Asking In Jesus Name
Notes
Transcript
Intro; One of the greatest misconceptions in the Christian life is the formula we use when we pray. Jesus gives his disciples a model for prayer in Mt. 6, that is referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer.” But that model just gives general but relevant areas we should include in our prayers.
Acknowledging God and His kingdom
Asking for daily substance being dependent upon God
Repentance unto forgiveness
Seek a heart to forgive
Deliverance from the tempter
Acknowledging that God is able to do all we ask in prayer
And from Jesus’ example we add other scripture pertaining to prayer and we come up with our christian formula to pray.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
And then there is the most common way that christians close their prayer, “In Jesus name I pray, Amen!”
There is not a thing wrong with praying the way we just looked at prayer, because it comes from the mouth of Jesus himself. The problem that arises with the believer’s prayer is that often our prayers become words without meaning, ritual without relationship, a magic formula to get what we want without truly considering God’s will for our lives. And when we close our prayers, “In Jesus Name”, we believe we have done our duty and will get what we asked for.
This morning I want us to look at one of the greatest chapters in God’s Word and see what prayer and “Asking In Jesus Name” really means.
Text; John 14:14
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Prayer
Background; Jesus has just celebrated His last Passover with his disciples. He also did something unusual and washed His disciples feet giving them an example of humility and servanthood they needed in their lives to be a real reflection of Christ in the world. He then announced his betrayal and His glorification of God by the cross.
Then He tells his disciples he is going away to prepare a place for them [all believers] in heaven and would return for them as well. Thomas then asked the way to where Jesus was going and Jesus responded,
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
The purpose of this conversation is that Jesus was preparing His disciples to carry on His work after He was ascended to heaven. It is in that context is where we learn how to pray “Asking In Jesus Name!”
1. In Jesus Name; 14
1. In Jesus Name; 14
We know that we can’t expect Jesus to do anything we want. He is not a geni in a bottle that grants all our wishes. But too often that’s exactly how we pray!
The purpose of Jesus telling His disciples to pray in His name, is to remind them that even in his physical absence they still have a spiritual presence and divine access with God through Him!
Jesus is the Mediator- one who acts as an go between to work with opposing sides in order to bring about a settlement. Jesus is the One who brought about peace between God and man.
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
In Christ we have access to the Father. But since Jesus is not here physically, the disciples will have to continue His work through the spiritual connection to God, hence the Holy Spirit.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Jesus is also our Intercessor- pleading our case before the Father, like a defense lawyer on our behalf.
25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Jesus is interceding for us before the Father while Satan is accusing us before God.
Satan always accuses us by pointing out our sin, faults and failures before God. But being washed in the Blood of Christ, those accusations fall upon deaf ears.
But the main reason Christ intercedes for the believer is to make sure that our prayers are relationship driven and not just rituals.
1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James is talking about selfish, fleshy prayer instead of humble faith filled prayer.
So what is a prayer “Asking In Jesus Name?”
2. Prayer of Service; 12
2. Prayer of Service; 12
The main reason believers should pray is to be used of God!
Jesus just told the disciples He is leaving and they have work to do. Matter of fact He says here that the work they will do will be “greater” than what He did while here on earth!
Greater [mega]; big, quantity, more extensive, loud [mega-phone]
The apostles [all believers] would not do more spectacular miracles than Jesus did (feeding 5,000, walking on water, raising the dead) but their outreach would be greater and more in quantity (Peter in one sermon had 3,000 converts).
Greater Geographically- Jesus never preached outside of Palestine but his disciples spread the gospel around the globe
Greater Ethnically- Jesus dealt almost exclusively with the Jews. However, his disciples would deal with both Jews and Gentiles. [Wycliffe Translators have produced translations of either portions of the Bible, the New Testament, or the whole Bible in over 3,658 of the 7,394 languages used on Earth]
Greater numerically- Acts begins with a few dozen disciples meeting in a room, but by Acts 2 three thousand are added to the church. By Acts 4 there are five thousand in the church. [According to BGEA, Billy Graham’s preaching led to 3.2 million people making professions of faith in Christ]
Greater spiritually- William Barclay writes, “The triumphs of the message of the Cross were even greater than the triumphs of Jesus in the days of his flesh” (John, 165). Jesus may have raised the physically dead, but the disciples were able to witness the spiritually dead come to life in Christ!
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We need to remember that prayer is not asking God to do what we want, but asking God to accomplish His will through us!
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
3. Prayer to Glorify God; 13
3. Prayer to Glorify God; 13
Whatever we ask in Jesus Name must ultimately bring glory to God. And the only way to bring glory to God is to know His will and walk in it!
Jesus did that and in John 17, Jesus prays for us that we would do God would empower us to do the same; [Turn and read John 17]
[v. 3] To know God and make Him known
[v. 6] To know God and keep His word
[v. 11] Keep from apostasy/falling away
[v. 11] Be one in spirit as the Father and Son are one
[v. 13] Be filled with His joy
[v. 15] Be kept from the evil one. Protect them from the adversary
[v. 17] Be sanctified [set apart] through God’s Word
[v.18] Help them accomplish Your will just as You enabled Me to
[v. 20-21] Help them remain unified in Me/Christ throughout generations of the church to come
[v. 23] Let our faith and love of Christ become perfect/mature that the message of the Gospel will be preached to the world
[v. 24] Jesus prays for us to join Him in heaven for all eternity
[v. 26] Jesus wants us to experience the same kind of love for each other that the Father and Son share together
Hudson Taylor, the faithful missionary to China, once said,
I used to ask God to help me. Then, I asked Him if I might help Him. Finally, I ended up asking Him to do his work in me and through me, if He would be so pleased to do so.” (Quoted in Davey, When Heaven, 135)
That’s praying in Jesus name!
Close;
John Piper writes,
Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as wealthy. (Desiring God, 160–61)
Asking In Jesus Name is not just how we end our prayers, it’s how we deepen our walk and strengthen our relationship with God through Christ!
