In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The biggest problem we have with saying our prayers is that we don’t do it. Our Father is already listening before we even speak. He’s ready to answer and give before we even ask. He’s got loads of good gifts for us, it’s ours for the taking. All we have to do is ask and stand ready with open, empty hands.
Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you. Whatever’s included in the Name of Jesus is yours for the asking. This is the gift of the Second Commandment. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. God has a name and He wants you to use it. You’ve got His name which means you know Him, you can talk to Him, call on His name, ask Him and receive. The Second Commandment protects the gift of God’s name for you, and so it protects the promise that you can ask for anything that’s in God’s name.
God’s name is how He blesses. It marks where He is found and who belongs to Him. God’s name is your gateway to all the gifts God has in store for you. So, it might help your prayers to use the various names of God depending on what you’re asking for. The name of “Jesus” means “Savior,” so it’s the perfect name, especially when you need mercy and forgiveness. “Christ” or “Messiah” tells us Jesus is the promised one, so it’s good to use when you’re asking God to keep His promises. “Father”—call on Him when you need a father, or when you pray for your kids. After all, by baptism they are His kids now and you can tell Him what they’re doing when they drive you nuts. Ask the “Good Shepherd” for guidance and protection. Talk to the “Great Physician” for healing. Pray to Jesus, the “Light of the world” when you’re surrounded by darkness, when you feel lost or depressed or in doubt. Cry out to the “Lamb of God” when you’re suffering. Ask Jesus who is the “Resurrection and the Life” when you long for heaven and a blessed death. Do you see how much good stuff is stuffed into the name? And you can ask for whatever’s included in the Name of Jesus, and the Father will give it to you.
But here’s what you can’t have, what you can’t pray for: you can’t pray for anything that’s not in the name. So that means… No revenge on the person who wronged you. That’s not your business, God will sort it out. No asking that your enemies suffer. Instead Jesus tells you to pray for them. He’s forgiven them, and He wants you to as well. No praying for any kind of sin, or for God to bless your sin, or to get away with your sin. Instead, learn from Jesus and His Spirit how to pray for justice and holiness. Remember, you’re praying in Jesus’ name. That’s the only way your prayers can be heard and answered. So your prayers can’t do anything that Jesus can’t do, and He can’t do evil.
But praying in Jesus’ name means great comfort and certainty. Not only can you get what’s included in the name, but you are in Jesus’ name, so when God looks at you He sees Jesus. When God hears your prayers He hears Jesus. Your prayer gets sent to God, tucked into the envelope of His promises and stamped with Jesus’ blood, so the Father says, “Oh it’s from Jesus, and look, He has friends.”
What’s more, we know our prayers are not perfect, and sometimes that bothers us so much it keeps us from praying, and all we can manage is to sigh, “Lord have mercy.” But Jesus makes our prayers perfect, and He brings them to the Father. He doesn’t ask for us, but He brings us. This is why Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are important for prayer. Baptism puts you in Jesus, and the Lord’s Supper puts Jesus in you. So, you’re on His level, with His name, equal to Him before the Father, ready and worthy to pray, even if you yourself don’t feel like it.
All this gives freedom in prayer as well. You don’t have to worry about your prayers and make sure they’re perfect because Jesus takes care of it, and the Holy Spirit sorts it all out, and the Father knows just how to answer. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are already talking about you in love. And when you pray, they turn and say, “Oh! We were just talking about you!” You see, God wants you in on the conversation. He wants your input, your participation in this thing He calls life. He wants for you to receive His love, and He wants your love and trust freely given in return. As much as God wants you to listen to Him, He wants to listen to you. What a kind and loving God we have.
Here’s a quick story: A man goes out into the desert to get advice from one of the hermits who lived a strict life of prayer and self-denial. He asks the holy man, “Why do you keep praying? Nothing ever changes!” And the old man replies, “Just imagine what would happen if I stopped.”
God wants your involvement, your input on things in the world. And the world would get much worse if we stopped praying. Whether it looks like it or not, prayer does change things. Prayer either changes things in the world—God gives you what you ask for or something better. Or prayer changes you—Thy will be done, we pray. So we’re asking there that whatever God does we would recognize it and receive it with joy.
Whatever God’s answer is for your prayers, His answers are all found in the name of Jesus, and so all His answers are good for you. That just might mean that you need to get on board with what He knows is good. He’s not going to answer prayers to make you powerful or important or wealthy or have it easy. Listen again to what Jesus says comes from asking in His name: Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. All of God’s answers have this goal in view: that your joy may be full. He wants your life on earth to match His life in heaven. When God’s holiness comes down from heaven to earth it’s called glory. When holiness spreads among God’s people through the Word and Sacraments, changing them for the better and then returning to Him as praise, it’s called joy.
So, the more we pray, the more we speak to our Father and ask for the good things He gives in Jesus’ name, the more we see and hear His answers, and our joy gets more full. In John 11, right before He raises Lazarus from the dead, Jesus prays, and He says, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me” (John 11:41). See, the first answer to prayer is that God hears it. And the Father showed that He heard Jesus when He raised Him from the dead. All God’s answers are bound up in Jesus, in His name. So, the resurrection of Jesus is God’s Yes answer to every single one of your prayers. Whatever you ask of the Father in Jesus’ name, He will give it to you. It can’t be otherwise, because Jesus lives. He’s already given His Yes to you in Jesus. So already He’s giving His gifts, and heaven is on earth, and joy is getting filled up. And God’s final answer to your prayers, His final Yes, is on its way in your resurrection and in the life of the world to come.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Inspired by notes from Rev. Scott Bruzek’s Bible Studies on Prayer (St. John, Wheaton Podcast)
