John 14: 15: "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." The proof of love to Christ is not an oral profession but living obedience. Love for Christ is inseparable from obedience. “My commandments” are not only Jesus’ ethical commandments in context (vv. 23, 24), but the entire revelation from the Father. This is not a new concept. The OT already closely connected love for God with obeying his commandments. Now let us consider what all three of these verses say. What does it mean to ask in the name of Christ? To pray in His Person means to be standing in His place. It means to be fully identified with Him, joined to Christ. It means that you and I are pleading the merits of His blessed Son when we stand before God. We have no standing of our own before God at all. He does not hear my prayer because of our name, and He does not hear your prayer because you are who you are. He hears our prayers when they are in the name of Christ. This is not just a little phrase that we tag on to the end of our prayer closing with “in Jesus’ name.” Praying in His name is presenting it in His merit and for His glory. To me prayer is humbling. When I consider Who I am speaking and His holiness which is beyond me to comprehend, all I can do is call out in the Lord Jesus Name trusting in the merits of blood redemption that allows me entrance to be heard. Thank God for blood redemption.
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