14
When we pray, we should pray in Jesus’s name because God receives glory from it. Jesus is the way, truth, and life and he is the only way to God the Father (John 14:6). Jesus glorified God by doing His will, and we who believe in Jesus, need to understand and recognize that Jesus is our mediator and advocate to God on our behalf (1 John 2:1).
Think of it like this: If you’re a new employee at a company and have an issue to address, can you just go directly to the CEO to voice your problems? No, you can’t. Your position doesn’t allow for that. Instead you need to go through your senior manager who can then relay your concerns to the higher-ups.
Jesus, Our High Priest and Mediator Before God
Jesus, our mediator, presents our prayers to God because he is like our high priest. In Hebrews 4-8, we can read more about the high priest.
“Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.”
Hebrews 8:1-2
In the Old Testament, not just anyone could enter the temple and offer prayers and atonement sacrifices to God. Only the priests. And only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, a separate room of the temple where God’s presence resided. This could only be done after the high priest washed and cleansed himself according to God’s Law.
We are cut off from God’s holy presence because of our sins. Jesus, who is holy, can come before God on our behalf. But what does this have to do with why we pray in Jesus’s name? Apostle Paul wrote this in Colossians 3,
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:17
We can’t come to God on our own because of our sin. But through Jesus, who shed his blood to atone for our sins, we can approach God. When we pray in the name of Jesus, it shows that we understand and recognize who Jesus is. We understand that Jesus was the one promised and sent by God to come and atone for our sins by his blood, and to bring salvation. By praying in the name of Jesus, we acknowledge the one who God gave His authority and Word to.
We Pray in the Name of Jesus Because God Gave Him the Authority
God gave His authority to Jesus to speak and act on His behalf. In John 5:21-23 it says,
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”
God gave Jesus the authority to give the Word of life to those who believe in him. God’s Word is life according to John 1:1-4. So when Jesus received God’s word, that also meant he received the authority to give that word to others. In John 6:45, Jesus says they (believers) will all be taught by God, and those who come to him learn from the Father.
“My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.”
John 7:16
When people listened to Jesus’s words and believed, that meant they were believing in God’s words. Receiving Jesus is the same as receiving God. Likewise, rejecting Jesus is the same as rejecting God.
What’s In A Name?
When we pray in the name of Jesus, we’re also praying in God’s name too, since God promised to give Jesus His new name. Isaiah 9:6 says,
“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Maybe you’ve heard this passage read around Christmas time, but have you thought deeply about what it means? When Jesus came, he came in God’s name (John 5:43). If a king sends a messenger to another kingdom, that messenger speaks in the king’s name, but he is not the king himself. Those who believe the message don’t believe in the messenger’s words, but the king’s words.
In John 10:30 Jesus says that he and the Father are one. We can see what he meant by that by reading about Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3. At that time, God’s spirit came down to Jesus and dwelled in him. A spirit needs a body to dwell in and work through. So at the time of Jesus’ first coming, God’s spirit dwelled in Jesus’s body, and together they preached about the kingdom of heaven.
“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.”
John 12:44
When we believe in Jesus’s words, it shows that we believe in God’s words since God gave them to Jesus and was with Jesus. God sent Jesus to give His Word to people and to act as the mediator between sinful people and God who is holy. So, we don’t need to worry about God not hearing our prayer if we don’t pray in His name, because Jesus is God’s new name and because God is with Jesus.
What the Bible Doesn’t Say About Prayer
We’re told to pray in Jesus’s name and when we do, God listens to our prayers. So we must be very careful to follow the Bible as God wrote and intended it. If we practice something that’s not in the Bible, then are we truly keeping His words?
Some churches might have their members to pray in one way, while other churches have their members pray in another; some believers may pray to the saints or disciples, while others might pray to God directly. But we must always consider…how does God want us to pray?
If a private in the military makes a request, but skips going through his direct commanding officer, or goes through a different channel and tries to go directly to the general, will that general acknowledge the private’s request? Certainly not. The request would be denied and the private would be disciplined. If Christians pray to God in the name of the apostles, the Holy Spirit, or anyone other than Jesus, do you think God will listen?
In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us how to pray. He warns us to not be like people who make a big show of their prayer, but instead to pray quietly in private. And he teaches us the Lord’s Prayer in verses 9-13. We should pray as Jesus instructed us to. If we don’t pray according to the Bible, then we run this risk:
“When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;”
Isaiah 1:15
We can see that God won’t listen to our prayers if we do not keep His Word.
“In Jesus’ Name We Pray, Amen”
As believers, we need to live our lives of faith according to God’s Word as He wants us to, not according to our own thoughts and desires. That means we must study the Bible and understand it the way God intended. That understanding doesn’t only apply to how we read the Bible, but also to how we pray.
When we truly know what God said through Jesus, we will pray accordingly and in Jesus’s name. Just like how a lawyer is the person who mediates between his client and the judge, Jesus is our spiritual lawyer. A client cannot speak directly to the judge, just like how we cannot speak directly to God because of our sin. We must go through Jesus to make our prayers heard by God. As Christians we must keep the words Jesus spoke since he is our advocate. If Jesus tells us to pray in his name, we must do as he instructed.
At the end of the day, we lift up prayers to be heard by God. And God wants to answer our prayers that will bring us closer to Him. So let’s make sure to follow the way that He has told us – through Jesus – to make sure we are heard by God. And although it might sound simple, it shows our love and honor for not only Jesus, but God as well.
Written by Kenny
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