To the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon"
God the magic genie
Does what I ask
If I ask "In Jesus' Name"
He must perform the task.
Oh, God the magic genie
Hears when we pray
And if there are enough of us
He'll do just what we say.
That is the attitude of many Christians toward God when they pray. They take a couple of sentences from the Bible, turn them into catch-phrases and try to make God conform to their wishes.
Two of us get together "in His Name" and ask for a DeLorian. God, therefore, is obligated to provide us with a DeLorian.
Five people on one side of the road run a farm with a crop that needs lots of water. They get together "in Jesus' name" and pray for rain.
Five people on the other side of the road run a farm with a crop that needs little water. They get together "in Jesus' name" and pray that it will not rain.
Poor God. What is He to do? Whose prayer must He answer?
(OK...He could make it rain on one side of the road and not the other. Did you think I did not know that? Of course that misses the entire point. You don't want to do that, do you?)
Well, the key is the phrase, "in Jesus' name."
"In Jesus' name" is not just an ending to a prayer to be tacked on at the last minute.
Nor is it an incantation by which we can make God do what we want Him to do.
"God, heal my illness, in Jesus' name."
"God, find me a job, in Jesus' name."
"God, make my spouse love me, in Jesus' name."
Don't go out of here saying Joe said that we should not pray in Jesus' name. That is NOT what I said.
But the phrase "in Jesus' name" has a specific meaning in scripture.
"In Jesus' name" is an identification of ourselves with the person and will of Jesus.
It is an act of submission.
The phrase, "In Jesus' name" expresses the idea that we have conformed ourselves to Jesus in voluntary slavery to Him.
By using the phrase, we are declaring our harmony with Him; our oneness with Him.
When we pray, "in Jesus' name," we are saying, "Lord, Jesus, I am yours. Do with me as you will. Heal me or not. Find me a job or not. Make my spouse love me or not. Give me a DeLorian or not. Make it rain or not. Whatever you do, Lord, Jesus, I will delight in it because you have done it."
See, the real question is, "If Jesus never did anything else for us, is what He did at Calvary enough to satisfy our deepest longings?"
If it is not, we need to recommit ourselves to Him (or, if we have never done so, accept His finised work on our behalf and receive His salvation),
If it IS, then what we want is what He wants for us and we will get what we want because what we want is what He wants.
James tells us that we have not because we ask amiss.
I suspect that many prayers "in Jesus' name" are not "in Jesus' name" at all, but are simply wishes that "the magic genie called, 'God'" will do what we want.
When you pray, be certain you are really praying "in Jesus' name."
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8 comments:
Excellent admonishion! This strikes right at the heart of the matter. What do we hope for, our will to be done or the will of God?
Joe,
Thanks for that profound and yet completely accurate account of the real asking in 'Jesus' name'.
We must be in Christ, than what we ask will be according to His will and He will answer it.
Oh...another great post, Joe! The key is to rest in the joy that Jesus promised us. That joy is spiritual and supernatural, indepenent of our circumstances.
Happiness, comes from external causes, and is earthly...therefore when prayers are offered "in Jesus name" many of them are for happiness issues and people think that God should honor all of those.
I thank the good Lord, that he knows what's better for me than I do and he helps me to learn to be conformed to His will, more each day!
Great point. It galls me no end (and let it not be said that many things gall me that much) when people treat God like a big candy vending machine: put in your quarter and get your sweet treat. The whole "name-it-and-claim-it" school of theological distortions is chief among the misguided. And the irony is, what God wishes to bless us with so far exceeds anything we have the imagination (or greed) to ask for, it makes us look like incredibly near-sighted, petty little ants by comparison.
Good post, Joe!
Now we know the real genius behind Peter, Paul, and Mary.
:)
That is so beautiful...I've heard a sermon very much like this before and just loved it too. When I pray, I always try to say, "Not my will but yours, Lord." Brings me back to the reality that I am God's workmanship not the other way around.
Nice post ...
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