“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full” (John 16:24).
Here Jesus rewrites the playbook for prayer. “Until now,” He says, “you have asked for nothing in My name. Up until now, you have prayed, but you haven’t taken on My identity or authority. You haven’t prayed ‘as if’ it were Me doing the asking.”
Praying ‘as if…’ that’s what it means to pray in His name.
Take a look at any situation. A personal need, a friend in need, whatever… How would Jesus address that situation? How would Jesus pray? What would Jesus want? If you could assume and wield the power and authority of Jesus Christ, what would you ask the Father?
That’s what it means to pray in His name.
What difference does it make? All the difference in the world.
I have no authority – just needs and messes. He has all authority. All things have been given to Him. And He gives us His authority to manage it.
Maybe the fight we fight in prayer isn’t as much against the devil, but against our own prayerlessness. Or against the conflicting priorities of others who are “praying in His name.”
If one of is using the authority of Jesus to pray, that’s powerful enough. What could happen if two of us did the same thing in absolute unity?
What if there were 12? Or 120… all claiming the authority of Jesus for the exact same thing? Do you think we could punch a hole in the kingdoms of this world with that kind of authority? No doubt about it.
My Ovation today… I will dare to take up His name. I will stand in His authority.
I will pray “as if.”
Join me?