John 14:13–14: “Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” Jesus ties the request to the purpose of glorifying the Father.
John 15:16: “…so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name He may give to you.” Here, Jesus connects fruitfulness in discipleship with the privilege of asking in his name.
John 16:23–24: “…Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in my name, He will give it to you…ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”
This emphasizes both how to access the Father and the joy that comes from answered prayer.
John 16:26: “In that day you will ask in My name…” Jesus anticipates a time after his resurrection when his followers will fully understand and practice this.
John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In our prayers, we acknowledge that we only have access to God through Jesus. Before we became Christians, we were estranged from God. We struggled and tried to stop sinning, but we couldn’t. We were “without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace,” Ephesians 2:12-14 (CSB).
Without Jesus, we are alienated from God. Thus, by praying in Jesus’ name, we are constantly acknowledging our need for Jesus’ blood and our gladness to submit to God’s will.
Soon, all mankind will have their eyes opened to recognize Jesus as the only way to God. “In the dispensation of the fullness of the times He (God) might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him,” Ephesians 1:10. Then humanity will rejoice to know Jesus (Jeremiah 31:33-34).
