JESUS - THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES

THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES
Do you receive whatever you ask of God in prayer? You can. Many believers don’t know that, but it’s true. Jesus Himself said so. He didn’t say it just once, either. He said it again and again. In John 14:13 He said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” In John 15:16 He said, “I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you.”
 
In John 16:23 He said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.”
 
Those are startlingly clear statements. They leave no room for the traditional religious idea that sometimes God says yes to our prayers, and sometimes He says no. Jesus didn’t mention anything about God saying no to our prayers. He simply said, “Whatever you ask the Father in My Name He will give you.”
 
“But Brother Copeland, Jesus was talking to the 12 disciples when He said that. They were a unique group. What He said to them about prayer doesn’t apply to all of us.”
 
Yes, it does. We know it does because the Apostle John repeated that very same promise to all believers in 1 John 3:22-23. He wrote: “Whatsoever we ask, we receive of [God], because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
 
What Commandments?
I can almost hear you thinking. Keep the commandments? How can ever qualify for answered prayer if I have to keep all the commandments in the Bible first? I’m not even sure I know them all!
 
Don’t worry. That passage isn’t referring to all God’s scriptural Instructions. It’s not even talking about the 10 Commandments. It’s talking about the two commands listed in verse 23, the commands especially given to us as New Testament believers:
 
1) Believe on the Name of God’s Son, Jesus Christ; and 2) Love one another.
Many times we focus only on the second command. We assume because we’re born again, we’ve already done all we need to do about believing on the Name of Jesus. But actually, developing our faith in Jesus’ Name is something we must do continually. It’s our first and foremost responsibility.
 
Why? Because believing on Jesus’ Name is what unites us with His power, moment by moment and day by day. It’s what enables us to keep the command of love. It’s what empowers us to do everything God asks us to do. And it is the golden key that opens the door to answered prayer.