GUARANTEED ANSWERS

TO PRAYER

GUARANTEED ANSWERS TO PRAYER

June 4, 2017

Sermon in a sentence: We receive everything we ask of Jesus when we pray “in His name.”

Congregational reading: John 14:6-15

Scriptures: John 14:6-15; Matt. 7:7-12; Ex. 34:6-7; Matt. 6:9-13; Matt. 26:39

John 14:6-15 NKJV Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.15“If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Matt. 7:7-12 NKJV “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Whenever a name is spoken, a reaction occurs in the mind and heart of the hearer. If someone says Santa Claus, there is a reaction. Or if they say Superman, there is a reaction. If they say Mother Theresa, there is a reaction. Or if they say Adolf Hitler, there is a reaction.

Even though some of these namesbelong to fictitious characters, we still respond in accordance to the characteristics we have chosen to associate with that name. So, we associate the name Santa Claus with a jolly,generous old elf who has have endowed with supernatural powers to know when we are sleeping and know when we’re awake, and know if we’ve been bad or good (so be good, for goodness’ sake)! (But to be honest, he’s only been doing this since 1934 when Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie wrote the song that gave him these super-powers.)

Names have power and meaning. You may hear the names Cassius Clay and Muhammad Ali and have two completely different reactions, even though they belonged to the same person. Or was it really the same person? The change of name reflected a big change in the man.

Names have many functions and are therefore very important. Among other things, theyare quick code words thatencapsulate our identity, office, authority, dominion andpower, even our gender and religion. In the past, people were often given names thatdescribed their vocation, character, destiny, calling and blessing.

So, if you ask: “what’s in a name?”, the answer is: “a lot is in a name!”

When we consider what Jesus said to His disciples in John 14, it is striking in its brevity, clarity and meaning. He said:

… whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it(v. 13-14).

This is the kind of statement that makes you stop dead in your tracks and say, ‘run that by me again’? So, He did, in John 15. He said:

John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

And just in case it still hadn’t sunken in, He said it yet again, in John 16.

John 16:23b-24 Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Regardingthis promise, we don’t have to jump to any other scripture to get what He was trying to say. Jesus said the very same thing three different times in the same speech! I think you will agree that He was really trying to make a point. And keep in mind that this was the last time He would speak to His disciples before His death. (And we know that the last words someone speaks before they die are precious words, words that are extremely important to them.)

Yet, as a friend of mine recently told me, “A cake is not one ingredient, but many.” So, let us quickly get to the heart of the matter and add all the ingredients we need to bake the “answered prayer” cake.

If you speak or act in someone’s name, you do so in accordance with their position, power and authority, not your own. In John 5:43, Jesus said:

I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

He continued in the 2nd half of John 10:25:

The works that I do in My Father’s name [or, under my Father’s authority], they bear witness of Me.

What exactly was the “witness” of His works? His works proved and affirmed that God was indeed working through Him and that He was speaking and acting in God’s stead, on God’s behalf, taking God’s place. When you saw Jesus at work, you saw God at work.

We need to remember this every time we pray. We are praying just as if it was Jesus Himself praying through us!

When we think back to the OT, there was an incredible interaction that took place between Moses and God that will help us better understand what it means to pray “in Jesus’ name.”

The children of Israel had corrupted themselves at Mount Sinaiby making and worshiping a golden calf, which prompted God to tell Moses He would no longer travel with them to Canaan (Ex. 33:3). God separated Himself from Israel and Moses had to go far outside the camp to meet with Him in a “tent of meeting” that he set up for this purpose.

One day as he was interceding on behalf of the people, Moses asked God to reconsider His decision to part company with Israel and asked Him to once again lead them by His holy presence. Because of His abundant grace and mercy, God said yes.

Then Moses took it a big step further. He told God he wanted to see His glory (Ex. 33:18)! As incredible as it may seem, God again said yes. He told Moses to meet Him the next morning at the top of Mount Sinai, bringing two new stone tablets with him on which He would re-write the 10 Commandments. So, the next morning, Moses went to the appointed place, ready to see the glory of God!

God hid him in a safe place and protected him with His hand as His glory passed by. And as He did so, the Lord proclaimed His name to Moses:

Ex. 34:6-7 … “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

To paraphrase,God said: My name is YHWH; YHWH EL. I Am Who I Am and I Will Be What I Will Be: God. Whenever you use my name, thisis what I want you to think about and know about Me:

-I am merciful

-I am gracious

-I am longsuffering

-I am full of goodness

-I am full of truth

-(repeating Himself), I am merciful

-I forgive sinners

-I am the God ofjustice and judgment

When we pray “in His name,” we must therefore pray according to the character of God as expressed in His name: YHWH (Yahweh/Jehovah in the OT); Jesus (Jehovah is Salvation) in the NT.

After proclaiming and explaining His name to Moses, God re-wrote the Commandments on the stone tablets and gave them to Moses before he returned to the people.[1]

This is a verypertinent part of the account, because Jesus also combined these two elements in our main texts.

John 14:14-15If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.[And then]15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Matt. 7:7,12 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

To paraphrase once again, in the OT, God said: ‘I will show you my glory and proclaim my name to you. For your part,keep my commandments to show your love for Me’.

Then, in the NT, Jesus said: ‘I will do anything you ask in my name. And for your part, keep my commandments’. ‘Ask – seek – knock, and you will receive. And be sure to treat others as you want them to treat you because this is the summation of all the OT law code’.

We see this principle exemplified in the life of Jesus, our forerunner and paradigm. He said:

Matt. 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

So, as far as keeping the Commandments was concerned, Jesus fulfilled them to perfection. Paul also stated:

2 Cor. 5:21 …He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

We understand that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but all is not lost. Our ability to pray as ‘law-keepers’ is not dependent upon our own performance and perfection, but on Jesus’ performance and perfection (which He accomplishedon our behalf).

Now for the most critical point. Praying in the name of Jesus means that when we pray, we pray as if it were Jesus Himself praying. We have often asked ourselves the question: “WWJD?” (What Would Jesus Do?) But when we pray, we must ask ourselves the question: “how would Jesus pray.”

Which means that we need to observe and emulate His pattern of prayer.

In the prayer Jesus taught His disciples (Matt. 6:9-13), Hisfirst request was “Thy kingdom come,” followed closely by the second: “Thy will be done.” The prayer contains requests for personal needs to be met, but it puts God’s priorities first. Therefore,we need to pray in the manner Jesus taught, always putting God’s will first.

By way of example, Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray, just after He finished the discourse recorded in John 14-16. He said:

Matt: 26:39 “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Jesus’ prayer was answered and God’s will was accomplished, even though it went totally against Jesus’ human, fleshly desires. Let’s not miss this point!

When we pray in Jesus’ name, we can ask for whatever we desire and it will be done. But first and foremost, we pray for God’s will to be accomplished.

Are all of our personal prayer requests always in harmony with God’s will and plan for our lives? Certainly not! As it was with Jesus, we may be praying two very different prayers at the very same time: “my will be done” vs. “your will be done.”

If we have truly assigned the throne of our lives to the Sovereign Lord, we must expect Him to accomplish His will and purpose in our lives, as a matter of first priority. This may go totally against our own human desires, but our first prayer must always be: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.”

In summary, we are guaranteed answers to our prayers under the following conditions:

-We pray according to the power and authority of Jesus Christ Himself, praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20).

-We pray as Jesus prayed that first and foremost, God’s will be done (Matt. 6:9-13).

-We live in a covenantal relationship with God whereby we live according to His laws and commandments (John 14:15).

-We pray in faith, without wavering (James 1:6-7; Mark 9:23-24).

With these conditions being met, Jesus guarantees that we will have whatever we pray for, when we pray in His name.

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[1]See Exodus 32-34 for full details of this interaction.