Name Calling

A prayer is spoken. The presence of the Spirit is more than apparent. The heart of the prayer is unmistakable. It was a prayer from and for God. Still the spiritual conversation isn't thought to be complete until it gets the final seal. We hit it with the consummate "In the name of Jesus". STAMP. Now that prayer can be delivered and the deal is sealed. There's been a misunderstanding. We think praying in the name of Jesus means closing our prayers with the signature phrase. It has become little more than a ritualistic end to our supplication. Or some say it believing, if the phrase is left out,  the prayer won't be heard.  We are right in believing God wants us to pray in Jesus's name. Yet overtime we have lost sight of what that means. When you do something in someone else's name, you are doing it in behalf of them. You are working in representation of them to further the meeting of their goals. Their heart is your heart. You are working for what they want. So when we pray in Jesus's name, the goal of that prayer should be to speak what Jesus would speak. If we are truly praying in the name of Jesus, even if what we want doesn't line up with what God wants, our prayer is such that it is understood that God's desires trump our own. If that is how you have prayed, then there is no need for the "In Jesus's Name" stamp at the end. God already knows you prayed in His name based on the prayer itself. Subsequently, a selfish prayer won't be validated by tagging it with Jesus's name. It's important to understand this, because the power of our prayer lies in the intent of our prayer. The prayers that line up with God's heart and mind will be answered. The prayers that aren't, won't. Liken it to a new reader who can fluently decode words. They can get through a whole paragraph in under a minute. Hit them with some comprehension questions though and they can't answer a thing. They aren't really reading yet. They are just word calling. Those words don't mean anything until they can apply meaning to them.  The same applies to prayer. Putting Jesus's name at then end of a prayer is not a bad thing. It's a step.  Still, until we apply the meaning of praying in His name to the prayer, we're just name calling.  Once we do mature in our prayer life and we begin to pray with God's heart in mind and put his desires over our own, whoo.  Now that's praying.

 

Prayer: Lord your word says some of our prayers aren't answered because the intent of the prayer is wrong. Lord direct us in our prayers and turn our hearts toward you.  Bless us with our hearts' desires when the words of our mouths and the meditations of our heart are acceptable in your sight.