Praying God’s Will in Jesus Name isn’t Religious, it’s Friendship

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
John 17:1-5 ESV Read More

If you think about what Jesus is praying for here, it seems kind of like cheating. Isn’t it obvious that God would want to glorify Jesus? Isn’t it silly to tell God what eternal life is? Jesus is praying for something that He knows God wants to do.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus teaches something and then within a few verses or chapters He lives out whatever He just taught. Jesus has just talked about praying to the Father “In His Name” and now Jesus is showing what that looks like. It’s not about the magic words “In Jesus’ name” at the end of a prayer, it’s about doing things like Jesus would do. The Sullivans have a certain way of doing things. Good or bad, one of us might do something and other people say “yep, that’s totally Sullivan.” We do it in the same vein or name as the rest of us in the family.

Here Jesus is praying for something that any hearer would say “Yep, that’s exactly the kind of thing God would want to do here.”Just like a couple on a date, a child before bedtime, or co-workers on a road trip, conversation makes the relationship stronger. As we grow in prayer and conversation and relationship with God, we begin to learn more and more how to pray for the things that we know He wants.

That is a PERFECT example of praying something “In Jesus’ Name.” If we pray and become so unified to God, so one with God, that it sounds like we are praying for stuff that we know He already wants, I think we’re in a good spot.

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