In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. I tell you the truth, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.- John 16:23

January 19, 2008 Floyd Ray Gage

This verse has caused a great misunderstanding among some. When Jesus said that if the disciples asked anything in His name, they would receive it from the Father, it gave some the impression that they could use the phrase, “in Jesus name,�?and get whatever they want in prayer.

Jesus was not handing out a secret charm or some magic phrase that would give us a key to the storehouses of heaven to use as we please. God will not give us anything we want just because we use a certain set of words. That would reduce our faith to some kind of magic and we would be no better than a spiritual Harry Potter using the power of God for our own desires.

Jesus is sharing a very important truth in this verse that we need to grasp for our own spiritual growth and welfare. We must look beyond what we think we see here and see what Jesus is truly saying. Jesus also says that they will not ask Him anything after His Resurrection and we know that people have been asking Jesus things a lot since that day.

The same general truth applies to both of the statements of Jesus. He was talking about something that happens when we fully enter into the relationship and reality of all that Jesus has done for us. When we fully surrender to the Lordship of Christ and follow Him in all that we do these two truths take root and shape in our lives.

First, once we are taking on the mind of Christ and we are doing things the way Christ wants them done, then we will not ask anymore questions of Him. Why is this? The reason is that all of our questions have already been answered. We may not know all of the details of everything we want to know, but we know the answer. The answer to every question is Jesus or the lack of Jesus. Why is there evil and suffering in our world? Man has turned away from God and has decided to do things their own way that is why Jesus came. What is God doing about the evil and suffering in this world? He sent Jesus and Jesus is His answer. Many do not accept what God has offered and therefore sin is still running rampant and still harms even the children of God. Why are our families in the shape they are in and why is our nation in the shape it is in? The lack of Jesus and those who will truly follow Him. What is the answer to the family problems and the problems of our nation? Jesus and winning one heart at a time to Jesus and His love.

We don’t need to ask the questions anymore, because we know the answer. Even when we do ask, we know what the answer is and where to find the answer. When we come to this point we are thinking like Jesus and we will do things the way He does them

This is also the answer to the second truth Jesus shared. When we are close enough to Jesus and when we are seeking His heart and will in all things, we can ask anything and it will be done for us. We must understand what the Greek is saying in our verse.

“In�?Jesus name means within the sphere and influence of Christ’s name. It means asking that which will honor and bring glory to Christ’s name. How can we go wrong when we are seeking this? When we are seeking to honor Christ and do His will, there is nothing we can ask that will not be given to us. Please be careful here. What honors Christ’s name is not necessarily what we want. This is why Jesus prayed for the Father’s will to be done in the Garden. We must pray for Christ’s will to be done no matter what. This means that we are seeking what He wants and desires in all things.