“Ask In My Name”: Command, Invitation, Privilege, Promise

One of the themes running through John 14 — 17 (see the previous post)  is “Ask in my name”. “Ask in my name” is a command; but it is also an invitation. The Greek word for ‘ask’ is aiteo. It is not passive; Strong’s defines it as “beg, call for, crave, desire, require.” It is a passionate request. We are commanded to ask — Jesus tells us to ‘ask’ 5 times in John 14 – 17. Add to this John’s first letter, where John tells us “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him”. “According to His will’ is the equivalent of saying “in My name”. And we are commanded and invited by Jesus to ask God for our needs in the Lord’s Prayer — for provision, forgiveness, protection, and for deliverance.  But, not just our needs – we are invited into God’s Kingdom work when we pray “Your Kingdom come”. This part of the prayer means that we seek to “align ourselves with His kingdom movement and to seek God’s power in furthering its ultimate fulfillment” (from ‘The Lord’s Prayer as a Paradigm of Christian Prayer’ by N.T. Wright).

“The Lord’s Prayer becomes an invitation to share in the divine life itself. It becomes one of the high roads into the central mystery of Chrisitan salvation and Christian existence: that the baptized and believing (and I would add, repentant) is (1) incorporated into the inner life of the Triune God and (2) intended not just to believe that this is the case, but actually experience it” (also from the N.T Wright reference in the previous paragraph. (And I would add, participate in releasing this Kingdom life into the kingdom of the world.)

These promises and commands are the words of Jesus. Yikes!!! On the surface, they seem unbelievable. We ‘ask’ as we live in the sphere of Christ’s activity and presence, in the Kingdom of God. From this place of intimacy with Christ we are in the position to ask according to His purposes and plans and for His Father’s glory.  We ask on behalf of other people — the persecuted, sick, dying, grieving, broken-hearted, depressed, fearful, the addicted. We ask for a deeper relationship with Jesus, for the gift of repentance, a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit; for courage, boldness, peace, joy. We ask for protection, healing and wholeness, victory, and for the right words and opportunities to share the gospel of the Kingdom with a friend or family member. We ask for our families, neighborhoods, towns and villages, cities, nation, and the world. We ask for missionaries and ministries; and for our church leaders. And we ask for ourselves: for freedom, transformation, for life.

We ask for revival.

At the heart of all of these ‘asks’ is God’s ultimate purpose —  restoration (at many levels). In other words, we ask “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as its is in Heaven”. In every prayer, we ask, in one form or another, for the Kingdom of God to be released into the kingdom of the world; for rescue from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son, the Kingdom of Light. We ask these things according to God’s will: it is always God’s will to restore. It is restoration that brings Him glory — the restoration of His children back to that intimate relationship we enjoyed with Him and He enjoyed with us in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. The restoration of our relationships with others and within ourselves — to be restored spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Recall that to heal is to restore to health.

Most fundamentally what we are praying for is the restoration of holiness in ourselves, in others, and really, the entire world. That is revival — the breakout of holiness.

Jesus has given us the authority to ask; and to ask for the deep things of Heaven on earth, now. He has invited us into an intimate life of prayer with Him. He is saying to us “enter into my life, which lives within you, and join me, be my co-laborer. Together we will unleash the Kingdom of God to push back and defeat the power of evil”. For those who accept and enter into this invitation and purpose, there is no higher joy, no life more fulfilling, and no way to bring more glory to the Triune God.

OK. Great!! But why do I have to ask? Doesn’t Jesus know what the world needs? What I need? Can’t He just give us whatever we need to live in the Kingdom of God? Yes, He does know what we need, and sometimes He does deliver what we need without our asking. He is sovereign over all Creation. Is this command and invitation to ask like the Father opening the door to the toy store and telling his children “pick out whatever you want”? No. All Scripture testifies to the fact that God uses men to advance His mission of restoration: Noah, Abraham and his descendants, David, the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, John the Baptist, the disciples, Paul, and millions of men and women who have been used by God since the First Century to spread the gospel of the Kingdom of God throughout the world. But we must ask.

Here is my answer to this question of “why ask”. It seems to me that God has chosen to use His people to accomplish His purpose; He has chosen to limit His scope of operations, so to speak, in order to increase ours. Early on He bound Himself to us — He is our God; we are His people. That is why the Church was created – to be given authority to carry on the work of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Is the command of Jesus ‘to ask’, which primarily means to request in prayer, related to this choice that God has made – to partner with you and me, to call us co-workers in His restoration? Our prayers, in Jesus’ name and according to His will, open up the way for God to enter into a situation and move. And if we don’t ask? Will God not act or at least wait? This idea, of course, is not a new one. Watchman Nee, in his book ‘Let Us Pray’ captures these ideas with the metaphor of a railroad. God is the locomotive, our prayers lay the rails. The locomotive waits for the rails to be laid until it moves.

It seems to me that our relationship with God is more dynamic, more intimate, and more significant than many of us have been led to believe. We have a role to play in God’s ultimate purpose of restoration. He has made us joint heirs with Christ, as Paul tells us “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heir of God and co-heirs with Christ”. There are many implications to our adoption. One of the implications is this: If we are called joint heirs with Christ, then we legally and strictly have no inheritance apart from Him. Once we are adopted, we surrender (willingly) our old life. Here we return to what it means to be ‘in Christ’. Are you and I in Christ, or not? Are we living in the Kingdom of God? Because outside of the Kingdom of God, we have no heavenly rights and privileges; including no indwelling Holy Spirit, no freedom, and no authority and power.

If we are heirs, then we not only inherit certain rights but also responsibilities. We are called to administer all that we have inherited. God has given us the world as our inheritance and called us ‘ruler’ multiple times in Scripture.  That does not mean we rule in our power. That is impossible. We rule in partnership with God, as co-laborers. When we ask, I think Jesus is saying “open the door for me so that My Spirit will enter in and work, according to your request, to bring glory to my Father”.

Then there is the promise: “You may ask me for anything in My name, and I will do it” or “If you remain in Me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” I already discussed what it means to be ‘in Christ’ and praying ‘in His name’. I understand these requirements: “live with me in My Kingdom”, Jesus is saying, and all that Kingdom life implies. But still, what promises! I must take them seriously; these are Jesus’ words. The problem is in my life I have encountered unanswered prayer. Maybe I didn’t really ask in Jesus’ name; maybe I didn’t really ask God for His will in a particular situation.

As I write these words I feel the Spirit whispering to me “But many of your prayer requests have been answered”. Many of the things I prayed for have actually occurred. Some of these requests have been answered quickly, many more over a longer period. I don’t keep a prayer journal (which I should do), but thinking as I write this, I believe many more of my prayers have been positively answered than have gone unanswered. Of course, I need to remember that Paul tells us “we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself interceded for us with groans that words cannot express”. In those situations where I have not sought God’s direction for my prayer, it is likely that I have prayed for one thing, and the Spirit has, in effect, said “no, not that. This.”

My part is to listen to God, ask according to His will to the best of my ability, be sure that I am praying in the name of Jesus (and all that this means, including with a spirit of humility), and believe with expectancy that God has heard my prayer and will answer it. If I get ‘wrapped around the axle’ of unanswered prayer I won’t pray much and the prayers I do pray will be less effective. It is best to believe the promise and then . . . pray. There is a reason Jesus opened these verses (John 14 – 17) with the admonition to trust Him.

Jesus tells us, over and over, to ask (and to me, this means pray with specific requests). It is one of the ways He prayed. But ‘ask’ always within the context of belief and according to God’s will and in the ‘name of Jesus’ — and this context cannot be a part of our lives if we live in the kingdom of self. This word ‘ask’, for me, in the context of Scripture, conveys a command, extends an invitation, is a privilege, and has a promise attached to it. I am a son, adopted into the family of God. I have legal rights to everything that was given to Jesus, including His death and resurrection. In fact, I am His brother. Jesus tells me I will do even greater things in the power of the Holy Spirit.

To be given the authority to ask is to be invited into the divine, supernatural work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit restoring Creation. To ‘ask’ is to ‘lay the rails’ for the Triune God to enter into the situation for which I am asking/praying and bring His Kingdom life and light, to heal and make whole, and release His holiness. We are commanded to ask (you do it), we are invited to ask (be my co-worker), we are privileged to ask (you will see and participate in amazing things), and we are given a promise (I am with you). It is not the only way to pray: we are called to ‘command’ and proclaim the Kingdom of God which also makes room for God to work. However, Jesus makes a big deal of ‘asking’, so I believe we should too.

But —

“Seek first His KIngdom, and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6: 33).

Hallelujah!!

I know people will read this post (well, a few) and some will say that I have explained ‘ask’ with too much emphasis on us, we, me, I. I have been thinking about our relationship to the Triune God, and based on Scripture, I am coming to believe that many of us have seriously understated and underestimated our value and significance to the Father. I am going to write about this next but it might take a week or so. We will be on the road to NC soon.

Grace and peace to all of you,

John