1. Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010 www.GraceDoctrine.org

2. John 15:16 Predestined to Glorify God! Protocol for Prayer

3. John 15:16, “You all yourselves did not choose Me, on the contrary I Myself have chosen you all and appointed you all for the purpose that you might keep on going out (under the authority of God’s Word), and you all might keep on bearing fruit (Divine Good Production), and your fruit, it might keep on remaining (with the result of eternal rewards), for the purpose that whatever you all ask the Father in (the sphere of) My name (God’s protocol plan for our prayers), He (God the Father) may give to you all (answered prayers).”

4. God gives us power and provisions for the fulfillment of His Pre-designed Protocol Plan for our lives, through preparation, application, rewards, protocol and assurance.

5. Principles of Praying “In His Name”

6. When Jesus used the term “name”, He signified the ideas of being, personality, and character.

7. Therefore, “In the sphere of My name”, conveys the concept of praying in the sphere of His ownership, protection, presence, power, glory, etc.

8. That is, offering prayer that is in agreement or harmony with the manifested nature of Jesus Christ.

9. This also means to pray by His authority, to ask on behalf of Christ, as belonging to Him, as authorized by Him to approach the Father. Heb 4:16

10. This is identification with the person of Christ. To pray “in His name” is tantamount to praying in union with Christ.

11. To pray “in My name” is to pray from the vantage point of a new and exalted position, the position we occupy in Him. 2 Cor 5:14-21; Gal 6:15 cf. Rom 6:23; 1 Cor 1:30; Gal 3:26; Eph 1:all

12. Rom 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

13. 1 Cor 1:30, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”

14. Gal 3:26, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

15. This was a new and startling concept reserved for “that day”, (i.e., the Church Age). It was something that until that point they had not done.

16. Once the “in My name” praying began, Christ’s personal intercession would not be necessary to give validity to our prayers, John 16:23-26, although He maintains that role, Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; 9:24; 1John 2:1.

17. A. H. Strong, “Christ and the believer have the same life. They are not separate persons linked together by some temporary bond of friendship; they are united by a tie as close and indissoluble as if the same blood ran in their veins.”

18. Because the believer is always positionally “in Christ”, the fact that six times Christ conditioned prayers in this way indicates that the condition is more than being positionally “in Christ.”

19. Therefore, it means that a believer is to pray, consciously aware of his exalted position in Christ.

20. There is nothing wrong with ending a prayer with the phrase, “in Jesus’ name, amen”, or the like.

21. But, you may want to repeat the phrase at the beginning of a prayer, reminding yourself at the outset that you are “in Christ”.

22. The real issue is to make sure that you pray “consciously aware” of being “in Christ”. The issue is the mentality of your soul when praying, being highly aware of your eternal union with TLJC.

23. Grace Offering

24. Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, September 19, 2010 Tape # 10-103 Predestined to Glorify God, Part 8 Upper Room Discourse, Part 417 John 15:16; 2 Cor 5:14-21; Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010