What Does It Mean To Pray In Jesus' Name?

And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mar 14:35-36)

As Christians, we almost always end our prayer with “in Jesus’ Name.” We add it to the end of our prayers but probably do not give much thought as to exactly what this means, implies or involves.

In essence, it is similar to a power of attorney. For instance, let’s say you have power of attorney to decide medical issues for a family member who is incapacitated. Your power to make decisions for that person is limited. You can only make decisions based on the power that has been granted to you, you cannot go outside the realm of the legal authority granted to you. In the same manner, a CEO of a company has great power but is also limited. The CEO can make many decisions within the realm of his authority as a CEO. There are some decisions that the CEO cannot make without obtaining permission from the board of directors. For instance, the CEO could not arbitrarily make a decision to sell the company. That is outside of the realm of power granted to the CEO.

A person who has a power of attorney or a CEO is acting in the stead of the person or organization that he/she represents.

The question is what does this have to do with Christians when we say “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers. When we pray, we are to pray in His will. All prayers that are asked in His will are, in essence, asking in His stead. For instance, Paul prayed that the thorn be removed from His side. It was not God’s will that it be removed so the answer that Paul received was a no. Paul was praying for something that was not God’s will for Paul and therefore his prayer was not answered as he desired.

Any prayer that is asked in His will, will ALWAYS be answered in the affirmative. God will never answer no to a petition that is His will for a Christian. Sometimes He delays an affirmative answer, sometimes He answers it immediately and sometimes He simply says no. A ‘no’ means that it is not God’s will for that person to receive that particular petition.

All promises in the bible are not for all Christians at all times. Healings are not guaranteed for people get sick and die. It may be that it is God’s will for that person to come home and no amount of praying is going to cause God to go against His will. Sometimes, His will is that a person have that “thorn” and that the “thorn” remain as it did with Paul. The thorn may be an illness or a situation.

When we pray in His name, we are praying His will as if in His stead much like when we act on behalf of a loved one in a power of attorney situation. Our prayers are answered in the affirmative only when they are in His will. Sometimes our prayers are answered differently than we petition and when that happens, it is for our good. Our Father knows what is best for us and will answer with a yes, no, or with a different result than we petitioned.

Our will does not always line up with His will for we still are in this fleshly tent. Not our will but His. That is the essence of “in Jesus’ name we pray.” “Not our will but His will. Remember, all prayers that are asked in His name that are in His will, will always, without exception, be answered in the affirmative.

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