In Jesus' Name

Probably you offer many prayers "in Jesus' name." What does this mean?

To pray in Jesus' name is to pray by and for him, with his strength and for his purposes.

Names in the Bible always refer to the character behind the name. So to pray in Jesus' name is to pray with and for his character, to pray in the way that he prayed and for the purposes that he prayed.

Imagine how it would change our lives to do that!

Have you ever studied the way Jesus prayed? He often went away by himself to seek the Father alone. He used the Psalms. He was quiet. He waited to make decisions and he listened. He acted on what he discerned from the Father. He learned how to do whatever he did as an expression of prayer.

Today there are a lot of "experts" giving us advice to solve all sorts of problems (many of them are psychologists like myself). We wouldn't need most of these "solutions" to improve our lives if we simply learned this one thing: how to pray in Jesus' name.