“In Jesus name I pray…”

Can I be honest with you? I have been back from the mission trip I took to India just over a week now, but the ripples from what I saw and what I saw God do are still rocking me in my daily activities and life. There’s so much to sift through, but, at present, the one that is dominating most of my thought time is this:

I had forgotten the power in claiming Jesus’ name.

See, somewhere early on when I was growing up, I heard the phrase, “In Jesus’ name I pray…” added to the end of prayers. And, honestly, I just sort of grabbed that and it became a phrase that I added to my own prayers. Certainly I understood the concept behind it. But, it was simply a “tag” or an “add on” to my prayers and petitions to God. Now, here’s the thing. There’s NOTHING wrong with saying this. Not at all. In fact, Jesus gave us the authority to pray in His name! But, in India, I found myself face to face with prayers prayed in the name of Jesus and I witnessed firsthand the power that came as a result.

I saw and heard story after story of brothers and sisters in India with ailments and sickness that, after praying for healing in the name of Jesus, they were healed. I saw spiritual warfare at work and, in the powerful name of Jesus, I saw deliverance and freedom come as a result. I witnessed firsthand the attack from an unbeliever and, in the mighty name of Jesus, bricks thrown on a roof of a worship service go unheard and, instead, I witnessed first hand the worship of God’s children overpower the distractions of the enemy.

Over and over again, I watched as God’s children prayed in the name of Jesus and I saw the power that came as a result.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus shares the following with His disciples. Take a look.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” -John 14:12-14 (NIV)

Did you catch that? Jesus said to His disciples that, not only will they be able to do what Christ had been doing but, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they would be able to do even greater things than Jesus did in His ministry on this earth, through the power of His name. They just needed to ask.

I wonder.

Do we believe in the power that comes in the name of Jesus? In the culture I witnessed with my brothers and sisters in India, they were fully dependent on God to provide. They had nothing else to fall back on except the saving power of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit to bring healing and deliverance through the saving name of Jesus Christ. If it was going to happen, it could ONLY come through the miracle and power found in Jesus’ name.

What if the diagnosis isn’t the final word? What if the mountain in front of us isn’t quite as set in stone as we think it is? When we call on the name, Jesus, do we really believe in the power that’s found in the one who lived, was crucified, died, and rose from the grave?

Here’s good news: there’s power when we pray in Jesus’ name. Real power.