Teach Me to Pray - Week #27: The All-Prevailing Plea

"And I will do whatever you ask in my name...You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it...Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name...I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive...In that day you will ask in my name." John 14:13,14; 15:16; 16:23, 24, 26

This is the first time that we hear Jesus use the expression "ask in my name." In the context of asking in His name, He repeatedly uses the words "anything" and "whatever". This teaches us that "His name is our only but all-sufficient plea. The power of prayer and the answer depend on the right use of the name."

What's the significance of a person's name? Murray says, "When I mention or hear a name, it calls up before me the whole man - what I know of him and the impression he has made on me...each name of God embodies and represents some part of the glory of the unseen One." The name of Jesus embodies all that God is.

To do something in someone's name is to have the power and authority of that person as his representative. This presumes a common interest, because no one would allow another person to use his name if that person did not have the same interest as the bearer of the name. He only entrusts his name to someone who will rightly represent him.

"He who gives his name to another stands aside to let that person act for him. He who takes the name of another gives up his own (name) as of no value. When I go in the name of another, I deny myself...." So to pray in the name of Jesus is to give up my own agenda and to pray according to His interests.

This issue of the use of the name of a person can be seen in light of a legal union. A businessman may give his manager power of attorney to be able to access money in his name. This access is for the sake of the interests of the business, not for the manager's personal interests. "The use of a name always assumes the surrender of our interests to the one whom we represent."

Another context for the use of a name is that of a life union which, unlike a temporary legal union, is permanent. "A child has his father's name because he has his life blood. Often the child of a good father is honored or helped by others for the sake of the name he bears. But this would not last long if it were found out that it was only a name and that the father's character was in question. The name and the character or spirit must be in harmony...So it is with Jesus and the believer: We are one. We have one life, one Spirit with Him, and for this reason we may come in His name. Our power in using that name, whether with God or men or demons, depends on the measure of our spiritual life union."

The third relationship in which we see the use of another's name is in the union of love. In marriage, the bride gives up her name to be called by the bridegroom's name and therein has full right to use his name. No matter what her own status in society was before marrying him, once she bears his name, she has all the rights that he has. "The heavenly Bridegroom could do nothing less. Having loved us and made us one with Himself, He could only give those who bear His name the right to come before the Father for all they need."

"The bearing of the name of another supposes my having given up my own name and my own independent life; but it shows just as surely my possession of all there is behind the name I have taken."

When Jesus promises that He "will do whatever you ask in my name", He means it literally. We don't need to fear that this is license to pray selfishly, because the very phrase "in my name" is the safeguard against that. To pray in His name is to have given up my own name and agenda for the sake of His name and agenda; in that kind of relationship, I can pray with confidence that He will do whatever I ask Him!

"...So let us learn to pray in the name of Jesus...Let each disciple of Jesus avail himself of the rights of his royal priesthood and use the power placed at his disposal for his family and his work. Let Christians wake up and hear the message: your prayer can obtain what otherwise would be withheld, and it can accomplish what otherwise would remain undone. Use the name of Jesus to open the treasures of heaven for this perishing world..."

"Teach me, O Lord, to hold fast the precious promise that whatever we ask for in your name, you will do and the Father will give. Though I do not yet fully understand, and still less have fully attained the wonderful union you mean when you say, 'in my name,' I would still cling to the promise until it fills my heart with the undoubting assurance: Anything I ask in the name of Jesus...Lord Jesus, teach me by your Holy Spirit to pray in your name. Amen."