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Let us read several verses from the Gospel of John. “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you” (15:16).
“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be made full...In that day you will ask in My name” (16:24, 26).
There are a great number of Christians who do not know that it is necessary to pray in the name of the Lord. Many Christians often say that they pray by the precious blood of the Lord or by the Lord’s merits. The Bible clearly states, however, that we should pray in the name of the Lord. What does praying in the Lord’s name really mean? Although we often use such a phrase, we do not necessarily know its meaning. Although some may know a little about it, they may not necessarily have the reality of it. The spiritual meaning of praying in the Lord’s name is very deep and high, so we need to go before the Lord to learn about it.
In John 14 through 16 the Lord Jesus personally said at least five times that we need to pray in His name. In Ephesians 5:20 the apostle Paul also says, “Giving thanks at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and the Father.” In John 14 through 16 we should know that the Lord’s name undoubtedly denotes the Son. The name of the Father in the same chapters also denotes the Father. Hence, if we want to know the meaning of the Lord’s name in the Gospel of John, we need to know something concerning the matter of the Lord coming to be the Son. What is the meaning of the Son? We have said many times that the Son is the expression of the Father. God has a Son in the universe, and this Son is the expression of God. Whenever John 14 through 16 mentions the Lord Jesus, the emphasis is not that He is the Lord or that He is the Christ but that He is the Son. As the Son, He is the expression of God. This name, therefore, is God’s expression. To be in such a name is to be in the expression of God.
We must see that in John 14 through 16 there is a basic concept concerning a threefold matter: the Father is expressed in the Son; the Son becomes the Spirit and enters into us; and as a result, the Spirit lives out a certain life in us. The Triune God — Father, Son, and Spirit — thus becomes one with us. This is what John 14 through 16 discloses to us. Immediately following, in chapter 17, the Lord offered a prayer in which He clearly showed how the Triune God — Father, Son, and Spirit — and we become perfectly one.
In the Gospel of John there are three main concepts. The first concept is that the Father has been expressed in the Son. The Father has been seen and touched in the Son by men. John 14:9 says that he who has seen the Son has seen the Father. When the Son is in the midst of men, it is the Father who is in the midst of men. The second concept is that the Son had to go and change His form to become the Spirit. The third concept is that the Spirit comes into us who belong to Him, to be with us forever. Consequently, as He lives, we also live. We live together with Him, and we live by Him.
So, in chapter 15 we are shown just such a union. The Lord said that He is the true vine and we are the branches. We abide in Him, and He abides in us. Then in chapter 16 the Lord showed how the Spirit reveals all His reality into us so that we may experience and be led into the reality. Therefore, in these chapters of John the Lord said that we need to pray while living on the earth, and we need to pray in His name.
Based on the abovementioned concepts, we know that praying in the Lord’s name bespeaks the fact that we have a perfect union with the Lord and that such a union causes God to be manifested in us. We need three chapters of the Scripture, John 14 through 16, to explain the matter of praying in the Lord’s name. When we have a thorough understanding of these three chapters, we know what it means to pray in the Lord’s name. Briefly, it means that we are in union with the Lord. The Lord is the expression of God, this expression has become the Spirit, and the Spirit is dwelling in us. When we have this perfect union with the Triune God, our living becomes His living, and God is manifested through us.
Please remember, therefore, that to pray in the name of the Lord means that we are united with the Lord, and we allow God to be manifested through us. Never consider in the name of the Lord as a phrase or a form that you have to use at the end of every prayer. At times it may not be necessary to add in the name of the Lord at the end of a prayer. To add in the name of the Lord does not necessarily mean that there is the reality, and not adding it does not mean that the reality of it is missing. It is not a matter of formality but a matter of reality. A person who truly prays in the name of the Lord is one with the Lord. His prayer, therefore, is the Lord’s asking. He has been united with the Lord to such an extent that the two have become one.
Never understand praying in the name of the Lord in a superstitious way. More than once I have heard people explain it by using the following illustration: You have asked a rich man for something, but he would not give it to you. Later, you find out that he loves his son very much, so you go and make the same request in the name of his son. Then, as a result, the rich man gives you what you have requested because he loves his son. Similarly, when we, the sinners, come before God to ask for something, He will not give it to us. But when we ask in the name of His Son, God will give it to us because He loves His Son. If this is how you understand and explain it, you are simply superstitious. Actually, if God refuses you when you ask on your own, He will also refuse you when you ask in the name of His Son.
Acts 19 gives us an account of some who superstitiously tried to imitate Paul in casting out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus. Eventually, the demon said, “Jesus I know of, and with Paul I am acquainted; but who are you?” and he leaped upon them and wounded them (vv. 15-16). To cast out demons in this way is simply being superstitious. When Paul cast out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus, he could say, “I am one with the Lord Jesus, and for me to live is Christ.” This is the meaning and the spiritual reality of in the name of the Lord.
Having understood the meaning of being in the name of the Lord, it becomes clear that to pray in the name of the Lord means that you, the praying one, are in union with the Lord. When you pray in the name of the Lord, the Lord prays together with you.
Brothers and sisters, when we have prayed, many times we were unable to say that we prayed in the name of the Lord, for we know that it was just our prayer; the Lord would not have prayed that way. So, at the end we should have said, “O God, we are praying in our own name,” for in practice, it is we ourselves, not the Lord praying in us. In order to be in the reality of praying in the Lord’s name, we need to be praying in the Lord. And when we pray thus, the Lord also prays in us.
Here we can see that the prayers in the name of the Lord in John 14 and 16 are tremendous prayers. The Lord even said that the works which He does we will do also and that we will do greater works than these. He also said that He will do whatever we ask in His name. This is a great matter. If you read those words in their context, you can see that the Lord who lived on this earth has now become the Spirit living in you, and He is living Himself out from you. In the course of this living, there are many things about which you need to pray. So while you pray, He prays in you and you in Him. When you pray in such a union with Him and He with you, you are praying in His name.
I believe, brothers and sisters, you have all had the following experience. In your early experience of praying, you were able to pray for many things. But when you began to pray in the name of the Lord, immediately your prayers were reduced. When you really learn to allow the Lord to be in union with you and pray together with you, out of ten items, you may be able to pray for only three of them. You know that if you pray for the other seven things, the Lord is not praying. You are asking, but the Lord is not asking.
I have often heard children pray. At the end of their prayers they also said, “In the name of the Lord.” But later on, when they really know what it means to pray in the name of the Lord, they will not be able to pray as freely as before. Neither will they be able to say, “In the name of the Lord” with such ease. So, brothers, you need to be clear that to pray in the name of the Lord is not a mere formality or an empty phrase. Rather, it is that when a person lives in the Lord and is practically united with the Lord, his prayer is the Lord praying in him. In such a union many prayers become purified.
Actually, John 14 through 16 is not mainly concerned either with prayer or with life but with a kind of united living. Here is a group of people that are chosen by God. God has separated them in order that they might be a testimony on earth, testifying that they and the Triune God have such a perfect union. This is their living. What the Lord Jesus repeatedly spoke of in those three chapters of the Bible is such a united living. A part of this living is prayer. Prayer in the name of the Lord not only needs such a living as its support and backing but actually constitutes part of such a living. Therefore, we must know that praying in the Lord’s name is not merely a matter of prayer but, even more, a matter of living. When a person lives in the Lord, lives by the Lord, lives in union with the Lord, and is mingled with the Lord, spontaneously a part of his living is prayer.
Conversely, it is not possible to pray in the name of the Lord if you do not live by the Lord or in the Lord. It is an erroneous concept to believe that you can live apart from the Lord and make use of His name when you have something to ask of Him, simply because you know that your name is of no value before Him. This is just superstitious thinking. Prayer in the Lord’s name requires a living in union with the Lord to back it up. Prayer in the Lord’s name must be a part of a living in union with the Lord. Hence, the requirement for such prayer is very high. It is the same as putting a name at the end of an article to show that it is finished. What it means is that all your daily practical living is in union with the Lord. You learn to live before God by the risen Lord. You walk according to His Spirit and allow His Spirit to live in you. Such a living is the basis and support of your praying in the Lord’s name. Furthermore, such prayer actually constitutes a part of such a living.
In John 14 through 16 the Lord Jesus clearly pointed out that prayers in the name of the Lord by those who live in the Lord are prayers that accomplish God’s will. When we first heard that we needed to pray in the name of the Lord, we thought that we could pray for anything in the Lord’s name. But as we learn the lesson, we discover that out of ten matters we want to pray for, we are able to pray for only two. We realize that the other eight are not the Lord’s will and, therefore, the Lord cannot pray together with us. All real prayers in the name of the Lord are surely in accordance with God’s will.
From John 14 through 16 we can see that doing God’s will and praying in the Lord’s name are almost the same thing. When you are praying in the Lord’s name, it is equal to doing God’s will. Because you are one who lives in the Lord and by the Lord, your living is the Lord’s living. Please consider, can such a person still have goals or inclinations outside the Lord? Of course he cannot. Therefore, we would like to mention once again that of all the places in the Bible that are concerned with God’s promise in relation to prayer, none seems as broad as the one here in the Gospel of John. Here the Lord Jesus said, “Ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you” (15:7). In one sense this promise is really broad. But actually speaking, this prayer is also very narrow, because the kind of prayer referred to in John 14 through 16 is a prayer in the Lord. On the one hand, it says that whatever you want will be given to you, but on the other hand, it says that such prayer needs to be in the Lord’s name. Although you may have many desires when you are in yourself, once you turn and get into the Lord’s name, you will see that your desires become restricted and that there are many things for which you simply cannot ask.
I remember, years ago, when I first went to Nanking, a brother invited me to a meal. He was very happy, and during the whole mealtime he was the only one talking. He kept saying, “Brother Lee, now that we have won the war, I have a feeling about this, and I have a feeling about that; I would like to do this, and I would like to do that.” He spoke of his many, many likes, and they were all for God. While I was listening to him, I had a very deep sensation that this brother did not know what he was saying. What he wanted, the Lord did not want. Those were his wants apart from the Lord. If one day he would go into the Lord, he would soon realize that he must leave all his desires outside the Lord. He himself may come into the Lord but not his desires.
You all know what I mean. When you are living outside the Lord, you may have many desires. You may say, “I want God to do this for me and, by His power, I also want to do that for Him.” But gradually, as you learn to live in the Lord, you will see that all those desires are outside the Lord and not in accordance with the will of God. Hence, God has no way to fulfill those desires. Then, and only then, can you say that your desire is God’s desire. Hence, your prayer will accomplish God’s will; it is doing God’s will.
In summary, to pray in the name of the Lord is not just a statement or a form; rather, it is a spiritual reality and a life in union with the Lord. When we actually live in the Lord and have such a life in union with Him, we will pray spontaneously, and our prayers will surely be in accordance with the Lord’s will. When we live in Him and allow Him to live in us, He will be expressed through us. Then the prayers that come forth from us will be restricted to the expression of God’s desires. Once we have this kind of prayer, God’s will will definitely be accomplished because the purified desire within us issues from the mingling — the Lord with us and we with Him. The prayers of such a one are prayers in the name of the Lord.
