Lesson 78: The All-effective Plea, part 3
The illustrations from our last lesson show us how defective the common view is of a messenger sent to ask in the name of another, or a guilty one appealing to the name of a guarantor. No, Jesus Himself is with the Father; it is not an absent one in whose name we come. Even when we pray to Jesus Himself, it must be in His Name. The name represents the person; to ask in the Name is to ask in full union of interest and life and love with Himself, as one who lives in and for Him. Let the Name of Jesus only have undivided supremacy in my heart and life, and my faith will grow to the assurance that what I ask in that Name cannot be refused. The name and the power of asking go together: when the Name of Jesus has become the power that rules my life, its power in prayer with God will be seen too.
We see then that everything depends on our own relation to the Name: the power it has on my life is the power it will have in my prayers. There is more than one expression in Scripture which can make this clear to us. When it says, “Do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus,” we see how this is the counterpart of the other, “Ask all.” To do all and to ask all in His Name; these go together. When we read, “We shall walk in the Name of our God,” we see how the power of the Name must rule in the whole life; and only then will it have power in prayer. It is not to the lips but to the life God looks to see what the Name is to us. When Scripture speaks of “men who have given their lives for the Name of the Lord Jesus,” or of one “ready to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus,” we see what our relation to the Name must be: when it is everything to me, it will obtain everything for me. If I let it have all I have, it will let me have all it has.
“WHATSOEVER you shall ask in my Name, that will I do.” Jesus means the promise literally. Christians have sought to limit it: it looked too free; it was hardly safe to trust man so unconditionally. We did not understand that the word “in My Name” is its own safeguard. It is a spiritual power which no one can use further than he obtains the capacity for, by his living and acting in that Name. As we bear that Name before men, we have power to use it before God. Oh let us plead for God’s Holy Spirit to show us what the Name means, and what the right use of it is. It is through the Spirit that the Name, which is above every name in heaven, will take the place of supremacy in our heart and life too.
Disciples of Jesus, let the lessons of this day enter deep into your hearts. The Master says: Only pray in my Name; and whatsoever you ask will be given. Heaven is open to you; the treasures and powers of the world of spirit are placed at your disposal on behalf of men around you. Oh come, and let us learn to pray in the Name of Jesus. As to the disciples, He says to us, “Hitherto you have not asked in my Name: ask, and you shall receive.” Let each disciple of Jesus seek to avail himself of the rights of his royal priesthood, and use the power placed at his disposal for his circle and his work. Let Christians awake and hear the message: your prayer can obtain what otherwise will be withheld, and can accomplish what otherwise remains undone. Oh awake, and use the name of Jesus to open the treasures of heaven for this perishing world. Learn as the servants of the King to use His Name: “WHATSOEVER you shall ask in my Name, THAT WILL I DO.”
Prayer: Oh my Lord, let Your Holy Spirit teach me this. You said of Him, “The Comforter, whom the Father shall send IN MY NAME.” He knows what it is to be sent from heaven in Your Name, to reveal and to honor the power of that Name in Your servants, to use that Name alone, and so to glorify You. Lord Jesus, let Your Spirit dwell in me, and fill me. I yield my whole being to His rule and leading. Your Name and Your Spirit are one; through Him Your Name will be the strength of my life and my prayer. Then I shall be able for Your Name’s sake to forsake all, in Your Name to speak to men and to God, and to prove that this is indeed the Name above every name. Lord Jesus, teach me by Your Holy Spirit to pray in Your Name.