Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter
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May 22, 2020We hear this statement many times, ‘What you ask the Father in my name he will give you.’
Yet how often do we seem to pray and not receive what we ask for? The apostles are a great example of not receiving what we ask for. The apostles had not always asked in Jesus' name. They had asked many prayers, such as sitting at Jesus' right and left hand, permission to send down fire from heaven on some Samaritans, and even for an estimate on how many people would be saved.
They didn't receive these answers or requests, because they asked in order to satisfy their own desires or curiosity, rather than asking for what Jesus wanted to give them, which is the meaning of asking in Jesus' name.
The apostles also asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. This was what Jesus wanted, and so He taught them the greatest prayer, the "Our Father.” They asked Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus also wanted this, and so they received faith great enough to lay down their lives in martyrdom for His name.
To ask in Jesus' name means that we do not ask in our own name, which would be centered on ourselves. If we ask in Jesus' name, our prayer is centered on the glory of His name and the desires of His heart.
Therefore if something will give His name Glory and the Father Glory, then it will be done in Jesus’ name. If we ask something centered on ourselves, this is not in Jesus' name, no glory given to God, therefore it may not be answered.
Let us use these nine days praying to the Holy Spirit, to be in union of the heart, and desires of Jesus’ heart, so that when we pray we know the best answers will be given.
