Jesus's Name Opens Heaven
“Whatever you ask in my name,” he says, “this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13)
From the time I was 24, I learned to pray in Jesus’s name. What a gift. Praying in His name was simple enough for this then new believer and yet profound enough to keep me in awe of the front row seat to His glory in my life and all around.
And of course, when a new believer learns such simple and profound truths it reveals where familiarity had become comfortable and neglect had taken root in those who had been praying in His name from their very beginning. It can happen to anyone. Whether new believer or generationally one, intentionally partnering with the precious and profound reality of Jesus’s name becomes our responsibility. After all, He gave us the freedom to respond.
For two thousand years, Christians have been praying in Jesus’s name, and for amazing reasons. But have you ever paused to ponder why?
In the Name of Jesus
Jesus himself instructed his disciples and now us to “ask the Father in my name” (John 15:16; 16:23, 26). The apostle Paul spoke of believers as those who “call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2), and give thanks “to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).
“Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). Fantastically, in the book of Acts, we see the earliest Christians keeping the name of Jesus at the forefront in all they did — whether baptism (Acts 2:38; 10:48; 19:5), or healing and exorcism (Acts 3:6; 4:30; 16:18), in all their teaching and preaching (Acts 4:18; 5:40; 8:12; 9:27), even risking their lives, embracing imprisonment and death in his name (Acts 15:26; 21:13).
In all these accounts, the world got to see what it looked like for those who lived, worked, served, and partnered with His presence, power and principles, as they proclaimed, declared and prayed in the name of Jesus.
It glorified and honored him. He was made known, admired, appreciated and enjoyed. The good news of Jesus was made apparent to be seen and experienced.
So then how is prayer distinct from other acts undertaken in Jesus’s name? Hebrews 4:14–16 (and fully expressed in Hebrews 10:19–23) Expands His glory out even more, giving us at least five specific reasons, among others, to intentionally partner with the name of Jesus when we pray to our Father.
Five Reasons We Pray in Jesus’s Name
1. Praying in Jesus’s Name Because we Desire to Bring Him Glory.
The glory is His to have. “Whatever you ask in my name,” he says, “this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). When we pray on our own and with others we are giving Him praise, we recognize His glory. Our prayers honor Jesus when we appeal to the Father with intentional reliance on Him, His presence, power and principles — because of who He is, what he has done, and what he promises to be for us. Glory, honor and praise are His forever.
2. Because of Who He Is - He Cannot not be Himself
-Jesus, fully human and fully God.
“We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He identified fully with us, “he had to be made like his brothers in every respect” (Hebrews 2:17).
When we pray in Jesus’s name, we pray in the name of the one who fully understands. Not one who began as a baby, but one who is the second person of the Trinity. Without subtracting any of his divinity, He added to himself humanity, so He fully identifies with us.
When we pray in Jesus' name we pray to the one who fully understands us.
3. He knows Temptation and Suffering
He “has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Hebrews 2:18 makes the connection between temptation and suffering: “because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Jesus not only took to himself our full humanity, but also the unavoidable reality of life in a fallen world: suffering…He took it even further, all the way to the horrendous and shaming execution of the cross.
When we pray in Jesus name, we come into agreement and surrender to the one who helps us in our temptation and suffering. When we do we do not stay where He found us…He moves us up and out and closer to Him.
4. He is our propitiation.
Hebrews 10:19 proclaims, “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.” He took all of our humanity— to the point of shedding his own blood — that he, being without sin, might “make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). Jesus is our substitute. He died the death we deserved for our sin.
He satisfied the wrath of God, He made propitiation, He paid what we deserved because of our rebellion against Him in our sin. Without His sacrificial action, and our claiming His blood to cover our sins, we would have no permission to approach our holy God in prayer. And so, when we pray in Jesus’s name, we acknowledge His blood shed for us as our substitute.
5. He Opens Heaven, the Mercy Seat and the Throne Room to us.
On the third day He rose again, making a way where there had been no way. He opens heaven for us to hop up on the mercy seat as well as take our place on our seat in heavenly places.
He has opened heaven’s door…He “has passed through the heavens,” Hebrews 4:14 says. Jesus is “a forerunner on our behalf” (Hebrews 6:20). There is a “new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain” (Hebrews 10:20). The reason we can “draw near to the throne of grace” is that Christ also has drawn near for us.
Praying in Jesus name, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19). Apart from Christ, we have no permission. But in Christ, we have secure access so we come with boldness and humble confidence. In Him, “we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him” (Ephesians 3:12).
We pray in Jesus’s name because in him “we have a great high priest” (Hebrews 4:14; also 10:21). Just as the high priest alone could enter the very presence of God in the earthly tabernacle, so Jesus is greater, entering God’s presence and bringing us with him — and without end!
Jesus “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). And as Paul writes, “through him we . . . have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18).
So Let Us Pray in Jesus Name bringing Him glory, honor and praise. Partnering with Him fully for who He is and bringing the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. He paved the way so we can walk with all confidence, living from His presence, power, principles…may the kingdom come everywhere you step your foot…in Jesus name.
Wendy Landin is a on fire believer, bringing the Lord’s presence, power and principles to tenacious kingdom hearted women who are hungry for God’s more. As a formation mentor and kingdom entrepreneurship coach she walks alongside others so that they too can make their full kingdom impact on this side of glory. She learned early in her walk with Jesus the power, and profound impact praying in Jesus' name made. She is a walking testimony of His glory and is forever grateful.
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