And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. (John 14:13)
The Bible clearly admonishes us to pray regularly and often. The verse above seems to say that all we have to do is ask and we will receive. All we need to do is pray for something and it will be given to us. I know of no one who has experienced success with this one hundred per cent. Why is this?
The answer must be that we do not have a proper understanding of the words “in my name.”
In 1 John 5:14-15 we read, This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.
So, just adding the words “in Jesus name” to the end of our prayers is not sufficient. “In Jesus name” as we make our requests to God must be equivalent to God's will and that is to be expected since Jesus wants only the best for us. Obviously, then, the reason we don't get everything we ask is because it is not in Christ's name and not according to his will. There seems to be a requirement for discernment on our part regarding what we pray for.
In the 1 John passage we can see that perhaps in many of our prayers we know deep down that God does not always agree that our requests are according to his will.
I pray for a better understanding of God's will by all believers. The only way I know of to develop this understanding is through a regimen of daily Bible study.
