How to Use Your Authority in Jesus Christ

If the only way we can pray is in the name of Jesus, then we need to know, "How did Jesus pray?" I know many of you will almost immediately think of the Lord's Prayer. However, I do not consider that to be the model prayer for a Christian.

What instructions did Jesus give us-the Believers-for the time after He had ascended? You will find that in John 16:23, where Jesus, speaking to His disciples, says, "And in that day..." Right there we have to stop and ask, what "day" does He mean? It is obvious that if He said, "in that day" then He did not mean "in this day" (the day in which He was living). Put another way, He was contrasting the future (from the time He was speaking) to the present in which He spoke. Another way of putting this would be to say, "In the future..."

This is a little-discussed point, but note that in the three and a half years we have any record of, the disciples never one time prayed to the Father for anything. Whenever they needed something, they asked Jesus for it. I mean, why would you drive a hundred miles to the company warehouse to buy some shaving cream when the local store owned by that company has it a half mile down the block? Jesus was right there with them. Anything they needed, He supplied it. When the waves crashed in on their boat, they awoke Him and said, "Save us, Lord!" When someone was sick, they said. "Lord, this person is ill. Please heal him." Whatever it was, they asked it of Him directly, not of God the Father.

So it is significant that when we read John 16:23, we find Jesus after explaining to them He was going to the Father soon, saying, "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you." Remember, just a little earlier in John 14:14 we read: "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it [for you]." Yet here He says, "Don't ask Me anything, but instead ask the Father in My name."

He elaborates on this in verse 24: "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask [or a better transition is, "Ask now," or "Ask, after this point, in My name"], and you will receive, that your joy may be full." Do you see the difference? While Jesus was with them physically, they asked Him. But soon after Jesus said those words, He would not be with them anymore, and they would have to ask the Father in His name. Why couldn't they ask the Father in His name while Jesus still walked with them? Jesus had not delegated that name to them yet. He hadn't died and risen from the dead.

Notice also that Jesus said, "You will receive, that [or, "in order that"] your joy may be full." God wants us to have full joy. Not just tolerable joy or partial joy, but full joy. Full joy is when your pantry is well stocked and you aren't hungry every night. Full joy is when your car works and can take you to your job without breaking down. Full joy is when your body is whole and you aren't battling sickness and disease every day. That does not mean that you should not be joyful when circumstances are not perfect, but that is not God's best for you.

In these verses we have the "how to pray" from Jesus: "And in that day you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name..." tells us everything we need to know about how to pray. That is the key that starts the car of faith, if you will.

You need to know what to do with the car once it's running, and you need to know what to pray for after you begin your prayer, but this is the formula for an answered prayer. You are to "ask the Father in My name." Do not ask Jesus. Unless you are engaging in praise and worship ("Thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice," or "Praise You, Jesus, that You are King of kings and Lord or lords"), you do not pray to Jesus. He said so. Instead, you are to direct your requests to the Father in Jesus' name. It's like a letter. "Heavenly Father" is the introduction, the "Dear So-and-So," and "In the name of Jesus" is your signature line. You sign your prayer in His name, not your own. Your name doesn't carry any weight in the spirit world. Just try healing the sick in the name of Tom, or in the name of Cheryl, or in the name of Buddha, and see who gets healed! Those names do not have the authority to heal anyone. What you put in between the "introduction" and the "signature" is all you.