“I Will Do Whatever You Ask In My Name”

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

John 14:12-21

We all have collections of photographs of our parents praying before the dinner at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. All of our families are gathered around.

And all of those prayers end with, “We pray in Jesus’ name.”

Jesus taught us to pray in His name. The night before He was crucified, He gave a promise to His disciples: “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

Earlier that same evening, Jesus taught that He answers requests make in His name so that He will bring glory to the Father.

As we pray, we yield to God’s wisdom, love, and sovereignty, and we confidently ask “in Jesus’ name.”

Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer

except that which lies outside the will of God.

Our Daily Bread – December 20, 2014