Why pray 'in the name of Jesus Christ"?
July 15th -August 13th, 2013 is the 30-Day Challenge: Prayer for MIssions in Asia . To aid those who find it difficult to spend time in prayer or have not really checked out what God's Word has to say about prayer, the next month of posts to Discovered Treasures Bible Study and .Who Am I? DailyDevo will focus mainly around prayer - how to talk to God.
Where do we learn how to talk to God? The same place we learn about His character, His likes, His dislikes, what pleases and displeases Him - In His Word.
There is one thing I want to point out in the Word before we go further on prayer.
The bible is divided into two covenants, the Old Covenant (before Christ died on the cross and rose again for us), and the New Covenant (after Christ died on the cross and rose again.) This is very important because many people go to scriptures like the Lord's prayer to learn to pray. There is nothing wrong with praying what is in the Lord's prayer. However, if you will note, it was a prayer example prayed before Christ had died.
When people prayed before Christ died, they did not have the Holy Spirit within them. This did not come until Christ died and rose again. It was not until Jesus died that the curtain (veil-Heb 9:1-9) that separated the Holy of Holies from man was torn from the top down. “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:50-51). It was not until then that we could become temples of the Holy Spirit. You will see this in Acts 1 while the disciples were in the upper room and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Prayer before this event, was not guided prayer by the Holy Spirit directly to the Father. Rather there were rules of the Law (located basically in the first five books of the bible) to follow, sacrifices to be made, and a representative (the priest) just to talk to God and get right with Him.
In Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4 the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. And He did. But this is not the New Covenant Church praying, it is the Old Covenant Church. Jesus had not yet died and rose again. The Holy Spirit was yet dwelling within their renewed spirit, and they had no authority over satan yet. Why? Because man had not yet been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ at that time.
You will notice that they did not yet pray IN THE NAME OF JESUS in that prayer. Why? He had not yet paid the price for sin of mankind. We did not yet have authority in the name.
By praying "In the name of Jesus" we are going to the Father with authority given to us by Jesus. Through faith and by grace we are saved (Eph 2:8), we receive a new spirit man making us an adopted child of God, and we can boldly go before the throne of God in prayer "in the name of Jesus Christ."
Where do we learn how to talk to God? The same place we learn about His character, His likes, His dislikes, what pleases and displeases Him - In His Word.
There is one thing I want to point out in the Word before we go further on prayer.
The bible is divided into two covenants, the Old Covenant (before Christ died on the cross and rose again for us), and the New Covenant (after Christ died on the cross and rose again.) This is very important because many people go to scriptures like the Lord's prayer to learn to pray. There is nothing wrong with praying what is in the Lord's prayer. However, if you will note, it was a prayer example prayed before Christ had died.
Prayer before this event, was not guided prayer by the Holy Spirit directly to the Father. Rather there were rules of the Law (located basically in the first five books of the bible) to follow, sacrifices to be made, and a representative (the priest) just to talk to God and get right with Him.
In Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4 the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. And He did. But this is not the New Covenant Church praying, it is the Old Covenant Church. Jesus had not yet died and rose again. The Holy Spirit was yet dwelling within their renewed spirit, and they had no authority over satan yet. Why? Because man had not yet been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ at that time.
You will notice that they did not yet pray IN THE NAME OF JESUS in that prayer. Why? He had not yet paid the price for sin of mankind. We did not yet have authority in the name.
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. (24) Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23-24
At the end of His ministry, just before he died on the cross, Jesus changed the way they were to pray.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. John 14:13-14
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