Recently, I’ve been pouring over Tim Keller’s masterwork Prayer. Few books have challenged me quite as intensely as this one has. He features one idea that has shifted my paradigm for prayer and I hope that you find it as illuminating as I did (I also hope you’re adequately impressed with my use of the word “paradigm”).

PRAYING IN HIS OWN NAME

In the chapter “Rules for Prayer” Keller relays the story of a man who approached his pastor and wanted to know why his prayers were going unanswered. This man states that he has “been a member of the Presbyterian church for thirty years” and also goes on to list other qualifications that, he believes, should warrant some kind of responsive audience with the Most High.

The pastor, in a brilliant diagnosis of the true issue, says, “The problem is not hard to see…He is really praying in his own name.” Whoa.

This phrase slapped me across the face. Hard. How many times have I gone to our heavenly Father in prayer over and over again…and done so believing that MY OWN CREDENTIALS were enough to warrant an audience and a response? The answer: So, so many times.

I am ashamed to admit how often I have listed my “spiritual achievements” for the Lord and demanded therefore that He answer me. I was praying in my own name, not in the name of Jesus.

PRAYING IN JESUS’ NAME

So what does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name vs. praying in my own name? Keller says it this way:

“Because he (Jesus) has the perfect and secure access of an obedient child to the Father, so now do we…When we pray in Jesus’ name, therefore, we do so with supreme confidence and yet humble dependence on unmerited grace.” (Keller, 106.)

I admit that for a long time I thought “in Jesus’ name, amen” was a stamp on the end of my prayer. A mark of authenticity or an incantation that magically approved my prayer for hearing. What I’ve since learned is that praying “in Jesus’ name” is all about the access. We MUST pray in His name because only HIS NAME has the access to address our Father at all. But how amazing is it that we HAVE IT?! We have the access because of His work on the cross and his subsequent resurrection.

So, pray. Talk to your heavenly Father. But not because you’ve impressed Him with YOUR resume. Do it because Jesus certified your access with HIS.
SL