Praying In Jesus’ Name

“giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” Eph. 5:20.

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Col. 3:17

We can gather from the above verses quite clearly that we are to give thanks and pray through Jesus. It is in His name that we come before God and are able to speak to the Father. Therefore, at the end of each prayer that we deliver we are to end with “in Jesus name”, or some variant, correct?

Not necessarily! I should specify what part isn’t necessary. Praying “in Jesus name” is obviously necessary, as we clearly see from the Bible. We cannot come to God without going through His Son, Jesus Christ. However, the part that is not necessary is saying “in Jesus name” at the end.

Nowhere in the above passages are we given a specific area of our prayer to say that we are coming to God through Jesus! We are not told to say it at the end of our prayer. We are not told a specific way to admit that we are praying in the name of Jesus.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that it is wrong to say it at the end of our prayers. It simply means that we are free to confess that we are praying in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ anywhere throughout the prayer. We can say this at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of our prayers. The importance isn’t the location in the prayer, but in actually admitting that we are coming to God through Jesus.

Is this a big deal? Maybe not. But how easy is it to just place “in Jesus’ name. Amen.” at the end of the prayer and perhaps forget some of the significance that we are praying through our Saviour? It is only through Jesus that we are able to come to the Almighty Creator!

We should be paying attention to every part of our prayers, and especially to the fact that we pray in Jesus’ name. Jesus said in Matthew 6:7 not to use vain repetitions when praying, and this would also apply to “in Jesus’ name”. Perhaps, using different wording or placing it in different areas of our prayer could help avoid “vain repetitions”.

                -- John Thrower Jr.