Pastor John,
I have a question from last Tuesday’s meeting.
I think what your father was saying was that the ministers he spoke of could not ask anything in Jesus’ name because they were not born again? They had not taken his name (been converted). Sinners cannot ask in Jesus’ name, can they?
Thanks for your answer.
Margaret
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Hi, Margaret.
My father was speaking of born-again men who had not been anointed by God and sent to heal the sick. “In Jesus’ name” means “by the power of the Spirit”, and those men had no power to heal the sick, even though they had been born again. What my father was pointing out to me is that merely adding the words, “in Jesus’ name”, to the end of a prayer does not make that prayer a prayer in Jesus’ name. For a prayer to be in Jesus’ name, it has to be inspired by the Spirit. And when the Spirit empowers a man to lay hands on the sick, the sick will be healed because that deed will be “in Jesus’ name” whether he says those words or not.
As for your final question, no sinner can pray in Jesus’ name because no sinner has the Spirit. Only what is done in the Spirit is done in Jesus’ name.
I hope that makes what I said clearer for you.
Pastor John