Praying In His Name

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:9-15

When ending a prayer, often the words “in Jesus’ name” or “in His name we pray” are used to end the prayer. Is this how the Creator really wants us to pray? In the opening scripture, Jesus showed us how to pray. There are some other note worthy prayers given in scripture. Let’s compare Hezekiah’s prayer:

Isa 37:15 And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying,
Isa 37:16 “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel who is enthroned on the cherubim, you are the one, God by yourself, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you are the one who made the heavens and the earth.
Isa 37:17 Yahweh, extend your ear and hear! Yahweh, open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God!
Isa 37:18 Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands and their land,
Isa 37:19 to set their gods in the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them.
Isa 37:20 So now, Yahweh, our God, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, you alone!”

Hezekiah never ended his prayer “in Yahweh’s name we pray”. Another prayer that is not in the sixty-six book Bible, is the Prayer of Manasseh. We find this in the King James Authorized Version.

Man 1:1 O Lord, Almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed; who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof; who hast bound the sea by the word of thy commandment; who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name; whom all men fear, and tremble before thy power; for the majesty of thy glory cannot be borne, and thine angry threatening toward sinners is importable: but thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable; for thou art the most high Lord, of great compassion, longsuffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee: and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee; but thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied: my transgressions are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities. I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot life up mine head, neither have any release: for I have provoked thy wrath, and done evil before thee: I did not thy will, neither kept I thy commandments: I have set up abominations, and have multiplied offences. Now therefore I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities: wherefore, I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with mine iniquites. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me to the lower parts of the earth. For thou art the God, even the God of them that repent; and in me thou wilt shew all thy goodness: for thou wilt save me, that am unworthy, according to thy great mercy. Therefore I will praise thee for ever all the days of my life: for all the powers of the heavens do praise thee, and thine is the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

There is also recorded a prayer by David in the book of Chronicles.

1Ch 29:10 Then David blessed Yahweh in the sight of all the assembly, and David said, “Blessed are you, O Yahweh, God of Israel, our father forever and ever!
1Ch 29:11 Yours, O Yahweh, is the kingdom and exaltation over all as head!
1Ch 29:12 And wealth and glory are from you, and you rule over all. And in your hand is power and might. And in your hand is power to make great and to give strength to all.
1Ch 29:13 And now, our God, we give thanks to you and offer praise to the name of your splendor.
1Ch 29:14 And indeed, who am I, and who are my people that we retain power to offer according to these offerings willingly? For everything is from you, and from your hand we have given to you.
1Ch 29:15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners like all our ancestors. Our days are like the shadow upon earth, and there is no hope of abiding.
1Ch 29:16 O Yahweh our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build for you a house for your holy name is from your hand, and all of it is yours.
1Ch 29:17 And I know, my God, that you yourself test the heart and are pleased with uprightness. I, in the uprightness of my heart, have willingly offered all these things, and now I have seen your people who are found here willingly offer to you.
1Ch 29:18 O Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep this forever as a plan and thoughts of the heart of your people, and establish their heart toward you.
1Ch 29:19 Grant to Solomon my son a heart of peace to keep your commands, your statutes, and your regulations to do everything, and to build the citadel for which I have provided.”

It is possible that praying in the name of someone, in this case Yahweh, may mean something different than what we as English speakers understand. In English, the word “name” is simply something you call someone. Webster’s defines name as: “a word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing”. When we look at the word for name in Hebrew, much like other words, the meaning is much more extensive. The word is Shem and it is Strong’s H8034.

H8034
שׁם
shêm
BDB Definition:
1) name
1a) name
1b) reputation, fame, glory
1c) the Name (as designation of God)
1d) memorial, monument

Not only does the word mean name, it also is tied to a person’s reputation, fame and glory. The word for name in Greek has even more description. It is Strong’s G3686.

G3686
ὄνομα
onoma
Thayer Definition:
1) name: univ. of proper names
2) the name is used for everything which the name covers, everything the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by mentioning, hearing, remembering, the name, i.e. for one’s rank, authority, interests, pleasure, command, excellences, deeds etc.
3) persons reckoned up by name
4) the cause or reason named: on this account, because he suffers as a Christian, for this reason

It seems in the Hebrew and Greek languages, “name” has more depth than it does in English. If we look at prayers by people in the Bible, they start out describing the characteristics of the God they are praying to. “Our Father in Heaven”, “the one who made heavens and Earth”, and “To you, O Yahweh, is the greatness and the power and the splendor and the glory and the strength, for everything in the heavens and in the earth”, all these prayers describe who Yahweh is. They declare His Shem. Maybe this is why those who practice Judaism call Yahweh H’Shem, which translated is “the name”, but it means more than just the “name” in the English sense. Maybe praying in His name has more to do with including Yahweh’s characteristics in the prayer than just saying “in His name” at the end like it is a formula for success. There is another aspect to look at as well. If we believe the entire Bible is true, then what do we do with this verse:

Pro 28:9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

The word “law” in this verse is from the Hebrew word Torah, which is the law of Yahweh. According to this, those who won’t listen to Yahweh, won’t be listened to by Yahweh. Is this not what is meant by “your will be done” in the prayer Jesus showed us? In order to pray in Jesus’ name, maybe we need to be in His will, following the commandments in an upright manner. Possibly this would turn the ear of the Father to hear our prayer more than ending with the tag “in Jesus’ name we pray”.

Here is a facetious example: A robber breaks into someone’s home to steal all the owner’s valuables. While he is filling his bag full of the owner’s valuables, the robber prays to God that the owner doesn’t come home, or that the police do not catch him. Does Yahweh answer his prayer? What if he ended the prayer by saying “in Jesus’ name we pray”? Would that make the Father answer his prayer? If the owner didn’t come home and the police never caught this robber, does that mean his prayer was answered? Here is what the psalmist said:

Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the advice of the wicked; nor does he stand in the way of sinners; nor does he sit in the assembly of mockers.
Psa 1:2 Instead, in the law of Yahweh is his delight, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psa 1:3 And so, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that gives its fruit in its season; its leaf also does not wither. Therefore all that he does prospers.
Psa 1:4 Not so the wicked. Instead, they are like the chaff that the wind scatters.
Psa 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
Psa 1:6 for Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

The book of Revelation can be difficult to understand, but sometimes the difficulty may come from trying to swallow the whole book at once. There are two scriptures I often quote. I believe they are key to surviving the days ahead in the faith. They are the following:

Rev 12:17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

Rev 14:12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

These two passages show how keeping the commandments of Yahweh, and having faith in Jesus, will both cause the enemy to make war with, and enable the same people to endure this war. When we have faith in Jesus, we declare He is one with Yahweh and the only way to Yahweh the creator, God above all gods. Any other god is simply an imposter. Are words enough, or do there need to be actions? The robber praying that he will not get caught may say he has faith in Jesus, but he is not following His commandments, which Jesus says are not His but His father’s. So by not caring enough about what it is to have faith in Jesus, the prayer is not considered because the robber ignores the commandment “do not steal” or “ love your neighbour “. A person does not love their neighbour when they steal. We live out our faith by doing the things Yahweh says we need to do. When we break the commandments we open ourself up to being deceived and destroyed. Paul, who is falsely believed to preach against keeping the commandments, says the following in his letter to the Romans:

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
Rom 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
Rom 1:27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Rom 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Rom 1:29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
Rom 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Rom 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

When the false Messiah shows himself, it will not be obvious to those who do not know the commandments of Yahweh. Right now the beast system causes many to be deceived about the second coming of Jesus and the nature of Jesus. Many will follow the man of lawlessness because they already believe Jesus is a lawless saviour who is tolerant of every evil thing that He condemned. This perception of Jesus has created a false Jesus already. This false Jesus system is already making war against those who have faith in the real Jesus and keep His commandments.

Jas 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
Jas 2:15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
Jas 2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
Jas 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Jas 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Jas 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Praying in the name of Jesus is so much more than just saying those words like an incantation to force the hand of Yahweh. One must worship in spirit and truth.

Isa 56:1 Thus says Yahweh: “Observe justice and do righteousness, for my salvation is close to coming, and my justice to being revealed.
Isa 56:2 Happy is the man who does this, and the son of humankind who keeps hold of it, who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it, and who keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Pray in His name by knowing the greatness of His name, fame, reputation and accomplishments. Jesus declared the name of His Father and also came in His name.

Joh 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
Joh 17:2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
Joh 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Joh 17:4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
Joh 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Joh 17:6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
Joh 17:7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
Joh 17:8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
Joh 17:9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
Joh 17:10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Joh 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
Joh 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Joh 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
Joh 17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.
Joh 17:26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Also this:

Joh 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
Joh 5:40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
Joh 5:41 I do not receive glory from people.
Joh 5:42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
Joh 5:43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Joh 5:44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

If we take the verse John 5:43 and use the simple definition for name, we can see that Yahusha , Hebrew for Joshua, who we call Jesus, came in His father’s name Yahuah or Yahweh. Some spell is Yehusha, meaning the salvation of Yah. I think declaring His name may include these definitions, but is also much broader. Declaring His name is declaring His essence, that is, what makes Him who He is. Coming in another name, would be coming as someone else, much like a false god or messiah. If we view Jesus as in opposition to the commands of His Father Yahweh, then who are we talking about other than a false messiah? It is easy to discern if one is not deceived. Paul explains in his second letter to the Thessalonians:

2Th 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
2Th 2:9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,
2Th 2:10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
2Th 2:11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,
2Th 2:12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

Paul indicates one must believe the truth, and if someone refuses to believe the truth, God will send them a strong delusion. What is truth as defined by scripture?

• Psa 119:142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth.
• Psa 119:151 You are near, O Yahweh, and all your commands are truth.
• Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

According to scripture, Yahweh’s law, commands and Jesus are defined as the truth. This should make sense because Jesus is the living Word that came in the flesh from the Father. This is a consistent theme throughout scripture. We must be sanctified or set apart by the Spirit, and believe in the truth. How can one believe in the truth if the truth is never pointed out? If we are praying in the name of Jesus we had better know and accept the truth or we will be part of the delusion.

2Th 2:1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,
2Th 2:2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
2Th 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
2Th 2:4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

Earlier in Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians he states there will be a rebellion before the man of lawlessness is revealed. The only thing meaningful to rebel against is the truth, Yahweh’s words, personified in Jesus. Other translations use the word apostasy. These are the people who do not meet the Revelation 14:12 call for endurance. Therefore, praying in the name of Jesus is much more than closing words of a prayer. Praying in the name of Jesus is praying in everything He is and wants us to be.