. . . in Jesus' name

3 posts · 3 participants · started Dec 9, 2017, 8:15 PM

1. M

   MaraParticipant
   Dec 9, 2017, 8:15 PM

   I participate in a weekly prayer circle in my community.  Last week the theme was “Why do we pray in Jesus’ name?” Someone other than me prepared the material, but I was the presenter.  Since the material was and always is completely Bible-based, I was in a predicament to present it in such a manner as to be true to my own understandings without contradicting the Bible.  I found a way around my difficulty by suggesting to the group that the material be divided up among participants and that each one would read a portion of it.  It worked out just fine for me.  I accentuated the positive and made no comment about rest.

   But the theme did bring questions to my mind, such as, what is in a name?  I quoted Shakespeare’s “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

   And what is it about this specific word: Jesus?

2. MK

   Mark KurtzParticipant
   Dec 10, 2017, 12:47 AM

   This question is addressed in 180:2.4.

   “But great sorrow later attended the misinterpretation of the Master’s inferences regarding prayer. There would have been little difficulty about these teachings if his exact words had been remembered and subsequently truthfully recorded. But as the record was made, believers eventually regarded prayer in Jesus’ name as a sort of supreme magic, thinking that they would receive from the Father anything they asked for. For centuries honest souls have continued to wreck their faith against this stumbling block. How long will it take the world of believers to understand that prayer is not a process of getting your way but rather a program of taking God’s way, an experience of learning how to recognize and execute the Father’s will? It is entirely true that, when your will has been truly aligned with his, you can ask anything conceived by that will-union, and it will be granted. And such a will-union is effected by and through Jesus even as the life of the vine flows into and through the living branches.”

   Note the words “supreme magic”.

    

3. B

   BonitaParticipant
   Dec 10, 2017, 1:46 PM

   Historically names were considered to have power because they were the magical keys to the nature and essence of the individual. It was believed that if you knew a person’s true name, you could have power over them, which is why God’s true name is supposed to be a mystery. No one can have power over God. Recall that orthodox Jews, to this day, will not say or write the name of God. Changing one’s true name was a way of tricking evil spirits.   It was believed that if sorcerers used a person’s name they had the power to perform magic spells on them.   Plenty of rituals grew out of this belief in the power of the name.  Naming ceremonies are common in many religions and when a person dedicates him/herself to a given religion, there are re-naming rituals performed. It was also taught that prayers were more effective if names were used.  I believed this myself at one time, giving my unborn son with a life-threatening birth defect a name right away so people could pray for him.

   So prayer using the name of Jesus was considered to have magical power, just like using the name of Jesus for exorcisms.  Evil is supposed to cower, not only in his presence, but by the mere mention of his name, because it has power.  Psychologically there is some merit to all of this, but not for magical purposes – either to get goodness or prevent evil.  The power of Jesus’ name comes from identifying with his essence, his nature.  Using someone’s name means you’re intimate with them, on a first-name basis.  Being intimate with Jesus is very powerful.

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