Praying in His Name

A close, loving relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the key to an effective prayer life, much more so than ritualistic word formulas or special phrases we hope will make God respond.

Jesus told us to pray in His name, meaning to pray as His representative. Unfortunately, saying "In the name of Jesus" at the end of our prayers has become something less than what He intended.

Praying in His name should mean we're faithfully representing Him. The better we represent Him, the more punch "In the name of Jesus" has (John 14:13-14). 

In an earthly analogy,

• When a good and honest Police Officer says "Stop in the name of the law", the weight of the legal system is backing up His words.
  

• If a criminal says "Stop in the name of the law", his words carry no weight because he doesn't represent the law. He is, in fact, misrepresenting the law.

Please don't get offended with this. I'm not attacking your prayer practices. I'm simply hoping to elevate the effectiveness of your prayers.

Saying "In the Name of Jesus" is not part of a magical incantation. It's not the Christian version of a pagan phrase like "Abracadabra, please and thank you".

Here’s an illustration. Imagine this with me. 

Suppose God hears a prayer that doesn't line up with His character, His goals, or the Bible. It doesn't fit with what's on His heart. Maybe it's coming from wrong motives.

Christians sometimes pray those kinds of prayers. They're not likely to get a favorable answer. But what if, at the end of one of those not-likely-to-be-answered prayers, the Christian says the words "In the name of Jesus"? Will God have to change His mind about that prayer and say "Wait a minute, he said the magic words. Now I have to do it."?

Of course, that's obviously a ridiculous scenario.

Christians often treat the phrase "In the name of Jesus" as a way to give a prayer a little extra push, trying to turn an "I hope" prayer into something more official. Many times "In the name of Jesus, Amen" is being said in a perfunctory manner as little more than a sort of expected religious activity.

Ask yourself, is saying "In the name of Jesus" a word formula that pushes a prayer over the top? Is it a ritual phrase that pushes God into action?

Here's another analogy for those who know something about playing online games. I’m told that Gamers sometimes use what they call cheat codes. Now hear this: saying "In the name of Jesus" isn't some sort of cheat code!

How much better to pray a prayer that has God saying "Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!" Those are the kinds of prayers we need to strive for.

To get there, we need a vibrant, loving relationship with Jesus, the closer and more personal, the better (Mark 12:30). We need to hear with a pure heart what's on His heart. Ask Him for that. Make it a matter of prayer. He wants to help you get there.

Information about the Lord and His ways is very much needed, so study the Bible. Learn all you can (2 Timothy 2:15). But by itself, information about Him is not enough. Religious activity isn't enough. We need to fall in love with Him, then hear from Him and know what's on His heart.

Based on Ephesians 1:17, pray something like this:

Lord, I want to know and love You more. Grant me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You. Let me hear and feel what's on Your heart.

Special things happen when we love Him and pray whatever is already on His heart back to Him. 1 John 5:14 tells us

We are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him.

In John 15:16, Jesus told the disciples to ask the Father in His name "as His representative".

From the Amplified Bible, here's the whole verse:

You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you.

In the Expanded Bible translation, 1 Corinthians 2:16 says

Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been able to teach [advise; counsel] him? But we have the mind of Christ (the Holy Spirit reveals God and his ways to us).

Your love relationship with the Father and Jesus His Son is brought to life and then made vibrant by the Holy Spirit. If you stifle the Holy Spirit, you stifle that relationship. 

Ephesians 4:30 in The Voice translation says

It’s time to stop bringing grief to God’s Holy Spirit; you have been sealed with the Spirit, marked as His own for the day of rescue. 

He wants a much more intimate relationship with each of us than we have now. God Himself is strongly urging you...embrace your relationship with the Holy Spirit as much as you embrace your relationship with the Father and with the Lord Jesus.

Most Christians would say "if only Jesus was here, this such and such issue I'm dealing with would be better". But Jesus isn't physically here. He won't physically return to the earth until the Second Coming (Luke 21:25-28). That's why He sent the Holy Spirit.

The part of God's calendar that we're in now is dominated by the Holy Spirit. This phase began when Jesus ascended into heaven and won't end until He returns in person at the Second Coming.

John 16:7 tells us just some of what Jesus said about this part of God's calendar. From the Tree of Life translation, He said

But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away! For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

That's pretty astounding. Jesus Himself said we're actually better off now with the Helper, that is, the Holy Spirit, than if He was here in person. Yes, that's what He said. So, shouldn't we be embracing the Holy Spirit as much as we would embrace Jesus if He was here in person?

The better you do that, the better you'll be truly praying in His name and the better you'll be praying what's already on His heart back to Him.

Praying from the strength and spiritual intimacy of that love relationship is really what "In the Name of Jesus" is supposed to be about.