The Present Truth, vol. 11
November 21, 1895
“Asking in His Name” The Present Truth 11, 47, p. 742.
“VERILY, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.” John 16:23. “And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.” Chapter 14:13, 14. PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.1
What is His name? “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” What is it, then, to ask in His name, but to ask in the very spirit and nature of the fulness of mercy and graciousness, in long-suffering and abundance of goodness and truth, and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin! It is to be imbued with His own Spirit, making manifest His own disposition and character in the heart, and then in this disposition making our requests known unto God. PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.2
WHAT IT MEANS
TO ask in His name means a good deal more than to present a series of formal or perhaps even selfish requests, and then put at the end of it the words “in Jesus’ name.” To pray “in His name,” is to have the whole petition imbued through and through with His name—with His disposition and character, with his nature. For His name is his nature. “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26, 27. As the Spirit of God makes intercession for us, in order that our prayers may be such as they ought to be, it is evident that our prayers must be according to the mind of the Spirit to be acceptable with God. It is the Spirit of God that sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts (Romans 5:5); it is by the Spirit that Christ dwells in the heart. Thus it is by the Spirit that we are made partakers of the Divine nature through the promises. And to ask according to the Spirit and in the Spirit, is to ask according to His nature, it is to ask in His name. This and this only is asking “in His name.” PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.3
This is made plain by Mark 11:25: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any.” This shows that we are to pray in the very disposition and nature of the Lord. As He is “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,” so are we to be. As this is His name, and we are to “ask in His name,” so when we pray, and as we pray, we are to pray, “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” This is what it is to ask in His name. PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.4
WHAT HINDERS TRUE PRAYER
TO pray to Him while we are unforgiving and holding hardness in the heart toward our brethren or any other man, and then close the prayer with the words, “In His name,” is only to take His name in vain. It is only a mockery, both of prayer and of his name; for it is not done in his name at all; it is not done in fulness of mercy, in graciousness, in long-suffering and abundance of goodness and truth, nor in the forgiveness of iniquity and transgression and sin. PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.5
Oh, it is too true, as He says in another place, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name.” John 15:24. There has been in us too much hardness, too much judging, too little long-suffering and kindness and goodness and truth to man and too little of the Divine nature,—all this has been too largely true for us truly to have asked “in His name.” PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.6
But it is not too late yet. Let us thank the Lord and take courage, that it is not yet too late. We are in the time of which it is written, “My people shall know My name.” Let us in sincerity of heart accept the promise in its fulness, that it may indeed be fulfilled in us as we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.7
Then, knowing His name, we shall believe in His name, we shall work in His name, we shall preach in His name, we shall baptize and be baptized in His name, we shall meet in His name, we shall pray in His name, yes, whatsoever we do, in word or deed, we shall do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.8
“And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, and before whom no man is guiltless [German version]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.9
“And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance. And he said, Behold, I make a covenant; before all thy people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord; for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.” (Read with this also Isaiah 52:1-12.) PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.10
And let all the people say, Amen, the Lord do so. A. T. JONES. PTUK November 21, 1895, page 742.11