{"id":7167,"date":"2026-05-13T16:21:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T16:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/?p=7167"},"modified":"2026-05-13T16:51:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T16:51:37","slug":"praying-in-jesus-name-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/praying-in-jesus-name-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying in Jesus\u2019 Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Praying in Jesus\u2019 Name: Rogate Sermon 2026\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/7MY2Q5IWiO8wnmaLvJdxCx?si=88ff460421d640f5&amp;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Rogate (Easter 6)| John 16:23-30| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| May 10, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!\u201d <strong>Luke 11:9-13<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus tells His disciples in our Gospel lesson, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you.\u201d What does it mean to ask the Father in Jesus\u2019 name? To ask the Father in Jesus\u2019 name means to ask God according to every promise Jesus makes to us. In other words, to pray in Jesus\u2019 name means to pray through faith in Christ Jesus. We often conclude our prayers, \u201cin Jesus\u2019 name. Amen.\u201d But that is not a special formula which makes our prayers heard. To pray in Jesus\u2019 name means that we believe in Christ, in what He has done for us, and what He promises to give us. This is why Jesus says, \u201cI do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since to pray in Jesus\u2019 name means to pray according to His promises, this means that we must first <em>listen<\/em> to Jesus\u2019 Word. The Prophet Joel promises, \u201cWhoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.\u201d (Joel 2:32) But, St. Paul then asks, \u201chow will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?\u201d He finally concludes, \u201cSo faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.\u201d (Romans 10:13-14, 17)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prayer is having a conversation with God. Yet, for us to speak to Him, we must listen when He speaks to us. Only through hearing Christ\u2019s Word can we have faith in Him. And only through faith in Him can we ask the Father in His name. This is why Jesus says, \u201cI have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.\u201d It is through Christ speaking plainly to us that we receive faith in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus was known for speaking in parables and figures of speech. Just in this chapter, He speaks of a woman in labor to teach about the little while of suffering before their joy is complete. He was speaking of the little while of His suffering and death when He would be taken away from them before He would rise from the dead, as well as the little while every Christian suffers before reaching the eternal joy in heaven won by Christ. The Old Testament too is filled with figurative language. Our Old Testament lesson from Numbers 21 tells of the account when God sent fiery serpents to bite the people of Israel, because they were grumbling against Him. Yet, when they cried out for help, God commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent and put it on a pole, so that whoever was bitten, if he looked at it, he would live. We believe this is an historical account, but why was is recorded for us? In John chapter 3, Jesus says, \u201cAs Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.\u201d (vss. 14-15)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All figurative language and parables in Scripture are explained plainly by Jesus, when He speaks of His suffering, death, and resurrection for the sins of the world. In Luke 24, it says, \u201cThen He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, \u2018Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.\u201d (vss. 46-47) And thus, we have the key to interpreting Scripture. Jesus says that all Scripture speaks of Him! (John 5:39) The unclear passages are made clear by the clear passages about Jesus. The figurative passages are made plain by Jesus speaking plainly about how He came from the Father and came into the world, and then He will leave the world to go to the Father. The Psalms, Prophets, Jesus\u2019 parables and figurative speech, are all clearly understood when looked at through Jesus\u2019 work of redemption when He suffered and died for our sins and rose again. And it is through this plain speech that we have faith in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus\u2019 plain speech tells us what it means to pray in Jesus\u2019 name. When we pray in Jesus\u2019 name, we ground our prayers upon the merits, suffering, death, and resurrection, of Jesus Christ. Our prayers do not depend on our own worthiness. If your prayers depended on your own worthiness, you would never be certain that God hears or will answer your prayers. Your sins would always leave you in doubt. You would never pray, because you would always be trying to make yourself worthy to ask God for anything. But your prayers do not depend on your worthiness. Your prayers depend on Jesus\u2019 sacrifice for your sins, which merits your forgiveness and salvation. Whatever you pray for, whether it is for the Church, for your daily bread, for the forgiveness of your guilt, for aid against temptation and against Satan, it all depends on Christ\u2019s merits and intercessions. Jesus fulfilled what you failed to fulfill. Jesus suffered and died for what you deserved to suffer and die for. St. Paul tells us that Christ is even now interceding for us at the Father\u2019s right hand (Romans 8:34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, our faith does not rely on our own worthiness. Our faith rests in Christ alone, who guarantees our every prayer. He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to die for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32) If Christ has taken all my sins away, and He pleases God the Father always and for eternity, how can any of my prayers in Jesus\u2019 name fail? When we pray in Jesus\u2019 name, we pray through faith in Jesus. This means, we not only pray for what Jesus promises to give us, but we pray on the basis of Jesus\u2019 merit. We are confident to pray, not because we deserve what we ask for, but because Christ Jesus deserves it. He guarantees it with His death and resurrection. And He promises to give it to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We pray for two reasons: the command and the promise. God commands us to pray in the Second Commandment. Jesus says, \u201cAsk, and you shall receive.\u201d And this is the persistent lesson throughout Scripture St. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2, \u201cFirst of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people\u2026\u201d He writes in Philippians 4, \u201cDo not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.\u201d (vs. 6) In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul writes, \u201cpray without ceasing.\u201d (vs. 17) It is our duty as Christians to pray.&nbsp; To refuse to pray is to refuse the faith. It is to kill your faith. People neglect prayer, because they first neglect God\u2019s Word. Prayer is the fruit of faith made alive by God\u2019s promises. People neglect prayer, because they do no believe that God will give them what they ask for, or they don\u2019t even want what God is giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this is why the promise is so important. Through faith in Christ, we look at the command to pray not as a threatening Law, but as a gracious invitation. When you see what Christ has done for your salvation, you are confident to ask God for every good thing for Christ\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With every command to pray, there is a promise to answer that prayer. Every petition of the Lord\u2019s prayer is first a promise from God to give us what He tells us to ask for. Because we believe in the Gospel and desire to have this faith and to receive Christ\u2019s kingdom and for Satan\u2019s kingdom to be destroyed, we pray that God\u2019s name be hallowed, that His kingdom come and His will be done. This means that we pray for faithful pastors, and that people would gladly hear and learn God\u2019s Word. We pray for the wayward, that the Holy Spirit would break through their hard shell and grant them saving faith. Because we are confident that God would not give us His greatest treasure, yet fail to take care of the needs of our body, we pray for daily bread. We pray not just for ourselves, but for others. We pray for the sick, the poor, for those who need jobs, for the vulnerable, including the unborn and the elderly. Because we believe that Christ crushed the head of Satan when He was crucified for our sins, we are bold to pray that God forgive us our trespasses, lead us out of temptation, and deliver us from the evil one, Satan. That Jesus commands us to pray for these things means that He intends to give them to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you neglect prayer, because you figure it doesn\u2019t do any good? Perhaps you think that whatever will be will be, that our prayers will not change the course of time. But that is not what we learn from Scripture. Through prayer, Moses rescued the people of Israel from the wrath of God. Through prayer, Elijah stopped the rain for three years and six months and again caused it to rain with a prayer. God granted Hannah a child, because she prayed. We must not think that our prayers are useless. Throughout Scripture we see that God not only commands His people to pray to Him, but that He answers them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, sometimes God makes us knock longer than we\u2019d like. Sometimes He answers our prayers differently than we desire. Yet, we must pray not our will, but God\u2019s be done. All things work out for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. If God withholds a temporal good from you, He does so for your benefit. And God knows how to richly bless you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable of a widow who cried out for justice to an unjust judge so persistently that he finally gave her justice although he neither feared God nor respected men. Jesus concludes, \u201cAnd will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give to them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth.\u201d (vss. 7-8) And so, to pray and to receive what you pray for, you need faith in Christ; faith in what Christ promises to give you, and faith that God will give it to you for Christ\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, we should not neglect prayer or God\u2019s Word. Do not think that it is unimportant. But spend time in prayer. Fathers, especially, take time to lead your families in prayer. Teach your children to know their heavenly Father and how to speak to Him. Remind them of the promises of Christ in Holy Scripture, read Scripture to them, and then pray with them for the things Christ promises. Teach your little children how to ask God for everything they need, and to patiently wait with confidence that He will give it to them. We should not spend our time being anxious or worrying about the future. Rather, we should spend our time praying; asking God for what He promises to give us; praying for the needs of others, and giving thanks to God for all that He has given us. God hears our prayers. And for Christ\u2019s sake, He will answer them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amen, that is, so shall it be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Make strong our faith in You, that we<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May doubt not but with trust believe<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That what we ask we shall receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus in Your name and at Your Word<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We say, \u201cAmen, O hear us, Lord!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rogate (Easter 6)| John 16:23-30| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| May 10, 2026 \u201cAnd I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/praying-in-jesus-name-2\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,8,17,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-easter-6","category-latest-sermons","category-sermons-by-historical-lectionary","category-sermonsbyrevjamespreus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7170,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167\/revisions\/7170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}