Three Magic Words?

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What’s in a name? or Three Magic Words?

Q: Why do we pray ‘In Jesus name’ when closing our prayers?

I think a better question is: What does it mean to pray in Jesus name? Are we praying in His name when we tack on those three words at the end of praying all we want to pray? Is it the only prayers God will accept?

Then up-pops another question, “Wherein lies my acceptance? “ To mentally empower those three words as if they were magic, is to reason from man to God. Will He give the same consideration to our supplications if we do not add on those three words?

Better to first answer the question: “On what basis does God accept me?” He has only one ground on which to do so and that is on the basis of His Son’s finished work at the Cross.

J.N. Darby has said,  

“God’s basis must be our basis for acceptance. There is no other. We are “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6) Our Father is fully satisfied with His beloved Son on our behalf, and there is no reason for us not to be. Our satisfaction can only spring from and rest in, His satisfaction. It is from God to us, not from us to God. When the Holy Spirit reasons with man, He does not reason from what man is for God, but from what God is to man.”

So too our prayers are only accepted through the Son; who shed His blood and paid our debt in full.

Q: What is ‘Jesus’ name? It doesn’t matter how you answer this question if using God’s Word as your premise.

His name is:

I Am   ( The Way, The Truth, The Life  John 14:6) As His Word says, we must pray in truth. ‘God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The words, ‘in Jesus Name’ will not make praying our ‘opinions and finite, fleshly desires acceptable to God.

Savior David prays the following: The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My Savior. Notice David doesn’t wait to tack on the Savior’s name at the finish, but begins with it! Did he get it in the wrong place? Will his prayer be unacceptable? May be we are to do the same as David for he knew his prayer would be heard for one reason… because of who God is. David’s responsibility was to be on praying terms, God is always on listening terms.   II Samuel 22:3.

I have not read of Paul praying ‘in Jesus Name” but all he did was in Jesus name, for His glory. Paul lived his acceptance. Jesus lived through Paul. He only needed to deny himself and daily take up his cross (count himself dead to sin, crucified with Christ) and follow the Christ, the crucified One.

High and Exalted One-  Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One
Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place,

And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit, In order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

When we pray, it requires humility not the misuse of Jesus precious name, out of rote familiarity (in the negative connotation). But a deep, sweet, knowing, from a contriteness of heart because we are ‘in Christ’.

I have read of demons being cast out in Jesus name again and again. Miracles were done in Jesus name. Believers were baptized in Jesus name. So if you operate in any of these arenas  it is Biblical.

Mark 9:38-39 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.

It is the living… the Holy Spirit in and through us that is the definition of ‘in Jesus name’.

 God’s names of are many and each name is an omnipotent peek at ‘who’ He is.

Why not try addressing Him with as much meaning as you feel in your heart?

EX:

“Oh mysterious One, You who love beyond understanding. I come just to be near You. Thank You for hearing prayer and planning such an amazing gift for us….

Or “Namer of the stars, who is like You?....

Oh Compassionate One, You who share my grief and loss…

Rejected One, You who carried my sorrows to Calvary’s tortuous Cross… You alone understand my pain and my need for You to hold me now.

Albeit our acceptance doesn’t depend on who we are! We have nothing to recommend ourselves to God. Only What Christ Jesus did in His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension is acceptable and provides great freedom. Why? because, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

What I love about God’s Word is that it gives understanding in regards to the Truth of who we are and reveals who God is. As we walk by faith, we are living out ‘in Jesus name’! It will also faithfully and deeply reveal who God is while filling us with reverence for Him

We are to live Christ. We are to live Christ in every word we speak, every hug we give, and in every act and sacrifice. I count that a lot more difficult than tacking on three words at the end of a prayer, trusting it will get your prayer to the ear of God! Do not make the Christian life a legalistic marathon, which is, in reality, making the Christian life about you. Excuse me, but as I found out over many years experience, that is not acceptable to Holy God. He wants us to come to the end of our ‘fleshly’ self. Paul said, ‘I die daily.’ And you know what.. he didn’t utter the three magic words, he lived them. Seeing himself ‘in Christ’ in every way. May Jesus Christ be glorified.

Love you my sisters and brothers,
Happy New Year
az

 
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