Too often people use phrases in a ritualistic, religious way without understanding why, but the concept of praying “in Jesus’ name” has Biblical origins and is how we should pray because of what it means. All aspects of one’s prayer life and the way we pray should be the product of Biblical insight and faith according to the promises, principles, and purposes of prayer as taught in God’s Word. The origin of this phrase is found in both the teachings of Christ and in epistles.

Read carefully John 14:6 and then note 13; 15:15, and 16:23-24. See also Ephesians 3:12;Hebrews 4:14-16. The point is that men can only have access to God through faith in Christ and His substitutionary death (Christ died in our place and took upon Himself our sin. He bore our penalty). We can come to God only through Christ. He and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. He gives us access to God.

We become the children of God and brought into a personal relationship with Him through faith in Christ. It is our relationship to Christ and being in Him who is at His right hand of God the Father as our advocate that allows us the privilege of not only coming into God’s presence through prayer, but of being heard.

Anticipating His death, resurrection, and ascension to God’s right hand, Christ told the disciples that they were to pray to the Father in His name. (7 times! John 14:13; 14:14; 15:7; 15:16; 16:23; 16:24; 15:26) Thus, the biblical pattern for prayer is to pray to the Father in the name of the Son, and in the power or control of the Holy Spirit.

Christians always pray in Jesus’ name, because that’s the only way we pray. That is to say, from a biblical perspective, to pray in Jesus’ name is to pray in his authority seeking his agenda and purpose. That doesn’t have anything to do with whether we say the words ‘in Jesus’ name’ at the end of our prayer or not. In fact, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, in what we call the Lord’s prayer, he didn’t teach us to pray saying ‘in Jesus’ name’ or ‘in my name’ at the end of the prayer. That’s a fine tradition for us, because it reminds us that we are in fact praying in Jesus name, but whether or not we say those words has nothing to do with whether we’re actually praying in Jesus’ name or not.