There is power in the Name of Jesus

The difference between Christian prayer and all other prayers of faith is that we pray in the Name of the Lord Jesus, acknowledging that we pray, petition, supplicate, thank and ask not by any human authority but in Christ’s power and authority.

We pray in Jesus’ Name because the Lord made a promise in John 14:13-14, that our prayers would be heard and answered after His death and departure. While He was among them, his disciples had no need to pray in His Name but afterwards the Lord would empower them in a new way through the Holy Spirit. He would not leave his disciples floundering, alone or orphans.

And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.…

We pray in Jesus’ Name because His Name alone comes with divine power, authority and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. To invoke the Name of Jesus is not a trifling matter for there is no name above Jesus. The Scriptures declare

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11

If Jesus’ Name alone demands that all of heaven and earth bow down before Him, then invoking His Name in prayer should never be done casually. James warns that we receive not because we ask amiss. Our prayers aren’t heard because we pray out of the flesh. Sadly, that can also mean that praying “in Jesus Name” thoughtlessly or for the wrong reasons may actually become a prescribed ritual, not the act of worshipful obeisance Paul describes in Philippians. We cannot allow the precious name of the Lord to become a post script to prayer or Christianese jargon no more efficacious than mantras uttered by pagans.

We do believe God’s Word. In John, Jesus again instructs His disciples to ask and receive in His Name.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24

It is joy to ask and know that the Lord will give us what we ask when we pray in His Name. Nevertheless, sometimes people of faith need to wrestle with God’s mysteries. Over thinkers like me dig into questions like, “Where does power in the name of Jesus originate? Well,” Believer replies, “it comes from the Holy Spirit. “ Indeed it does. To my great delight, it begins in the first chapter of Luke.

In my next post , I will look at Luke 1:31-35 and what these Scripture may reveal as “ power in the Name of Jesus.”