Thursday, April 16, 2009

How Then Shall We Pray?

Both women attended my church. Both were young— and both had terminal cancer.

Our congregation gathered for an intercessory prayer meeting for Connie. Then she requested another x-ray— and the doctors floundered for a medical explanation. Comparing her previous and current x-rays side-by-side, the proof was indisputable: a once cancer-riddled body now showed no lingering trace of the malignant cells.

Jill died at age thirty-five, after being diagnosed with lymphoma just months after her wedding.

This morning, I read John 14 through 16. In these chapters leading up to the crucifixion, Jesus spends many of these last precious moments teaching His disciples about prayer.


  • "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father." (John 14:13)
  • "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." (John 14:14)
  • "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." (John 15:16)
  • "I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." (John 16:23)
  • "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." (John 16:24)
  • "In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God." (John 14:13)

With that much repetition in such a short space, it’s clear that Jesus was serious about the urgency of our understanding this. I saw four things spelled out:

  • Asking “in His name” completes our joy.
  • Asking “in His name” brings glory to the Father.
  • Asking “in His name” results in receiving what has been requested.
  • Asking “in His name” finds its root in God’s love.

What, then, does this “asking in His name” mean practically, once faced with the naked truth that God does not answer every prayer alike?

When we pray in His name biblically, we're praying as Jesus outlined for the disciples: "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." No, we cannot be certain that God will give us every unpurified (I do not say wrong) desire of our hearts, but we must be certain that He will act upon His own perfect desire.

Such prayer is never an effort to subdue God to our will, but the reverse— to subdue our wills to His. It’s a kind of wrestling that does not belittle God, but exalts Him as Lord. And that, I believe, is at the heart of what making honest petitions in “Jesus’ name” consists of.

Connie lived and Jill died. Not because our congregation prayed in greater faith for Connie—they didn't. Not because Connie had more faith than Jill.

Because God willed it.

He willed Connie to glorify Him through praising His name on earth, and He willed Jill to glorify Him through praising His name in heaven. The life of the one and death of the other both resulted in hearts turning towards Him.

Were not both requests "in His name" fulfilled equally, just as Jesus promised?


The Hangnail Prayer// How Then Shall We Pray?// Slaying For His Will