Editor’s note—Few promises in Scripture raise more hope, and more confusion, than Jesus’s pledge to grant whatever we ask in His name. The author wrestles with that promise from an unusually personal place: months of praying for good health, followed by the discovery of a blocked artery he never knew he had. We’re running Paul’s study because he takes Jesus’s words seriously enough to ask what they actually mean, rather than explaining them away or overclaiming them. It’s a question worth sitting with before Part 2 arrives.
Asking anything
So here is a passage I have read multiple times and very much want to understand because of the huge implications for our lives.
Jesus said in John 14:13 “whatever you ask in My name, this I will do.”
For over a year, I have been praying daily for my wife and me to have good health for the rest of our lives. Not a long life, but good health to enjoy the life God has given us.
I had been complaining about a chest pain unrelated to my heart. About a month ago, a blockage in what is called the widow-maker artery to my heart was discovered. During my downtime after having a stent inserted, I did some searching into my request for good health, since I did not seem to have the good health I thought I had. Here is what I found.
The Context of Jesus’s Claim
Picture the setting. Jesus is in the “upper room” celebrating the Passover with His Disciples, known today as the Last Supper and communion. Within hours, He was going to be given up to be crucified. While knowing this, He made the statement, “whatever you ask in My name, this I will do.”
Anything? That’s quite a grandiose promise. The implication of this promise in our lives is phenomenal. But that’s what He said. Aren’t we to take Jesus at His word?
Jesus said it and meant it
Just how serious was Jesus about this claim?
He not only made it, but He also made it five times. That’s no off-hand comment. You just read John 14:13, where He first said it. Here are the other 4 times.
- John 14:14 “… If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
- John 15:16 “… whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”
- John 16:23 “… if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.”
- John 16:24 “… ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”
When the writers of the Bible mention things twice, they are emphasizing a point. Here it is five times, and it’s Jesus Himself emphasizing the point.
Consider: when you are facing death, as Jesus was, you don’t waste your breath saying things you don’t mean, much less repeating them multiple times.
Also, notice that all five statements are recorded by John. This was not a matter of Jesus’ words being recorded by five other Disciples. Jesus distinctly said it five times.
These statements were made within 3 chapters. Based on their close proximity, Jesus made these statements within moments of each other. Certainly, all the while they were in the upper room, meaning they were all said in the same context. Therefore, they meant the same thing.
It stands to reason that Jesus meant it. But I don’t see Christians running around with everything they want, so we will have to look deeper.
Circular reasoning & excuses
One popular explanation as to why Christians don’t have their every wish go like this. “He will give you whatever you want as long as whatever you want is what He wants to give you.” That is circular reasoning. It also has the definite ring of an excuse.
We don’t have a God that needs our excuses or can’t handle linear reasoning. So neither of those explanations ring as truth.
Editor’s note—The circular-reasoning trap he names here is worth sitting with. It’s tempting to flatten “ask in My name” into “ask for whatever I would have given you anyway,” which quietly empties the promise of its force. Better to feel that tension than resolve it too quickly.
In My Name
Looking at the whole of the passage, of the five times Jesus says He will give us our desires, He says to “ask in My name” four times. So that must be an important aspect of asking for something.
In Greek, the phrase “in my name” means within the sphere of my authority or aligned with my character. In other words, it means to represent me.
When coupled with the thought of “asking Jesus for something,” it means …
- … asking what Jesus Himself would ask for me
- … asking under His authority
- … asking for His purposes and glory
Think of it as you being Jesus’ ambassador. An ambassador doesn’t speak for themselves but rather for the country or people they represent. So you have to ask yourself, “Does my request align with Jesus’ thoughts, purposes and plans? Does it align with the kingdom of God?” Paul says in Colossians 1:13, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”
We are now a part of Jesus’ kingdom, so we need to speak and act like it, but more importantly, do what is best for the kingdom that we are now a part of.
Editor’s note—The ambassador image is a useful corrective to prayer as a wish list. If a request has to represent Jesus’s own purposes before it qualifies as asking “in His name,” then prayer becomes less about getting our way and more about growing into His.
The desires of our heart
There is another passage that speaks to the Lord giving us our desires. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
The second part of the verses listed above from John said we are to ask in His name. The second part of this verse is that we are to delight ourselves in the Lord.
Point being that both cases, asking in His name and delighting in the Lord, require a close relationship with Jesus.
Prayer attitude
Now, looking at the whole of the Bible again, there is something Jesus said during His sermon on the mount that helps us to understand how we are to pray. That’s found in Matthew 7:7-8, which says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
So the three aspects of our prayer is to …
Ask – Don’t be afraid; be bold. God already knows the desire of your heart, so there is no reason to be shy about it.
Seek – Be persistent. Don’t pray for something just once or twice but over and over again. Let Him know you are serious about this thing.
Knock – Act and think like you believe God is capable of meeting your request and you expect an answer. I’m not suggesting that just because you believe God will give you the desire of your heart, that He will. I am suggesting that being less than fully committed to asking something from God may hinder your prayer goal.
Jesus’ example
Lastly. Looking at Jesus as a whole. Jesus Himself said, in His prayer to the Father just before He was to be crucified said, in Luke 22:42, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” This is from the lips of one who could certainly say they were one with the Father.
Editor’s note – Gethsemane is the hinge this whole argument turns on. Jesus asked boldly and specifically, then surrendered the outcome to the Father completely, and both moves belong to real prayer, not just one or the other.
Summary verse
Maybe the one verse that sums it all up is Matthew 6:33, which says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.” This one verse encapsulates the idea of the desires of our hearts being provided to us as we, in turn, put God and His plans and desires first. This is certainly what Jesus exemplified by going to the cross against His own wishes to fulfill what God wanted.
Putting it together
So we now put these things together, and what do we have?
- We are to come to the throne of God boldly,
- Expecting an answer,
- Representing Jesus and His purposes,
- United with Jesus,
- Asking for what Jesus Himself would ask for us.
When our lives are in alignment with God, then our desires will be as well. Be open to how God may meet your requests. It may be completely different from what you were anticipating.
For example, maybe those chest pains were God’s way of safeguarding me from the effects of a severe stroke or heart attack. I’ll let you know when we all get to Heaven.
Part 2
I’m not satisfied that I understand the promise Jesus made that night around the supper table. I will post what I find in part 2 of this writing.
A Word from the Editor
The author’s stent didn’t answer every question this passage raises, and he says as much heading into Part 2. That honesty is worth more than a tidy formula. Whatever “ask in My name” fully means, it can’t mean less than what Jesus modeled in Gethsemane – bring the actual desire of your heart to the Father without hedging, then trust Him with the answer. “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4) was never a vending-machine promise; it’s an invitation into the kind of closeness where our wants start to look more like His.
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
Distributed by – BCWorldview.org
Editor Comment: Counting all five times Jesus repeats this promise across three chapters of John is the kind of close reading that makes a familiar passage feel new again. Tying Gethsemane to your own hospital bed gives "not My will, but Yours" a weight most treatments of this text never earn.