And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. 

Mathew 21v22

When we are studying a certain topic, in this case prayer, we need to look at other verses that can add a bit more insight. A companion verse to Mathew 21v22 is:

“You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father” John 14v13.

This is Jesus speaking again, and a superficial reading could lead us to make the same error of thinking that we looked at yesterday i.e., born-again, Spirit -filled believers can ask for anything as long as we use the name of Jesus as a tag line to our prayers.

We teach our children to end their prayers by saying “In the name of Jesus, Amen.” But is that what Jesus meant when He said to ask for anything in His name? I’ve heard many preachers explain this verse by using the example of mentioning the name of the CEO of a company to get you what you want, especially if you are the son of the CEO! I don’t think that is a very satisfactory explanation. While name dropping may get you a few favours and special treatment on earth, it gets nothing from God. As mentioned yesterday, God is Sovereign and He will only answer prayers according to His Perfect Will, not ours.

Praying in the name of Jesus, is praying in the character of Jesus. Jesus came to do the will of God, not His own. John 6v38. When He taught His disciples to pray using His name, they understood this to mean that they were to pray with the same purposes of Jesus i.e., for the glory of The Father.

Jesus came to do The Father’s Will. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to do the same. Therefore, our prayers must be in-line with the will of God as laid out in His Word.

We are called to be persistent and fervent in our prayers. There are some Christians who appear so half hearted and unenthusiastic in prayer. They will spend a few minutes praying for someone to be saved. They maybe spend 30 minutes praying for a church mission or out- reach. Their prayers seem to have no passion and no real desire behind them. If people don’t come to the mission or out-reach it’s because God didn’t will it.

I don’t want to be skating on thin ice when I say this, but I think that this can be a cop out. God calls us to pray, and to pray fervently. He uses His people to reach other people. We need to pray fervently, but also act fervently. Pagan religions put everything down to “the will of the gods”. If the crops don’t grow, it is the will of the gods. If it rains, or the sun shines it is the will of the gods. There is little personal responsibility taken for good husbandry, everything is down to the will of the gods, and they have no way of knowing what the will of the gods will be from one day to the next.

Our God, the God of the Bible is not like that. He has made known His Will through his Word and He wants us to be involved in the working out of His Will in the world. We are not to be idle bystanders commenting on “the will of the gods”, but actively involved in bringing glory and honour to Him, through praying for and doing His revealed will.

Asking for anything in the name of Jesus is an invitation to join with Jesus in doing everything according to The Father’s Will, so that the Father will be glorified. It’s an invitation from God Himself to put aside our own small ideas, and be involved in the big picture of His Will for His world.