May 27, 2025
Ask in My Name - Part 2
John 16:23-24
05/27/2025
23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly,
truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the
Father in my name, he will give it to you.
24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask,
and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
(ESV)
There seems to be a confusion among Christians about prayer.
When asked to pray in public, many pastors and chaplains hesitate
to use the name of Jesus because they are afraid to offend the
non-Christians in the audience. The prayer takes on a generic
form, addressed to the unnamed Almighty, in the Almighty's
precious name. Yet that name is never given, so those who hear
the prayer have no idea to whom the petitions were made.
Unaddressed mail is never delivered. The same is true of
unaddressed prayer.
Prayer is talking to God, not to the audience. They listen,
they can say ``Amen'' if they agree with the prayer, to whom it
is addressed and for what the petitions ask. Unless you are
willing to call the offered prayer your own, remain silent at the
end. Your ``Amen'' says ``This most certainly true, and I agree
with everything the pastor or chaplain asked God to do.''
In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I
say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name,
he will give it to you. Until now you have asked
nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that
your joy may be full.
In this week's Gospel, Jesus gives us instructions on how to
pray, how to be certain our prayer is heard. First, we must
trust in God's promise to hear our prayer. Jesus says ``ask,''
let your concerns be known, let God hear of your needs. Without
trusting in God's promise to hear our prayer, we will not be
willing to pray. Over the next several days we will look at the
other instructins Jesus gave us concerning prayer.
May our Lord grant us faith to believe His promises and to
come to Him with our needs and our thanksgiving. Amen.