Come to God Correctly
John 14:13 (Amplified Bible)
13And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name [as [a]presenting all that I AM], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son)
God sent His son to represent Him. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9 (Amplified Bible) God always intended for there to be a divine/human connection, or some might say a spiritual/earthly connection. When Adam trespassed, we were separated from God, and this divine/human connection was severed. However, Jesus became the mediator, the restorer, the reconciler and redeemer so that we could once again have this divine/human connection that was in God’s heart. God the Father wants us to recognize the very important role that Jesus has in restoring and reconciling us back to Himself.
Through his three years of ministry, Jesus showed people His God-relationship. He demonstrated how the divine/human connection operated. He taught us how to walk in fellowship with God. When the time came when His assignment was nearly complete, He emphasized to His disciples that He had God-authority to answer any prayers they had.
So when we look at this verse of scripture, we see that Jesus is attempting to prepare His disciples for His absence, and at the same time offer comfort to them. He wants them to understand that even though He won’t be around physically, they can still experience from Him what they have grown accustomed to. He’s letting them know that because of who He is - what His purpose is - that He has authority to grant to them whatsoever it is that they desire. I’m sure His disciples didn’t fully understand what He was saying. No doubt they had questions floating through their minds. So Jesus told them how it would be accomplished. He gave them the prescription for success. They must ask in His name.
As I thought about this, I thought what does this really mean? And then I received this revelation. When we ask something in Jesus’ name, we must appropriate the character and authority of Jesus to that request. We must understand who Jesus is, not just say His name nonchalantly.
In essence, when we pray in Jesus’ name, we must understand that He is to be reverenced and glorified - that His name means Savior, Immanuel – literally - with us (is) God. If God is with us, there must be some worship involved, some holiness present. His is not a name that we throw around lightly. The name of Jesus means something to His Father. Jesus is God’s Son. It’s through His obedience that we have access to our Heavenly Father. Jesus paid an awesome price for this access. He left His place in Heaven where He was worshipped, magnified, honored and glorified. He exchanged His high position for a low one when He became a human, and suffered the death of the cross. Yes, Jesus’ name means something. It is a name that is above every name. It is a name that will cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11) We must appropriate this understanding in order to receive from our Father. Through Jesus, God is glorified. In other words, He is rendered or esteemed glorious. He is magnified. When we understand who Jesus is, then we understand the significance of going to our Father in His name, as well the power, dominion and authority of His name.
The other aspect to praying in the name of Jesus is so we do not forget about Him when we pray. We just can’t by pass Jesus and go to the Father. The price He paid on Calvary is too huge for us to ignore. Jesus made it quite clear that He would be involved in answering our prayers. In fact, He would be the one to do it. God has given Him that authority. So it’s fruitless and useless to pray without acknowledging the one who gave so much to restore our divine/human relationship with our Creator.
I believe that many of us do not receive the petitions that we ask of God because we do not come to Him correctly. It should be normal for us to receive everything we ask of our Father. We should be living in blessing upon blessing. To the world it may seem miraculous, but for us it’s our reality. Let’s go to God and get what we desire. Let us worship the name of Jesus – after all He is Immanuel – with us (is) God.
