“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” John 16:24 NIV
This verse is part of the conversation Jesus was having with His disciples on the night He was arrested. Jesus had had many conversations with them but this one is the first time, according to my research, that Jesus told them to pray ‘in’ His name. By doing this He is giving them the knowledge that He is the mediator between them and God, that His will can be done because He has the authority to make things happen.
When we practice asking ‘in’ Jesus’s name, we are acknowledging that we are unable to do anything without Jesus. Once we accept this it becomes easier to realize that we need Him for everything. Jesus is the mediator between us and God. He is the only one who can go to God on our behalf and we definitely need someone to go to God on our behalf because of our sinful nature.
The last part of this verse says ‘Ask and you will receive’. I want to emphasis that it is not telling us that whatever we pray for we are going to receive. That is not what this verse says because that is not how it works. We need to understand that praying ‘in’ Jesus’s name is different than praying and simply using Jesus’s name at the end of the prayer. When we pray ‘in’ Jesus’s name, we are to be doing it in unison with God’s will. If we are not in union with God’s will then we should not expect to receive what we are asking for. We need to remember that God knows better than we do what we need. After all, He is God!
When we accept that we can do nothing, that we have the One who can do everything on our side, we can give it all to Him. He was willing to the cross for us, He is willing to be our mediator and give us what we ask for as long as when we do it in His name we are doing it in unison with God’s Will.
Are you asking for things simply using Jesus’s name at the end of your prayer or are you seeking God’s Will and asking for things ‘in’ His name?