How do we, as mainstream Christians, pray? I remember when I first got saved, my pastor told me we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus. When the Father answers our prayers, we dont glorify Him or give thanks to Him; instead, we praise Jesus and thank Him for what He has done. This is something that confused me, why should we not give honor where honor is due? Why should we not honor the Father for what He did when He answered our prayers?
When I asked these questions to my pastor, he told me we honor the Father when we honor Jesus. This confused me even more, especially when I read in the Gospels and the letters from Paul. In them, I never saw anyone praying to the Father, in the name of Jesus, honoring Jesus for what the Father did. Yeshua (Jesus/Yehoshua) told His disciples to pray to the Father, to honor the Father, to give thanks to the Father, and Paul did the same.
Are you just as confused as I was?
If we believe something we cant find in the Bible, we are obeying church doctrine, church traditions, and opinions of men instead of Yehovah. When we follow tradition or ideas of men, instead of the Torah, Paul says in Galatians we stand at risk of making Christ of no effect. Yeshua gives us an even stronger warning in Matt 15, telling us we are worshiping Yehovah in vain when we worship Him with traditions of men instead of obedience to and love for the Torah.
Nowhere in the Bible are we told to pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, and then give thanks to and glorify Jesus for what the Father did. When my pastor told me, and your pastors have told you, this is how we pray; he was telling me to obey the traditions of men and not the Bible.
So what does the Bible say about prayer?
In Matt 6:9-13, Yeshua teaches us to pray to our Father because every good and perfect gift comes from our Father whose name is Yehovah (James 1:17.) In Matt 6:25-34, Yeshua teaches us our Father already knows what we need before we ask Him for it, and He is more than willing, more than ready to give us what we ask of Him if we seek Him first and His way of life.
But then we have John 14:14 where it seems as if Yeshua tells us to ask in His name and He will do it. Scripture can not contradict scripture, and Yeshua can not contradict Himself. But if we are to understand John 14:14 as “pray to the Father in the name of Yeshua, and thank Yeshua for what He did for us,” we will have a problem because of John 15:16 and 16:23. In these verses, Yeshua contradicts what He told us in John 14:14 because now He says we are to ask the Father in His name, and the Father (not Yeshua) will give it to us.
Scripture can not contradict scripture, and Yeshua can not contradict Himself, so John 14:14 can not be interpreted to mean “pray to the Father, in My name, and thank Me for what I will do for you.”
John 14:14 has to be read in context with John 14:12-13. In John 14:12-14, Yeshua says whoever believes in Him will do the works He has been doing and even greater works. He then goes on to say He will do whatever we ask of in His name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. So if we ask anything in His name, He will do it.
To understand what Yeshua is saying here, we first have to know what it means to believe in someone. Yeshua lived in a Hebrew culture were believing in someone always meant you show your faith in them by what you do. This is why He says if we believe in Him, we will do the works He has been doing. Now we understand 1. John 2:6 and James 2:10-26, where it says if we claim to have faith in Yeshua or be united with Him, it has to be seen by our obedience to Moses. If other people cant see our faith, then our faith is dead and can not save us.
The promise that He will do whatever we ask of in His name, so the Father is glorified in Him depends on the previous verse. Yeshua will only do whatever we ask of in His name as long as our faith in Him is visible by our choice to obey the written law of Moses. If we dont obey the written law of Moses, then He will not do whatever we ask of in His name. But if we do obey, then we obey the Father, we imitate the life of Yeshua (1.Cor 11, 1.John 2:6, James 2:10-26) and the Father is glorified in Him because of our visible faith in Yeshua.
In the written law of Moses, Yehovah (the Father has a name, and it is Yehovah) clearly says He does not share His glory with anyone (Ex 3:15, 20:3, Isaiah 42:8.)
If Yeshua says obedience to the law of Moses (the Torah) is a condition for Him doing whatever we ask of Him, then it goes without saying we can’t pray to the Father and glorify Jesus for what He did for us. Why? Because if we did, we would give glory to Yeshua instead of Yehovah and this would be in violation with the law of Moses (Ex 3:15, 20:3, Isaiah 42:8.)
This is why we know asking in Yeshua’s name is not praying to the Father in Yeshua’s name, glorifying and thanking Yeshua for what He did. We have to be one with Yeshua by having a visible faith in Him, shown in obedience to the written law of Moses, asking Yehovah and glorifying Yehovah for what He does for us. Then we can know we are asking in Yeshua’s name; then, we can be sure Yehovah will do it for us.
We also know from the Hebrew culture and religion Yeshua was born into that asking in His name is an expression with different meanings. It can mean His given name, but it can also mean His authority or the likeness of a person. We know it can not mean in His given name because that would contradict John 15:16, 16:23 Ex 3:15, 20:3, Isaiah 42:8. That leaves us with only one option, asking in His name is asking in the authority or the likeness of a person. 1.John 2:6, 1. Cor 11, John 14 confirms this is the correct way to understand it. Yeshua is asking us to imitate His life as true disciples of Him, and if we do, we can know for sure we are praying in His name when we pray to Yehovah, glorifying Yehovah for what He does for us.
This is how the Bible teaches us to pray, and this is what it means to believe in Yeshua. If we truly believe He died for our sins, it will be visible for all to see by how we live our lives in obedience to righteousness. The Bible says, in 1. John, righteousness is obedience to the written law of Moses and only the written law of Moses. So if you truly believe in Yeshua as your Lord, Savior, and the Son of Yehovah, everyone will see it by your choice to repent back to the written law of Moses. Then there are certain things you can not do; you can not worship Yeshua instead of Yehovah because that would be idolatry. You have to worship, pray to, glorify and thank Yehovah, your Father in heaven but do it in authority (the name of Yeshua) that is given to you when you repented back to Moses because you believe Yeshua died for your sins.
Do you need me to pray for you? Do you need me to prophecy to you? I will pray for you and prophecy to you free of charge, contact me on Messenger or e.mail.
As a minister of the Gospel, the Bible says in 1.Cor 9:13-14, you should donate something when I pray for you/prophecy to you or teach you the Bible. The Bible also says if you have to choose between giving or paying your bills/feeding your family, your family and needs comes first. But if you have something left over, after taking care of your needs, this belongs to Yehovah.
So do the right thing today and click the link below to give a gift. The amount is not important, give what you can.
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