“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14; all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version).

Christians pray to the Father in the name and authority of Jesus, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Some people read this passage and think that all we need to do is slap the name of Jesus onto the end of our prayers. While Catholics begin and end their prayers, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” many Protestants end their prayers by saying, “In Jesus’ name. Amen.” We have appended Jesus’ name to our prayers, but is this the same as praying in His name? Not exactly.

Praying in Jesus’ name equals praying with and under His authority. If we pray in defiance of God’s will or with selfish motives, we are not under His authority. We cannot claim the promise of this passage simply because we slipped Jesus’ name in just before the “Amen.”

Imagine a police officer who thinks he can do what he wants, and treat people however he wants, simply because he is carrying a badge. It might work in old movies and TV police dramas, but not in the real world: sooner or later, he will get in trouble, because his badge only authorized him to enforce the laws while obeying them. Neither policeman, President, nor politician is above the law. Likewise, a Christian cannot expect God to honor his “authority” to pray sinfully and selfishly.

Praying in Jesus’ name assumes that you have a personal relationship with Christ and that the Holy Spirit dwells within you. It means that your life is in line with His word. It assumes that you are acting under His authority.

Praying in Jesus’ name means that our requests fulfill God’s plan and purpose for our lives and that His Word lays the foundation for our plans:

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:7-8).

To ensure that your prayers fulfill God’s purpose, you need to adopt the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11). We must abide in Jesus—living throughout our day with the constant awareness that He is with us. We need to allow His words to abide in us. Prayer and Scripture reading go together. We should spend time daily reading God’s Word so that we know His will. It should so permeate our thoughts and actions that Scripture guides all of our decisions.

Throughout his letters, the apostle Paul frequently spoke of Christians as being “in Christ” and of Christ being in us. This is the intimacy that we should have with Jesus: He dwells in us and we live in and with Him. Wherever we go, Jesus is there. Abiding in Christ, with His words abiding in us, is the essence of the Christian life. It is the foundation and power of prayer.

The mind of Christ that we adopt is an attitude of love, humility, submission to the Father, service, and sacrifice:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11).

As this mind of Christ grows within us, we will pray with God’s purposes in mind: that we may bear fruit and prove to be Jesus’ disciples (John 15:8). We will ask God to bless us in ways that produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. We will ask Him to empower us to bear fruit for His kingdom through evangelism and faithful service to the church and others. We will ask Him to give us wisdom and strength so that others may see Jesus through our lifestyles. If your prayers for yourself do not seek God’s fruit in your life or may hinder its presence, they are not truly prayed in Jesus’ name.

Let us ask the Spirit daily to guide, fill, and empower us to live, pray, and serve the Father in Jesus’ name.

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O God, without whose beauty and goodness our souls are unfed, without whose truth our reason withers: Consecrate our lives to your will, giving us such purity of heart, such depth of faith, and such steadfastness of purpose, that in time we may come to think your own thoughts after you; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. [From the Book of Common Prayer (2019), published by the Anglican Church in North America.]

What does it mean to you to “pray in Jesus’ name?” Share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments field below.

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