Editor’s note: This article was submitted for publication Fall 2018. This is a late upload.
By: Rev. David Wilson Rogers
In much of Christian prayer the faithful are diligent to add the words “in Jesus name” before the final “Amen.” John 14:14, John 15:16 and John 16:23-24 all clearly say that whatever we ask in the name of Jesus, we will receive. Yet, simply adding the words “in Jesus name” to the end of a prayer are no more effective in prayer than waving a mystical magic wand and hoping that miracles will happen. Invoking the name of Jesus requires so much more!
To understand the power of Jesus’ name, Christians need to first look into the Hebrew Scriptures and the sacred heritage of our faith. In particular Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. These two passages record the 10 Commandments given to Moses by God for the foundation of faith. Included in this sacred list of what could be called God’s ten best practices for faithful living, is the requirement that nobody take the Lord’s name in vain. To take the Lord’s name in vain is to fail to take seriously the power and importance of God’s name, to usurp God’s authority by invoking the Divine Name for selfish or frivolous intent, or simply to ignore the incredible power and authority the name inspires.
Perhaps the most egregious violation of the commandment to uphold the sacred nature of God’s name is to invoke the Sacred Name for personal power, glory, or prestige. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, learned this the hard way in Mark 10 when they came to Jesus and asked him to use his name—that is his Divine Authority, to promise them positions of authority in God’s Kingdom. Talk about name-dropping. “Hey Jesus, tell your Dad that we want him to put us into positions of prominence for all eternity!”
Predictably, Jesus rebukes them. Yet in the rebuke is a powerful message of greatness and priority. James and John wanted easy glory and the promise of power. Jesus answered their request with a command for service, humility, and lowliness. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
This raises a prayerful question that Christians must keep close to their hearts. “When I pray and invoke the name of Jesus, am I asking for my own benefit or in order to serve the world in Christ’s name?” In the book of James (not the same James mentioned above), the writer explicitly describes the sin of asking from selfish, rather than divine, motivation. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)
In order to invoke the name of Jesus, the Christian must first be so prayerfully and biblically tied to the heart and soul of Christ that we have confidence to be able to pray God’s will rather than our own. This is why faithful devotion to prayer, study, and worship are so essential to knowing the heart of God. Additionally, this does not mean simply accepting church doctrine and formulas of faith at face value without question. The history of the church is full of examples where well-meaning church leaders have unwittingly distorted the Word of God in creating doctrines that served only to advance the power of the institution rather than promote the service of Christ to the needs of the world. Christians must prayerfully wrestle with scripture, tradition, and doctrine so that we can come to prayer with greater clarity and purity.
Praying in Christ’s name is what Christians are called to do and it is our sacred duty. However, it is essential that when we dare to invoke the full authority of Jesus Christ in our prayers, we do so in ways that fully honor and bless the power of the name!
