SPEAK LIFE: LESSON 8 - PRAY IN JESUS' NAME. Part 3

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)

We have heard the following many times, and have even said or thought the same ourselves that "God does not hear me, care about me or answer my prayers". This statement is not true at all, in light of Scripture and the protocols of Abba Father, Who hears all His Children and processes in His own time and according to His own holy Will!. 

CONDITIONAL:
It is understood that we are positioned to be praying to the Father, in Jesus' Name through our adoption as His sons and daughters (based on John 1:12). Therefore, we are authorized to approach the Throne of Grace for His Grace, Favor and Mercy in all things, according to His purposes. This key verse in our journey to understanding the "Power Prayer Life" from John 16:24, gives us the condition. This condition is similar to a math equation: if you add one plus one, you will get two!

It is this simple, ask IN FAITH (knowing that God only hears the prayers of the righteous, and those asking for His forgiveness and salvation) and thou shalt receive. Therefore, this equals peace, joy, contentment and victory in Jesus! To fully grasp this what this joy really is, please understand that praying in the Name of Jesus is not a chant, mantra or formula for yours or mine own selfish pursuits, but a powerful and humbling realization and acknowledgement that we are nothing, can do nothing and deserve nothing UNLESS we are in the Presence of the Name above All Names! This is the true conditional status of the intercessors, prayer warriors and just plain old Christian like you or I who pray daily (or several times per day) to the Father!

In My name - means just that! It means we are praying as directly commissioned by Him, to seek His presence and intervention for our prayer requests. Please do not neglect or misunderstand what this truly is. This is the Creator of ALL things, paying direct and close attention to seemingly insignificant people like us! Who am I that the King would bleed and die for (as they song says) and then when He returns to His throne after the Ascension, send His Spirit to live in those He saves.....THEN LISTENS TO OUR PRAYERS??!! Who are we indeed? Blessed and more fortunate than we can ever imagine is the response!

Your joy may be made full - This is truly an amazing statement by God the Son! He simply says "ask in My Name....and your joy will be complete"! The true meaning of this is both amazing and even unfathomable. The original word "Joy" here is "chara" or "xara" and means, in essence, that the awareness of the Heavenly Favor of God will be so present in your own spirit that the resulting joy and exuberance in your spirit will want to cause you to leap, jump and dance for joy in your heart. It exemplifies the presence of God's goodness in the life of the Christian which, if the Christian is properly submitted and committed to the Will of Christ, will burst forth and show all over his/her countenance.  This, my friends, is the condition we find ourselves if we are prayerful obedient servants who seek the very Face and Presence of the Master, as much as we can, during each day!

GOD'S RESPONSE:
Does God owe us a response? In general, God owes us nothing, but because of Jesus' Sacrifice on the Cross, He has given us everything and that includes access to the Throne through prayer! He has promised us, when we pray like this, in the Name of His Son? Yes He does and those promises can ALL be found in His literal, inerrant and Holy Word. 

He says in John 15:16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you." Regardless of anything else, that very fact - that GOD HIMSELF CHOSE US. This means everything and like any good parent, the Father listens to and responds to us!

The Bible also says in 1 John 5:14 "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." After knowing that our Father has chosen us, how can we help NOT having confidence? The wonderful thing about being saved and called a child of Christ is we inherit eternity. An upcoming post will discuss what eternity really means - past, present and future. 

This inheritance is more than just the blessed hope of living in anticipation of a future heaven. It is about living in the NOW, with confidence (as the verse tells us), that we can appropriate every aspect of our lives to His safe keeping as no one cares for as God does! Praying in the Name of Jesus is not just a stock ending to a prayer we are supposed to "say" or "mumble" like some pagan mantra. It is the sole and exclusive privilege of the blood-bought son or daughter of Christ, and thus God the Father, who knows the Heart of the Father and how He loves us. It is therefore, this love, which compels us to boldly approach the Throne of Grace, in Jesus' Strong and Powerful Almighty Name, in humility and but with confident hope - that He would do what He said He would. Amen. 

SPEAK LIFE: LESSON 7 - PRAY IN JESUS' NAME. Part 2

Prayer is an imperative from the Lord Himself and no Christian life is complete without it. The Lord Jesus said the following in Matthew  6: 5 “And you, WHEN you pray…..”. In Matthew 6:6 He said “But you, WHEN you pray…” and in Matthew 7 He also said “And WHEN you pray…”. Previously He said in Matthew 6:9 “In this manner, therefore, PRAY” (All emphasis mine). There are no “if’s”, “maybe’s” or….”do this only when you feel like it” in these major portions of the most significant teaching from the Lord Jesus – the Sermon on the Mount! In fact, He goes on to endorse fasting, in verse 19, something which many people also ignore today, unless it is for a medical procedure or something.

All of these imperatives or commands from Jesus stand true today, as it did when He said it. Jesus Christ, the Same – yesterday, today and tomorrow. So the foundational truth is we are to pray. But not just this,  the under-girding of the Christian’s prayer life and those the main truth is, “on what authority or under WHOSE authority” are we authorized or even qualified to pray?  Three things come into play when we consider the ordered measure of the Power Prayer Life which is expected of us, by the Father. 

Conversely, can you still be a Christian and not have an active, meaningful fulfilled prayer life?  Yes, and that proves itself as the permanent state of the western Christian church. The percent of prayer warriors in the average church is less than 3% after all the factors are swept out of surveys. Even less churches in the west conduct prayer services. One church leader did away with a monthly Wednesday night prayer service after two such separate hours of prayer, because he was concerned that the average 15% of the Sunday crowd would stop coming to his Wednesday night bible study. Stories like this are multifold everywhere. It is different in the persecuted countries like China, India, Pakistan all of the islamic nations, where Jesus is all our brethren there have. 

Therefore what are the pillars of the Authentic Prayer Life of the Believer, who MUST pray in Jesus' Name to be heard? I will go through several steps in this post and the next part of this most critical part in the Believer's Life.

1. QUALIFIED:
We are qualified, authorized and commissioned to pray "IN JESUS' NAME" for this reason: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12). This word in this verse - "RIGHT" - is exousia, or the Power and Authority of Heaven. Thus, as we are now true adopted children of the Father, we have the duty, right and responsibility to come to Him, just as we did with our natural parents. The same is true with our own children, who have access to us as THEIR natural parents.  When our own kids go out in the world, whether they are aware of it or not, they represent us and are going under the banner of our family name. Therefore their conduct ought to reflect that truth. In essence, we are Ambassadors of Prayer. As His Ambassadors, we represent the King of Kings and are duly authorized to go back to His Throne for further instructions or for comfort and more.  Daily communication with "headquarters" is recommended to keep the flow of information, the friendship and relationship on firm fluid footing so we are functioning on all cylinders while on Kingdom business! Anyone who calls him/herself an ambassador and does not recognize or wish to acknowledge or even care to use His Name, should examine him or her self to see whom they are really representing!

2. POSITIONAL:
Because of our right standing as a true child of God, through re-birth, salvation and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are now in the following position: In Matthew 21:22, Jesus said "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, IF you have Faith. 

This is amazing. In Scripture, language, the tense of a verb and the original word actually spoken are of EXTREME significance.  This is why the translation of the Bible you read is so important. God is serious about His Word and any modern cultural fad which takes it upon itself to alter or dumb down His pure word will be held up to His Judgment one day.

- Whatever: this really means whatever or as great as any prayer request or petition you have - He will listen. That includes prayer for your relative to recover from cancer; for a young child to find her first job; for your safety on a business trip on a snowy day or for the funds to pay for the new brakes you have been needing on your car. Whatever it is - God knows and will provide.

- Ask: the original word: 'aiteo' implicitly implies the seeking of a response of an inferior person (us, mankind) from the Superior (Creator God, our Father). Would we ask a lost person to help us in finding a good commentary on understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes? Would we ask the butcher at the Shop and Stop grocery store to discern the effects of a statin drug on our cholesterol caused by eating too many cheeseburgers with bacon? No, we, who seek favor and answers and critical help go to the Only One Who can help us. This would be the Almighty God of the Universe, through Christ our Lord. 

- In Prayer: In this positional status and under the old paradigm (pre-Calvary and the Cross); the Synagogue was the main place of prayer. The Jew out in the fields or who had no access and needed to pray, had to find the nearest stream and wash himself before approaching the Lord. Since the Cross, death, burial and Resurrection of Cross, we who are saved by His Name, His Grace and forgiveness now carry the temple in our bodies. The Holy Spirit is embedded in our spirit as the guarantee of that so great a salvation, so He has made us this temple. 
Secondly, because the Spirit (Who is God the Third Person), requires spiritual cleansing, also known as Repentance. Just as you need Repentance and to be saved, you and I need daily cleansing and repentance to be sanctified. Do not listen to those who say you can live as you wish and that will be alright with God, because you said a prayer once and therefore you're a Christian! You and that person will be accountable one day before God - if there is no repentance. Status of the praying person is prime and this is a qualifying attribute, or petitions may receive scant attention.

- You will receive: The literal meaning of this world, which the English translators missed is "actively lay hold of to take or receive". Here is where the believer who prays may get discouraged. How many times have we heard "God did not answer my prayer" or "God does not like me" or "Where are you God, why aren't You listening"? We have all done a version of that, at some point in life. What is note-worthy here, is that if the answer or result does not come for your prayerful petition right away, well, then take hold of this! That is, as a dutiful authorized ambassador and child of the Savior, grab it, own it and keep going back to the Lord in prayerful submission and prayer. This is an ACTIVE verb. God owes us nothing, but through Grace, He has given us EVERYTHING, we do have to work out this growth as a believer. So what Jesus is saying here is "grab the issue", take hold and go to prayer. The persistent prayer warrior who perseveres always has the Ear of the King, Who is merciful, just, loving, kind and generous. He will listen and respond when the time is best for us.

- If you have Faith: If you and I are confident and persuade in the Saving Power of Christ to rescue us from an eternity of fire and hell, why should we not have the same belief and confident faith that He would do as He says? In this context, the pre-condition or qualifying word is this one - "believing or if you have faith".  To avoid wasting words, what this simply means is - "we must believe in order to receive"!

This is the main thing. We have the authority, we positioned to prayer, now what are the conditions and what does God say His response will be....if we ask, in Jesus Name, amen. This will be addressed next.

SPEAK LIFE: LESSON 6 - PRAY IN JESUS' NAME. Part 1

"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be

glorified in the Son. "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:13-14.

There is ceremonial prayer and then, there is actual prayer. Ceremonial prayer

is similar to the account which the Lord Jesus Himself gave when He told of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector both praying in the house of worship. He said in

Luke 18:11: ""The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector." Then in verse 13, we read: "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
The difference between the two men:
- The Pharisee prayed to Himself.
- The Tax collector cried out to God in repentance.

Across the spectrum, and I have even heard this in some churches while visiting - many are refusing to pray "In Jesus' Name". American Military Chaplains were ordered to stop praying biblically over a decade ago. A well known-evangelist was visiting the White House a long time ago, and told not to pray likewise during a high-profile prayer service. Another well known pastor/teacher from Dallas was invited to open a city council meeting with prayer, then told not to pray in "Jesus Name". He knew he would never be invited back after accepting and went in there, preached the full Gospel of Christ, and left. The liberal senate of a Mid-western statehouse is making local pastors sign documents stating they will not pray non- sectarian prayers (which means, no Christian prayers in Jesus Name). One pastor got up in front of his church and recounted that, told how he refused to sign it and they ran after him to come back "this time". Any "pastor" who signs that document has not only denied Jesus Christ, but will face Judgment from God from that act of valuing corrupt men rather than Holy God....and on and on.

So why does it bother the world systems that someone would pray in Jesus' Name? They would not dare tell moslems not to mention their prophet or a Buddhist etc...but somehow, the Name of the Good Shepherd stirs up something in those who are of the kingdom of darkness. The reason is multi-fold. Over 2000 years since He was born according to prophesy, Jesus occupies the time period from Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve (Christmas). Only a few short months later, an equally hated group - the Jews, celebrate Passover which means Good Friday and Easter/Resurrection Sunday are here.  Lately, more and more Bible series and movies have saturated the airways as the prime focus of the civilized world is JESUS! He is EVERYWHERE (and He IS actually EVERYWHERE...."the Eyes of the Lord runneth to and fro across the whole earth, on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him- 2 Chronicles 16:9)

No wonder they don't want real Christians to pray in His Name! The devil could not tempt Him. Sure Judas and the fickle betrayed Him. But the Pharisees could not stop Him. Pilate wanted to free Him. The grave could not hold Him. Death did not conquer Him. The demons flee from Him. The dying turned to Him (the Thief on the Cross). The Romans tried to eradicate Him by sending His followers to the lions. The caliphs of 1000 years ago could not wipe them out either. The dark ages and corrupt Roman churches could not stop His Word from getting to the masses. Tynedale, Wycliffe, Hus and others gave their lives for Him. His followers - we Christians - started the hospitals, schools, universities, homeless missions and other things which define compassion and civilization. The books written cannot describe Him. Movies cannot define Him. The rich, powerful and pagan deny and decry Him, but the faithful deify Him.  He is the Lord of the Universe, the Commander in Chief of Heavens' Armies and we know....and even the pagans know, He is coming soon to take back His Creation and rule with His saints - those who are saved.

Now, do you wish to know why today's temporary rulers are commanding believers not to pray "In Jesus' Name"??!! Well?! But enough about them! What about the Faithful? How do we learn about the power of His Presence and His Name? How do we approach Him in prayer and what is the Biblical foundation for the true Christian to ask in the Name of Jesus? We will examine this in some detail, in Part 2.