Prayer in Jesus' Name

[PastorRonB]

I'm not a frequent poster (not even a frequent lurker) - but I did note the discussion (question) about whether Rick Warren closed his prayer with the words "in the name of Jesus" at the inauguration. Now I fully understand why the question would be asked, and it is an important one, and as a rule we, as Christians, do just that. RW's prayer surely represented the Christian faith well. However, could one really say that praying this way - every single time - was imperative? Is it not really "prayer" if we don't say those magic words?
After all, when the disciples asked of Jesus, "Lord teach us to pray" and He began with the words, "Our Father..." - in that prayer He never mentioned praying in Jesus' name.
Could one pray a prayer, from the depths of His heart and forget to say "in Jesus' name" - and so that prayer not "count"? If in His heart he realized that Jesus was Lord of all (including Lord of his own life) would his prayer be rejected if he didn't say "in Jesus' name"?
Now, I usually close my prayers that way - but if I didn't would that make my prayer void? Or, could one be guilty of saying it every time he prayed - and it only be "vain repetition"? - his heart being full of impure things.
Just thinking out loud... and personally wanting to be very careful about judging the correctness of someone else's prayers. God see's our hearts before we ever "say" a thing.
But, thank God for men like RW who aren't ashamed to publicly name the Name of Jesus.

[Pastor Gary]

I seldom end prayers with the phrase "in Jesus' name."

Praying "in Jesus' name" means to pray in the authority of Jesus, according to his direction, submitted to His will.

It is not an oral formula, or magic words.

[Pastor Bill]

I 100% agree with Gary, although I do frequently end with "in Jesus name" out of habit.

There are some small groups of churches who do feel this is drastically important even to the point of requiring baptism to use the words "in Jesus name" rather than "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" or other such wordings.

NONE of it is about the words, but the authority. I do often use the words just to as a way of keeping that in mind. Whether you say it or not doesn't matter, it's based on the authority provided through your relationship to Him.

[Poimen]

I was proud of RW for making sure to use Jesus name. It distinguished his prayer form those others may have offered and refused to submit to the PC universalism that has become popular when referring to God among politicians.

I really liked the old black preachers prayer at the end too, until he started his racial quips (and only indicating white folks of any racial bias while doing so) and then equated Christian, Jewish, and Muslim worship as all being directed to God.

[PastorP]

I don't know if this has been posted, but for those that have not heard RW's prayer click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ3i9Uu1PJg

[paul]

I quess Im still old school in some things. This is one of them. I will admit my bias by stating when I know so many who have made such sacrifices, some who have given their lives (personal friends) to speak that Name JESUS. Why would I not want to make the declaration In the Name of Jesus.
This is not a judgemental view from me, just my personal conviction.

John 14:12-14 (King James Version)

12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

[Pastor Gary]

I quess Im still old school in some things. This is one of them. I will admit my bias by stating when I know so many who have made such sacrifices, some who have given their lives (personal friends) to speak that Name JESUS. Why would I not want to make the declaration In the Name of Jesus.
This is not a judgemental view from me, just my personal conviction.

John 14:12-14 (King James Version)

12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

This reflects, respectfully my friend, one of the areas of Theology influenced by the Word of Faith movement that places extreme emphasis on the spoken word over the heart motive.

[paul]

I quess Im still old school in some things. This is one of them. I will admit my bias by stating when I know so many who have made such sacrifices, some who have given their lives (personal friends) to speak that Name JESUS. Why would I not want to make the declaration In the Name of Jesus.
This is not a judgemental view from me, just my personal conviction.

John 14:12-14 (King James Version)

12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

This reflects, respectfully my friend, one of the areas of Theology influenced by the Word of Faith movement that places extreme emphasis on the spoken word over the heart motive.

For me I would disagree with that statement. It was a part of my upbringing in the cogop. It was how my father taught us kids to pray
(he was deaf and never hear a WOF preacher) It was what I preached long before I was ever introduced to any of the WOF preachers. I would also disagree with the issue of spoken word verse heart motive. That is an assumption that cannot be proven. For who knows the heart of a man. Man only sees the outward but it is God who sees the motives of the heart.

I do not believe that it is an either or

[deb]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=86640

Rick Warren's prayer
'I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life ...'
Posted: January 20, 2009
2:07 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Transcript of presidential inauguration prayer by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif.

Almighty God, our Father, everything we see, and everything we can't see, exists because of you alone.

It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one." And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today, we rejoice not only in America's peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity.

Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches and civility in our attitudes – even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations, and all people, will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life – Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus – who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Just a thought: "Amen" is one of Jesus' names.

Revelation 3:13-15 (New International Version)

13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Laodicea
14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!

[Pastor Gary]

For me I would disagree with that statement. It was a part of my upbringing in the cogop. It was how my father taught us kids to pray
(he was deaf and never hear a WOF preacher) It was what I preached long before I was ever introduced to any of the WOF preachers. I would also disagree with the issue of spoken word verse heart motive. That is an assumption that cannot be proven. For who knows the heart of a man. Man only sees the outward but it is God who sees the motives of the heart.

I do not believe that it is an either or

You seem to have personalized a statement meant as a generalization, Paul. That was not directed toward you, meaning YOUR Theological influence (unless in fact it is such) but toward the influence in general of the WOF teachers. I have some friends here who won't use common colloquialisms such as "This headache is killing me" or "That cheesecake is to die for" because they assert that one is speaking actual death over themselves by the use of such meaningless conversational shortcuts.

Poppycock. That reduces their God to a mindless robot who reacts to having certain buttons pushed, or responds to certain verbal cues as if on command, without regard to understanding the motives of the heart of the speaker.

Again -- that was not intended to be an indictment of your personal Theology.

[Gerald Creasy]

That reduces their God to a mindless robot who reacts to having certain buttons pushed, or responds to certain verbal cues as if on command, without regard to understanding the motives of the heart of the speaker.

I believe it is worse than that. It is not GOd who is responding but the FORCE of Faith BY WHICH God himself operates.

It not only reduces God to a fellow participant accessing the same power source ("faith is a force and words are containers of this force" as Osteen says), it elevates man to Godlike ability.

Understanding this makes much of the ludicrous statements of the WOF "luminaries" Understandable. Now you know WHY Kenneth Copeland has said that Abraham could have told God "Get Lost Old Man" or why Paul Crouch and Benny Hinn claim God status.

While WOF teaching is frequently spotlighted in cases where people have died denying their medical condition, it FIRST killed the majesty of God, denigrated the work of Christ- and made man into an entity accessing the same power source and directing it with a fleshly tongue and heart.

This is why at it's core WOF IS Witchcraft: Men accessing power to achieve their own will: Health, wealth and prosperity.

God isnt needed.

[paul]

Thank you PG, I understand the generalization. And it no doubt is true for many. But my initial statement was simply what I had been taught as a child and the scripture that was used to reinforce the use of the name.

I certinally did not want this to turn into another bashing of someones belief. So I am sorry for that. "In Jesus Name"

[Pastor Bill]

Personally I do it out of habit, but I will say RW putting it in was a good thing, and I have done the same when asked to pray in a secular setting, to clarify away from the politically correct "all prayers to any God" stuff.

I can see how if it was seen as a REQUIREMENT that you speak those words, then yes I can see ties to the Jesus-Only movement (which predates the current WOF movement, but also focuses on the spoken word too much for me) or even loosely to the WoF junk.

As I stated earlier, to use it or not both are fine, personally I use it more out of tradition, Paul uses it intentionally out of respect for martyrs, I have (and applaude RW for doing so) used it to make clear definition in a secular setting just who my prayer was to.

Any of these are valid reasons, just as it's not a requirement, and a departure from tradition or to distance yourself from those other movements would be a reason to avoid it. I guess it would just be a personal preference that you can take or leave it, after all it's just words, and it's not the words that matter as much as the authority of Christ and relationship to Him.

[rough_rider]

For me I would disagree with that statement. It was a part of my upbringing in the cogop. It was how my father taught us kids to pray
(he was deaf and never hear a WOF preacher) It was what I preached long before I was ever introduced to any of the WOF preachers. I would also disagree with the issue of spoken word verse heart motive. That is an assumption that cannot be proven. For who knows the heart of a man. Man only sees the outward but it is God who sees the motives of the heart.

I do not believe that it is an either or

That was also part of my upbringing in COG and the COGOP. It was also how my father taught us to pray as well. I would never consider ending a prayer in any other way than with the Name that is above all other names.

[free]

RW is a Christian and a Christian minister/pastor...I would expect nothing less than for him to envoke the name of Jesus. Just as I would expect a Muslim to reference Allah and/or Muhammad if they were asked to pray.

To me it's just more political correctness...Just my opinion.