In Jesus' Name

In John 14:13, Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in My name, 

that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the 

Son.” And in verse 14: “If you ask anything in My name, I

 will do it.” So the first principle is that prayer must be offered 

in the name of Jesus. Have you noticed that when we’re in a 

public prayer meeting and someone is asked to pray, they 

usually end the prayer with the words, “We ask this in Jesus’ 

name”? Sometimes it feels like we wouldn’t know how to end a 

prayer if we didn’t know those words because that is all we have 

ever heard. But those words are more than just a signal that 

the prayer is over and we can open our eyes. The expression

 has a much deeper meaning. Jesus said, “If you ask in My 

name.” So, what does it mean to ask in the name of Jesus 

Christ?

First of all, it means to ask in His merit. We come before God in 

Christ’s standing. We in ourselves have no standing before God.

 There is no reason within us that God should ever answer any

of our prayers. Viewed on our own, apart from the 

righteousness of Jesus Christ, we are children of God’s wrath.

 We can’t come to God in our righteousness, because the Bible 

tells us that our righteousness is as filthy rags. Yet, sometimes 

we come before God and because we’ve reviewed our memory 

verses, we’ve done our Bible study, maybe we’ve even 

witnessed this week, we feel rather spiritual. And although we 

may use the phrase "in Jesus’ name," in actuality, we have a bit

of self-confidence attached to our prayer.

~Jerry Bridges~