John 14:12 “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 any thing in my name, I will do it.”
This is an amazing promise and Jesus repeats it two times. In two consecutive verses Jesus promises that if we ask anything in His name, he will do it. I recall as a small child in Sunday School being taught to pray and told that I must always end my prayer with “in Jesus name – Amen.” The other day I attended a service and the pastor (a really wonderful, Godly man) happened to get a bit long winded and I was growing a bit weary and felt a surge of relief when he said: “This will be my last point.” After his last point he went on to preach another sermon during the closing prayer and this time I felt an overwhelming sense of relief when he said: “In Jesus name…” Then I knew the service had come to a real end.
That evening I pondered my impatience and thought, “Is that all it meant to me to hear the words ‘In Jesus name’ was that the service was concluded. Who really pays attention to those words in a prayer that are repeated over and over, by rote? If you were God would you? Yet, we feel there is something magical in invoking His name at the end of prayer. I am finding many who feel they get an extra benefit if they use the Hebrew form of His name, Yeshua. Some even suggest that the reason we do not get our prayers answered is because we invoke the Greek form of His name, Jesus rather than his Hebrew name. I even met a few who will even question your salvation if you are not using the Hebrew form of His name.
There is one simple fact out there that we can easily prove with the scientific method and that is that very few prayers ending in the name Jesus or Yeshua ever get answered. We invoke that name like it is some talisman, an object or word that is believed to contain some magical energy. Oddly, among names in the Middle East during the first century, the nameYeshua was the sixth most common name. In fact I have a Hispanic friend who is name Jesus (although he pronounces it much different than I do). If you name your child Jesus or Yeshua will that endow him with certain powers?
Much of the confusion lies in interpreting the word name in a Greco Roman, Western Cultured modern context. To us aname is simply a word which identifies us legally, it may even be a moniker. We give very little thought to the meaning behind the name and rarely do we consider that name as a representation of what that person is. In fact we give our pets’ names which reflect their character more than we do humans. My next door neighbor’s pit bull is named Sparky for a reason that reflects his annoying personality. Yet, we endow a child with a name because it sounds good, or were a granddad’s name, or it will blend in will in society so they will not hold him up to ridicule. On rare occasions a parent will give a child a name with the wish that it will represent a something of the child, like Faith or Joy. Yet, even as that child gets older we call out to Faith or Joy we rare consider that the child is an individual of faith or an object of joy.
In ancient times a name was given to someone because it would describe who they were, what was expected of them or what they would accomplish in life. Names were more meaningful 2,000 years ago than they are today, so when Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name,” He was referring to something that is not as easily understood today as it was in that day.
The word name in the Greek as used in John 14:13-14 is onomati which means name, reputation, character, or an authority. It is derived from the root of ginosko which is a knowing, or what a person is known by. Ginosko carries the idea of an intimate knowing, it is the same word used when Mary when she was told she would have a child and ask how could such a thing be when she knew no man. The knowing implied here is not just recognition, but an intimacy. Thus, whatever you ask in an intimacy or what is intimate with Jesus, it will be done.
Jesus did not say this in Greek but in Aramaic. The Pershitta or Aramaic Bible uses the word shema. This is identical to the Hebrew word shem. Shem is more than just an identification, it is an expression of not only what one is, but what one desires. It is an expression of one’s heart. Hence the name of Jesus or Yeshua is an expression of what He longed or desired to be and that is a Savior. Ultimately shem is one’s heart expression. When you expressed a name you were expressing a passion of one’s heart.
In Ruth 1:20 when Naomi returned to her people they all said, “Here is Naomi (my sweet one).” But she replied “call me Mara (bitter one). She did not want to be addressed as something that her heart was not. She was not trying to get the pity of others, but was seeking honesty. In those days if you called someone Naomi, then that person should be a sweet, pleasant person. Noami was not that and she felt it was dishonest to allow people to think that that was what she was.
Thus, everything we pray in the shem of Jesus He will do it because it is His shem or His heart’s desire. If our hearts are joined with His heart then everything we pray for will be granted. The problem is that we pray with our lips and minds, and not our hearts. Our prayers are not answered because they are not prayers at all, they are only expressions of our minds and lips but not of our hearts joined with God. Our prayers are not answered because they express our shems and not God’sshems. It has nothing to do with the words we vocalize or the name we attached to the end of a request, whether it be Jesus or Yeshua, but has everything to do with heart expression behind that name. Sometimes our longings, fears, desires overshadow the knowing of our hearts joined with God and we pray amiss. There are some people who pray in tongues and haven’t the foggiest idea what they are praying, yet that is a prayer that will be answered because, if their hearts are joined with God then that prayer in an unknown tongue is expressing their heart which joined God’s heart expresses God’s desire and will and Jesus promises that such a prayer will be answered. The only problem with that is that if you do not know in your mind or lips what you prayed for, you will not know when it is answered, but your heart will know.
The key to answered prayer is understanding your own heart and God’s heart.
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