“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13)

In Acts 3, Peter and John are entering the temple at the same time a man who had been crippled form birth is being carried there to beg.  He asks them for money and Peter responds, “Look at us…I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, walk.” (Acts 3: 4, 6) Peter then takes his hand and lifts him up.  His feet and ankles instantly become strong, he jumps to his feet and he begins walking, jumping and praising God. When the people recognize him as the man who had always been begging they are filled with wonder and amazement.

When Peter said, “Look at us,” he wanted to get the man’s attention because what he was going to do was not the usual response of throwing a coin in a cup.  This time was going to be different.  Peter was going to give the man not what he asked for, but what he needed.  He needed Jesus and healing.  Peter gave him both.

How much faith do you have to pray for something in the name of Jesus?

On a personal note, I have seen prayers in the name of Jesus: heal a hole in the heart of our daughter, Emily; restore a vision loss in me from glaucoma; find wonderful Christian spouses for our four married children, to name just a few examples.

In the workplace, I have seen prayers in the name of Jesus: turn a negative work environment into a positive one; enable a person to forgive a business partner who defrauded him of thousands of dollars; encourage a company to decide to forgo short term profits for the long term good of the company and its employees; heal a colleague’s brain tumor; guide a prosecutor to lead a defendant he had prosecuted several times to surrender his life to Christ before he died.

Jesus says in the above scripture that when we pray in his name we create an opportunity to bring glory to the Father.

Bringing glory to the Father through prayer in the name of Jesus is not something that was meant only for the early Church. These words are applicable for us today as well.

How much faith do you have in the name of Jesus?  Pray for something in the name of Jesus today in order to bring glory to the Father.