# 393 Praying In the Name of Jesus

The Book of Genesis

Day 393

Ge 41: 32 "And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

We  are taking a little break from the study in Genesis to pursue the importance of repetition in the Scriptures. In particular we are looking at the “verily, verilies” found in the Gospel of John. When God repeats things, He is merely underlining or highlighting them for us. He gives them an extra sense of urgency.

Today we will look at Joh 16:20-24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.  21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.  22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.  23 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.”

Sorrow turned to joy! There is nothing like the “verily, verily, of the resurrection to turn our sorrows into joy. Knowing that as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, one day, your sorrowful situation will be turned to unspeakable joy! This is a joy that no one will ever be able to take from you. Cling to it, in your dark moments.

Now, as we await our Lord’s return, we have still another “verily, verily,” to hang our hat on. Jesus told His followers that from now on all questions and requests go directly to the Father when we pray in the name of Jesus. So ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full! Father is key here! In his classic book, “Knowing God,” J.I. Packer asserts that God’s Old Testament covenant name was Yahweh, but His New Testament covenant name is “Father.” One name emoting an almost distant fear, and the other emoting family warmth.

Understand this: The Father loves you and you are embraced in His family  because you love Jesus, and because you believe that He came from the Father. Remember too, that we are only able to love Jesus, because God first loved us! So this “love cycle,” started with God and His gift of Jesus to the world.

If that’s not enough familial love, it is God’s good pleasure as your Father to demonstrate His love for you even further, by answering our joy fulfilling requests! His answers to our prayers are always for our best interests, that our joy may be full!

This is what it means to pray in the name of Jesus: We are acknowledging our love for Him and our belief that He came from the Father. By faith in His Word, we are trusting that we are indeed a brother of Jesus and therefore included in the family of God.

Just a quick word about “fulfilled joy.” Our joy is complete when we know for certain we are in the family of God and when we are doing the things that our Father has wired us to do. You and I will discover these things as we draw near to Him in His Word and respond to the convictions of the Holy Spirit. Therefore always direct your prayers to the Father with this in mind, and the next time you end your prayer, pause and consider what you are really saying when you say, “In the name of Jesus I pray!.” You are really saying, “I ask these things, because I love my brother Jesus, I believe He came forth from You, and I believe that because of Him, I can call You Daddy.