Daily Devotion - January 25, 2023

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 15:16)

Why do we finish our prayers with the refrain “In Jesus’ name?”  Is this just a religious way of saying, Roger wilco … over and out?  

No, we pray in Jesus’ name because of the assurance that the Father will give us whatever we ask that most honors Jesus’ name. That is the secret to our fruitfulness as Christians. We submit ourselves and our prayers to the glory of our God more than to selfish gain.

You see, by God’s grace and the goodness of the Son’s and Spirit’s work, believers were chosen for the glorious purpose of fulfilling aspects of God’s eternal plan. We tend to see our lives only in the context of our daily goals and concerns, but God is weaving our lives – the good and the bad, the easy and the hard – into his infinitely good and lasting plan. 

So, when we pray in Jesus’ name, we are not coming to God to demand blessings based on our limited wisdom and merits, but we are confessing our need of God’s wisdom and Christ’s merits to bear fruit that is infinitely good and eternally blessed!

Prayer: Father, thank you for the assurance that anything I truly ask in Jesus’ name and for his glory will be granted. Please help my prayers to bear the fruit that you intend because I am yielding my desires to Christ’s purposes!