Thoughts for Life: #9 Praying In Jesus' Name

Alvin Vandergriend- "By offering to let us pray in His name, Jesus is offering an amazingly great privilege. It's as if He is giving us blank checks to be dawn on His account, knowing we will use them for His honor and His advantage. Jesus is demonstrating great trust in us. He is trusting that His honor and His interests are safe in our hands.

Consider what it would mean to place your estate in the hands of another person: your credit cards, your home, your investments, your automobiles, your responsibilities, everything. You'd pick that person very carefully, wouldn't you? You'd really be giving that person control over your life and your future. (Google image, What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?

That's essentially what Jesus did when He authorized us to use His name in prayer. He gave us authority over His accounts. He asked us to exercise control over His estate—the kingdom of God.

We exercise our authority by prayer. By prayer we ask the Father for all we need in order to do the job. By prayer we ask God to deal with demonic forces contrary to His will. By prayer we direct God's grace and power to strategic locations where it is needed.

Three phrases in particular help us understand what it means to pray in Jesus' name.

First, we are authorized to be Christ's representatives. When we come to the Father in Jesus' name, we come as those who are authorized to act in His place. We 'represent' Him. When we stand before the throne, the Father recognizes us as persons who stand in the place of His Son. That makes us acceptable

Second, we come to God on the basis of Christ's merit. You and I have no claim on God, but Christ does. He merited the father's favor by His perfect life and sacrifice. When we come in Jesus' name, we are identified with Him. We come on the ground of His claim on the Father. Our access depends solely on what Jesus has done.

Try to imagine yourself coming to the Father on your own, apart from Christ. You are unauthorized to come, because you have no claim on God's favor. In fact, you have a huge debt with God because of your sins and you can expect nothing but God's blazing wrath. That's the opposite of coming in the name of Jesus.

Third, we come asking in accord with Christ's will. We have the mind of Christ in us, so what we ask is what Jesus would ask. He is asking us to ask for Him. We are able to ask what He would ask because our wills are in sync with His will.

The Father so loves the Son that when we introduce the Son's name in prayer, we have His ear, we have secured His willingness, and we have touched His heart.'

(pp. 28, 29 in Love to Pray- 40 Day Devotional for Deepening Your Prayer Life by Alvin Vandergriend)

Let's Pray-

Father, we thank You for the gracious provision of Your Son, Jesus Christ, as the one through whom we are able to approach Your throne and to receive a hearing from You.

We want to confess our selfish praying that has not always represented the mind of Christ, and that it may not have always been in accord with His will. When we think about the responsibilities we have for the building of some part of Christ's kingdom, we acknowledge our great need for Your help to do it well.

We ask for training in the area of learning how to be more conscious of Jesus' will as we pray in His name. May we always be truthful when adding, "In Jesus name," to our prayers in order to accomplish Your will in our lives and in our world.

We pray this in Christ's name, not because of any worth in us, but because Your Son has earned it. Amen.

Today's Bible verses:

John 16:24 "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."

2 Corinthians 9:8-11 (MSG) “God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.”

Today's quote:

Dr. David Jeremiah- "Prayer is the divine energy tht brings the power of God into the plans He gives you, but you must learn to pray with fervor, persistence, and faith. I don't know any shortcut for this. God guides His children as they learn the joy of praying to Him night and day." [pg. 28 in his book, Forward]

Words of wisdom:

God honors us by giving us the strength to accomplish His will for each of us. He longs to help us, and for our work we do to bring Him honor. He should get all the praise for any success we claim. Our desire for praise is unhealthy, as we tend to want it to satisfy our ego. Let’s give all the praise to Jesus for anything we do, as it is in His strength we accomplish anything!