The Power of Praying in Jesus' Name

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It is my delight to be with you. 866-348-7884 is the number to call. Here's what I'm going to do. The first half of the show, I'm going to take questions, calls on a wide range of subjects. I want to share a few things first, but if you wanted to call in yesterday and you couldn't get through or you couldn't hold long enough to weigh in on the question of police brutality, is it race related?

You really wanted to get something in. I will take a few more calls on that. We just ran out of time. We couldn't get to all your calls yesterday. So if you still had something to say, wanted to weigh in, think that we were missing something, by all means, give us a call at that same number.

Okay. Before I go to some general questions, in the bottom of the hour, we're going to be joined by a New Testament scholar and pastor talking about prayer in the name of Jesus. He's got a new book out on that and he's going to be telling us about the power of prayer, the why of prayer in the name of Jesus.

Is it just some formula that we go to or is there more to it? So I think you'll really be enlightened and enjoy that. I want to just come back to a question about racism.

All right. Have you ever heard of a self hating Jew? You say, well, if someone's Jewish, how can they be an antisemite? Well, you can be a Jew hater and be Jewish, right? It's possible. And that person sometimes is called, well, you're just a self hating Jew, whether it's true or not. In other words, you're so negative as a Jew yourself, you just project it on the Jewish people as a whole.

So you can be an antisemite and a Jew. It's possible. It's not the norm, but it's possible.

All right. You certainly be an Israeli and an anti Zionist. That happens.

There are anti Zionist Israelis. Can you be a black person and racist towards other blacks? Yeah, it could be. Why not?

Right. In theory, let's just say that you grew up in the suburbs, in a wealthy black American family, and you've got a negative stereotypical view of other black Americans. It could happen. You could be a white person and be a racist against other whites. So we just, this is reality, isn't it? It normally doesn't go that way as commonly, right? Normally our racism, our prejudices are expressed towards others different than ourselves, but they can be expressed towards others like ourselves because we put ourselves in a different class.

So that is actually still possible. I just want to say that. So here's, here's what I'm trying to process through. There's no question that when black Americans see the murder of George Floyd, when they see that, it triggers more emotion and pain for them than for your average white American, just on average, right? Because there has been more of a history of police brutality within the African American culture against the African American culture over the decades, centuries, because of the lower status that black Americans have had in America, in much of our country, over, over much of our history, right? So it's understood, you know, where, where were the lynchings of white Americans decades ago?

Well, they weren't, but there were lynchings of black Americans. So it's, it's much easier when there's a traumatic event involving police and the black American, that it triggers a lot more emotion and pain in the, in the African American community. Does that make sense?

Right? It's got nothing to do with racism, woke-ism. It's just, that's a reality. Just like when there's an antisemitic event, you know, an Orthodox Jew gets punched in the face by some guy in New York city and falls to the ground bleeding.

That triggers a lot more for Jews because of our history of being hated and what we suffered over the years, right? It's just, are you all with me so far? Just all I'm trying to do is get us to understand each other a little bit better.

All right. That's my goal. Not to, to, to push a point, but to help us understand each other a little bit better. Now a white person might respond and say, yeah, but statistically, this is the black person saying, I don't care about statistics. I know what happened to me. I know when I was racially profiled, when I was 16, I know as soon as I got a nice car and drove into the Southern neighborhood to visit my girlfriend that I get stopped by police.

What are you doing here? Right? That is not a common experience that white Americans would go through on average. Is there police brutality against whites? Yes. Are there whites wrongly killed by police?

Yes, that happens. But I'm just trying to say and explain why there's going to be more triggering of emotion and pain. And again, as, as many of my black American callers over the years have pointed out to me, you know, when they're just, you know, here's a pastor, God-fearing man, living in the suburbs and telling his boys, okay, when you get to this age, now you're going to drive. They had to have a talk with them. Okay.

When police pull you over, you act like this, like this, or you might get killed. That's not the average conversation that your average white family has with their, with their kids when, when they become teenagers. So I'm just saying different life experiences. Now, does that mean that police brutality in and of itself is race-based? No, I wouldn't say that. Has there been a history, which has been disproportionate against one people?

Yes, because the power's in control, keeping different ones down. And these are the ones disrupting the system, whatever. But what we must do is understand why we each see things the way we do. White Americans will say, but look, I read this book. I look at the statistics. I see a video of a white man being beaten to death by white police.

I see a video of a white man being shot innocently, uh, but by, by, by white police or by black police, I don't think it's racist, but I just think it's police brutality. Right. Fair enough.

Fair enough. Let's let's level everything out and look at it, but let's not forget history. Let's not forget how we got here. So all I'm trying to say is let's, let's better understand each other so we can be more sympathetic to each other. So then we can deal with real issues where they do exist. That's, that's my goal.

I'm not trying to get people on both sides to like me because this just gets people trying to tack on both sides. No rather let's listen. Let's understand. Now I've got one question and then I'm going to the phones. First we'll police brutality.

And then we are going to take a bunch of interesting questions before I bring my guest on. All right. So what if this is a genuine question for those who say that the killing of Tyree Nichols, the tragic murder of Tyree Nichols, even though it was at the hands of black policemen, that it was race-based. All right. So it, if you believe that, I just have an honest question.

I'm not challenging you. I'm just trying to understand if that's your view. If the same police in the same situation dealt with a white man the same way. So exact say everything's exactly the same, same body, same, same clothes, same car, same driving. Everything's exactly the same except he's white and they treated him the same way and beat him the same way.

Would you say that, that clearly was not racist or unless they were anti-white racist. I'm just trying to understand the position, not challenge, but understand. All right. Let's take one more call on the subject of police brutality.

We go to Jason in Johnson city, Tennessee. Welcome to the line of fire. It's so great to be here. Thank you. Thank you.

Go ahead. Okay. So I'm a former cop.

I'm also a former steel pastor, and I've worked in high crime areas and I've worked in rural policing as well. And there's a lot of disinformation going on about arrests and the types of tactics used and, and everything going on. Every arrest that is non-compliant is going to be ugly to look at.

Okay. Now that was a horrendous arrest to look at. And there was a lot of mistakes wrong.

I used totally the lowest form of tactics possible, which is brute force, which is what I used. Then I saw someone kick him in the head twice, which that would be life-threatening force, right? Meaning he would have to articulate in a court of law that, that he saw somebody go over a gun or he was in fear, which I don't think he's going to be able to prove that right now, punching in the face that, you know, I've heard people say, you know, there's no, you know, that's totally against these tactics.

That's not the case. When you take away chokeholds and when you take away, there's this one person in this whole thing, it's an awful tragedy. Cops behave badly.

The victim behaved badly, right? All you have to do is comply. There were 70 times where he was told put his hands behind his back and let the handcuffs go on, right?

That's, that's, that's legit. He's the only one there that can stop that once that train starts, right? The suspect is the only one who can comply with law enforcement that can end the arrest, right? Now I have seen other instances where the suspect is compliant and they still go crazy on them.

And of course that's inappropriate. This arrest was inappropriate. I don't, again, I don't know why he was so hopped up when they pulled him out of the car.

I heard it was driving an oncoming traffic. I don't know what the history was there, but typically law enforcement officers don't roll up to cars screaming. I also heard you say that, you know, people don't, you know, middle, you know, middle-class Americans don't have, have conversations with their kids when they get pulled over by police. Like black people do. Absolutely. They do 100%.

Well, Jason, let me just, let me just jump, let me just jump in and say this one thing. From my understanding on average, having talked to a whole lot of people and gotten a whole lot of calls, it is much more common for black American family to have that talk. Many of them have been profiled, whether legitimately or not, many more percentage wise have been profiled. It never occurred.

My family and the family, most of the families I know, white families, it never occurred to us to have that talk. So I'm sure some do. I just don't think it's the same proportion. Yeah, go ahead.

Sure. So let me explain profiling, but I want to, in low income areas, people have those conversations with their kids, right? Because that's what a crime is, right? So it's not a black or white thing.

It's a poverty thing, right? But for example, when I'm a cop and a violent crime was just committed and I asked for the description and it's a black male, 16 to 24, five foot eight to six foot tall, lean, build dark jeans and a hoodie. And I look around and that's everyone or a lot of people, math tells me I have to stop the right people. Now I'm going to look for people who are breathing heavy. You know, I'm going to look for people who are sweating. I'm going to look for all of it.

But if, but if the, the description is a seven foot tall Asian who weighs 400 pounds, I'm not going to waste my time doing that. So again, it's a self, you know, you know, and again, blacks commit 13% of the community, of the population creates 50% of violent crime. So it's people are in there trying to protect black lives or, or people in the community, but the people who victimized the community who live in that community. And that is part of the narrative that we need to discard. Yeah.

Hey, yeah. Let me, let me say this. We're out of time, but thank you for calling in. You have reinforced things we've said in other contexts, many times, explaining background in history.

And of course, if people are arrested at higher levels, there are more chances of abuse, et cetera. In any case, I'll let your call stand as it is. Thank you for calling in. Thank you for services, a police officer of seal and now the real hard job being a pastor. God bless you. And thank you for calling in.

It's the line of fire with your host. Dr. Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six, six, three, four truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Perhaps, uh, I'll get a few more minutes to chat with our, with our last caller in the future. Uh, please do call him when the subject's relevant.

Again. My brother, uh, and I did actually want to ask you, which is harder being a policeman and a Navy seal or a pastor. That was a serious question.

I had just didn't have time to get to it before the break. So when we understand that there is a disproportionate amount of crime, especially violent crime committed by black Americans compared to the population base, and you understand why more would be profiled because of fitting a certain description, then you dig down to the question, okay, why is that? Why is there more crime? It, unless you're a white supremacist, you say, well, blacks are inferior, which I would say then proves that, that white person is inferior and saying that ugly thing. Then the question is, why is that?

And obviously a lot of family structure, what's happened there and other history. So that's where we try to work together. So, okay, how can we solve this problem?

How can we get us to a level playing field? Hey, one quick reminder before we go to the calls, we are so excited to be partnering with Trivita. We have a plan to blanket America with the line of fire and spread moral sanity and spiritual clarity throughout the nation by the grace of God and help revive the church and impact the society by God's grace.

We're going to see it happen. I know what, I feel it. So remember 100% of your first order, 100% whether it's still paleo or, or nitric oxide or the vitamin B12 complex or any other, any of these or myo health, 100% of your first order goes directly into the line of fire fund.

That's all. It doesn't go anywhere else to expand the outreach across the nation. And then your ongoing orders Trivita will more than tithe back to the line of fire fund. So call 800-771-5584. Tell them Dr. Brown sent you.

They'll be happy to answer your wellness questions that relate to this. 800-771-5584 or go online, trivita.com and use the code Brown25 as in Michael Brown capital B Brown 25. All right, we go to the phones, starting with Joe in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hi Dr. Michael Brown. Thank you for taking my call. Sure thing.

This is my first time calling. I've been listening to you for a long time, but I had two quick comments and then one question. The comment is about abortion. Uh, about abortion.

Uh, this was months ago. I heard you talking, but I was really impressed with what you said. Uh, me personally, I think abortion is only half the problem. I think if we were a God fearing country like we should be and need to be, then men should be thinking more about what they're doing with their bodies.

And if we could solve that problem, abortion would decline significantly. Um, the other thing, uh, I'm impressed by you was when you were talking about the 2020 election and you said, was this a judgment from God on our country? Um, I really appreciate your knowledge and your point of view.

And I think our country would benefit greatly if we heard you, you know, if like, if you were on CNN and Fox and all that. But anyway, um, that's my comment. My question to you is I've had this hang up, something I've read a long time ago.

I don't even know how long ago it was, but I believe it was from the Old Testament, but it said something to the effect that God will not share his throne with anyone. And the enemy uses that against me now by thinking, well, what about Jesus? And I mean, I believe, but it's just that nagging doubt, you know?

And I thought, well, call Dr. Michael Brown. He will explain it. Well, in fact, your question and the source of your doubt is actually the source of your answer, sir.

And thank you so much for the, for the kind words. So it's that God will not share his glory with anyone else, right? So I want to, I want to read to you from the New Testament because it sets the record straight for us.

I want to read you two passages. First, um, actually three, John chapter 17, where Jesus is praying. And he says this in verse five, and now father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. God does not share his glory with any other outside of God. In other words, the only one that gets the glory at the end of the age is God. And yet Jesus shares in that glory, which means what? That he's God, because God does not share his glory with, with flesh and blood or a created being that would be idolatry. All the glory has to go to him.

So I'll just cite the passages. That's why in Revelation five, that all of creation gives praise and honor and glory to the one who sits on the throne and to the lamb, because that's the father and that's the son. It's one God. We don't worship and give glory to created beings in that way, but only to God. When you get to Revelation 22 and read it through, what you'll see is that there's one throne for God and the lamb at the end. And it says his servants will see his face and serve him. So there's one God, father, son and spirit, the spirit hidden in his work and all glory goes to God alone. So when every knee bows, Philippians two, and every tongue confesses that Jesus the Messiah is Lord to the glory of God, the father, see, he is lifted up. That is to the glory of the father.

Why? Because it's one God. So the nagging doubt is actually your answer. It is because Jesus is eternal God that he shares the father's glory with the father's glory. He says in John five, it's the father's will that everyone would honor him the way they honor the father. That can only be because he is deity himself. Does that make sense?

Yes, sir. And one of the things I learned early, well, about half a year ago was that help was Colossians first chapter about verse 15, where it said, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. But you know, that's the new Testament. And I thought, okay, well that, but I just thought I read it somewhere in the Old Testament, somewhere it said God would not share his throat.

I didn't know it was glory. But anyway, and I thought, well, that might be why a lot of the Jews back when Jesus came, you know, doubted him and stuff, you know, so I didn't know. Yeah. And what we do then is show from the Old Testament how the prophecies of the Messiah speak of him as being God, or how God revealed himself in earthly form in the Old Testament to the people to prepare the way for the Son of God coming into the earth. So the Old Testament clearly prepares the way to the new, and when it's read rightly, for example, Isaiah 6, it speaks of God being, in Hebrew, havanisa, high and lifted up, right? Then it speaks in Isaiah 52 13 about Jesus, the servant of the Lord, being highly exalted and lifted up.

It uses that language in one other word. So just as the Father is lifted up, so also the Son is lifted up because it's one God. Hey, Joe, thank you for being a long time listener. Thanks for your comments and questions. Thank you. All right, bye-bye. Let's go to William in Wilmington, Delaware. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, I can.

Oh, hi, Dr. Brown. God bless you. This school is actually in desperation. I need to know the difference between when you are influenced by demons, what they call quote-unquote, possessed, or you've been attacked. Because in my case, I've been sort of the Lord for years now, and I get attacked heavily with force of violence, and to the point where, you know, to the point where I end up crying and asking God, when are you gonna, you know, set me free or whatever.

Do I need to be delivered somehow, or am I just being attacked? Because I know it usually happens when I get closer to God. Yeah, yeah. And yeah.

Yeah, William, I'm sorry that you're going through this, and whatever it is, it's a brutal thing to live through. Let me ask first, are you in a good, healthy church? I am, yes. Oh, okay. By the way, I was, by the way, I quote-unquote graduated from Times Square Church.

I was there for 10 and a half years. Okay. Pastor Curtis, my spiritual father, I don't know him personally, but you know. Yeah, yeah. So my work with the Lord, yeah, yeah, go ahead, sorry.

Right, so here's my answer. The reason I asked is because that's going to tie in with my answer, but thank you for sharing that. And Pastor Carter's an old friend, we don't see each other much, but what a wonderful leader and man of God. Okay, so number one, to use the word possessed for a Christian is wrong terminology. You can come under severe demonic oppression and something just gets in a deeper, there's a deeper root somehow where deliverance is needed, but it's not possessed in that you are under demonic control. The fact that you're not going out and committing all these acts of violence, the fact that you were loving Jesus and seeking to do what's right, even making this phone call, indicates you're not possessed in that sense and under the control of demons like, you know, the girl and the exorcist kind of thing and no, but there is a difference between just coming under attack, right, we've all had those days or those seasons, sometimes it can be weeks of or months of battering, but it's just an attack and then something else that no matter what we do, we pray, we fast, we cry out, we renounce, we shut every door we know how to shut and the thing is still there, then wherever it is it needs to leave, whether it's in your mind, whether it's on top of you, in your body, it doesn't matter, it needs to get out and that's when, when I'm in this situation, William, where if I'm putting myself in your shoes, I've cried out everywhere I know how to cry out, I fast it, I've confessed the word of God, I've closed every door that I'm aware of, you know, I'm not watching violent movies day and night playing violent video games and the thing is still oppressing me, that's when I would go to someone on pastoral staff and say, I need deliverance, there's something, it's all over me, I can't get rid of it, doesn't matter, we have to diagnose it in the mind, in the heart, in the spirit, don't worry about that, it's, it's, if it's got hold of you somehow, it's tormenting you, there needs to be deliverance and that's when you get with some others, solid men or women of God, you pray together, something may come up, hey here's, here's the way the enemy's getting, you close those doors and then drive this thing out in Jesus' name by the authority of the spirit, drive this out and then you find liberty and freedom to go on and join the Lord and bearing fruit, so Lord, we put William in your hands and pray that this day and this season would be a season of great deliverance and freedom in Jesus' name, thank you for the call my brother, here's a note in a few weeks, let us know how things are going. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. I just referenced praying in the name of Jesus or driving out demons in the name of Jesus, why do we do it? What does it mean? Would God answer a prayer if we don't say in the name of Jesus? What if we just say in your name, God? Is that enough?

What if we don't even say that? Why? What?

How? What's the importance and power of this? We're going to open this up in a moment, my guest, Scott Adams, pastor, professor, a New Testament scholar, we we've interacted online over the years and then I had the joy of ministering at his church in Lafayette, Louisiana a couple years back and like me, loves the word, loves the spirit, it's also a professor at Regent University School of Divinity, so this is the first time we're getting to really talk on the air. Scott, so glad to have you, welcome to The Line of Fire.

Thank you, Dr. Brown, it's an honor to be with you. So tell me how in your own life, word and spirit have merged together and was there any tension that you had to work through along the way? Yeah, that's a great question. Yes, you know, I come from a church background that very much extolled the Word of God and, you know, church contexts where the Word was preached regularly and and such, but thankfully also in that church background, there was a real emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit, not just in illuminating, you know, Jesus through the Word and helping guide me in understanding the Word, but the power of the Holy Spirit, I liken it to the, you know, in Scripture you have, of course, doctrine presented to the Word, which is maybe like the fireplace, but then thankfully we have the power, the fire of the Holy Spirit, and both are so important, and so over the years I've grown tremendously in appreciating the convergence of both of those elements in my ministry, both as a pastor and a professor. Why do you think that some people get so into the Word and maybe an intellectual approach that they neglect or even reject the things of the Spirit, and then some people get so much into the Spirit, maybe an emotional approach, that they reject the careful study of the Word. Why do you think we have those extremes in those directions? Well, unfortunately, some people believe that emotions are not healthy, and if you were to really press someone on it, they would admit that yes, there are some emotions and emotional experiences that are, but oftentimes we hear the word emotion and then we jump quickly to emotional, and so I think that in many cases, not all, but in many cases there's a fear in some that, okay, if I have this experience in the Holy Spirit and it involves emotion, then there's a fear that perhaps that emotional experience could override my common sense as I interpret the Word of God, or somehow I become emotional in that somehow short circuit, you know, the plain reading of the Word of God, somehow obscuring, you know, where I'm more experienced or emotion-driven than Word-driven, perhaps.

So you have a couple different things going on there, fears with people. I've seen that over the years in different church contexts that I've ministered in, and I think it's just a very, very careful balance that we have to maintain to not extol one, not elevate one to the expense of the other. And really, in my life, in your life, it feels quite natural to love God with heart and mind and to be Word and Spirit, right?

There it is. It's just living out the biblical faith. So you've done academic study and Gospel of John on the subject of prayer, so let's paint the big picture and then let's focus in on your new book on prayer in the name of Jesus. So the subject of prayer, what drew you in, in an academic way, and then how does some of this tie in with the Gospel of John?

Yeah, so I graduated from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2013 with a doctorate of ministry in applied theology, and then I knew I was called to to earn a PhD for the purpose of, I knew I was called to write and to research and to publish and really contribute to the academic discussions going on, which in the end, my ultimate aim was to be a blessing to the local church. And so I started my PhD program right after I graduated from Southern, and in getting with my PhD promoter, we were going through the different topics that really had not been given much attention, especially with respect to the Gospel of John. And so there's been a whole lot written, as you know and your listeners know, on John chapter 17, Jesus' prayer there. But what we what we discovered was, surprisingly, there had not been very much written on prayer in the farewell discourse, in particular John, you know, John chapters 14, 15, and a little bit into 16. So there was a, there was a gap there in the scholarly world, there was a gap in the research that needed to be filled, and I was going to do my small part to fill that, but then on the other hand, I wanted to write on something and address a topic that also would, again, benefit the local church. And so, really, that's where it all started, just looking at different topics that were relevant, that need to be explored in the academy, and, you know, one that would have application for the church broadly. So that's when it started, really, in 2013, and so going back and forth to the Netherlands over the years, that's where I did my PhD research, out of the university there in the Netherlands, so I would go back and forth and I researched and researched and researched, and I, that's exactly what I found, that at least in my view, there had not been much written on the topic of prayer, particularly what it means to pray in Jesus' name, at least not to my satisfaction.

So that was really the background to it all. All right, so if you ask your average believer who's used to praying in Jesus' name, it's just, it's rote, that's what you do, if you're saying grace before a meal, you're praying for someone, they call you, there's an emergency, pray, of course, you pray in the name of Jesus, we take comfort in that, we know it's some of the uniqueness of our faith, that we're not Muslims, we're not traditional Jews, we believe in this Jesus, what do you think your average Christian would say if you just ask, why do we pray in the name of Jesus, or maybe you've surveyed people, what what kind of responses would you get? That's a great question, you know, I think a lot of people, and I'm not trying to be ugly here, but I think a lot of people do it just out of tradition, they've heard that that's how you pray, they hear prayers that way, that end, typically end in Jesus' name, and if you're depressed, most Christians on it, they may be able to go to, you know, scripturally to John chapter 14 and say that this is what Jesus said, but I think a lot of a lot of Christians, they do, because, well, we love the name of Jesus, right, as Christians, how can we not? And then we hear people pray that way, and then I think it's something that we kind of inherit, I'll say that that was the case for me, as a Christian, I just grew up hearing prayer in that way, and so I, you know, I was a Christian for many years, and I didn't even know exactly where that was in Scripture, and so, but it was a nice thing to do, and I heard other people doing it, so I thought, well, maybe this is the way you do it. Right, right, so again, for most, it's what we grew up doing, and I remember, Scott, at one of the crisis points, I was saved for a few years, but I spent hours with rabbis again, and just, I didn't have answers to the questions then, the answers I've gotten, I'm in depth over the years, and I remember wrestling with this, you know, this challenge, one of the few times I went through this in a real deep way, on my face before God, and saying, God, I just want to follow you, whatever the truth is, I want to follow you as a loyal Jew, and if what I believe is wrong, then I'll take the consequences of rejection by the church and friends, what if what I believe is right, then I'll take the rejection of the Jewish community, but I just have to know, and I remember saying, okay, if I don't say in the name of Jesus, will God not hear that prayer then, right? I'm pouring my heart out to my Heavenly Father, right, I'm literally wondering this, if I say it, then I'm already prejudicing the answers, saying that I, maybe if I just say in your name, but obviously it's not this magic formula, and if you don't say the words, God doesn't hear, but some actually feel like that, don't they? That's right, that's right.

Yeah, so, all right, let's start to break this down. What, is it just as simple as John 14 6, that he's the only way to the Father, and that's why we say the words, or is there more to it? Yeah, so, you know, really, if you look back in the Old Testament, which I know you're very, very familiar with, and then versed in, and really, you're an Old Testament scholar, right? Your listeners, I'm sure, are familiar with the third commandment, and that we are to make sure that we do not take the Lord's name in vain, and so, you know, with Exodus 20 in mind, at that backdrop, in the name of God, as we see it all through the Old Testament, with that backdrop in mind, when we get into the New Testament, oftentimes people, they will drop, you know, the Old Testament law, and because we rightly point out, of course, we're saved by grace, we're not saved by law keeping, but nonetheless, the law of God reflects the nature and the character of God, and so, when you get to the New Testament, obviously there's this very special revelation that we see delivered through Jesus. Jesus was God's final, his full revelation to the world, the Logos, the Word became flesh, and what we see in Jesus as very God of very God, the one who came from the Father, co-equal with the Father, is that he came, and he he lived in perfect submission to the Father's will. He came in the Father's name, and I think we can argue that the Father had even given his name to Jesus, and so we see this unity between the Father and the Son throughout the Gospels, maintaining difference in personhood, though you see this this equality in the sense that the Father and the Son are God, and so with that said, in light of the New Covenant, and the emphasis upon the efficacy of Jesus' death and his resurrection and all that he did, Jesus presents prayer in this in this really this new model of, because Jesus is the only way to the Father, then in this new way of praying, this New Covenant way of praying, then it's it's now prayer in his name with his interest in mind, that is Jesus' interest. So if the Father and Jesus were one, then for us as believers to go before God, to pray in Jesus' name, that emphasizes this unity that we have with the Son, and by necessity with the Father, and so when we pray in his name, well that's one way, I believe, that we actually, well, keep, we keep the Third Commandment by using the name of Jesus, honoring the name of God, and not just using it, but using it in the proper way. So not just packing Jesus' name onto the end of a prayer, and I'm guilty, I'm guilty of doing, I've done that over the years, unintentionally, just almost finishing the prayer and not even really thinking about the power of that name, but not, not using it just as a means to end the prayer, but in the means... I'm just gonna, just gonna interrupt this, something coming on the other side of that, but we'll be right back talking with Pastor and Professor Scott Adams.

We'll tell you the name of his book, so you can dig in and read more about prayer in the name of Jesus. Stay right here. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us with Pastor Scott Adams.

Professor Scott Adams, this is Michael Brown. We're talking about prayer in the name of Jesus. Hey, before you finish your statement, Scott, tell us about the book, the title of the book, what's in it, and where folks can get it. The title of the book is In Jesus' Name, and that's John on Prayer in Ethical, Missional, and Eschatological Perspective.

Big, fancy title. It's basically a book that academically addresses some of the complexities of what this whole topic is about, but it's written in a very lay-friendly way, I believe, at the same time, where anyone can read it and get a much better view of what prayer in Jesus' name involves, and really what that looks like in their practical day-to-day lives. So this book is available on Amazon. You can get it through just about any bookstore online.

Whiffenstock was the publisher, so you could go to that website and get it there as well. So it's Scott Adams, In Jesus' Name. Don't worry about the subtitle. Don't worry about it, just put my name, yeah.

If you need a dictionary for the subtitle, the rest of the book, you'll get through. So, again, Scott Adams, In Jesus' Name. So you were saying that when we're praying, we're all guilty of this, we've all done it, maybe even thousands of times, just saying, in Jesus' name, as an appendage, as just the final word, like over and out, but it's more than that, and that's where we had to cut off at a time.

So go ahead. That's right, and so my book argues that when we pray in Jesus' name, because God's given his name to Jesus, and there's unity in the Father-Son relationship, as we pray in Jesus' name, we are praying, we should be praying, in light of who Jesus is, and we should be praying, the content of our prayers should be focused on the nature of Jesus' ministry, and what God's doing in the world. So to pray in Jesus' name necessarily takes us, at least our interest only, our interest exclusively out of the equation. Of course, when we pray, of course we're praying for our own personal needs, but we're praying in light of a higher name, the highest name, Jesus' name, and all that that name represents. And so simply, if I pray for deliverance in Jesus' name, or for material in need of my own to be met in Jesus' name, the very nature of this sort of praying, it lifts us above our own needs, though it involves that, and the meeting of that need, we're going higher into the purposes of God.

So Lord, I want to be free, I want to be free of depression, I want to be free of anxiety, I want to be free of things that hinder me from carrying out your mission in the world. And so in my book I argue that prayer in Jesus' name is inextricably linked to the mission of God, as the disciples in Jesus' day were to go forward with the mission of God in Jesus' physical absence. And so here we are today, of course, God lives in us, He dwells in us and with us by the Holy Spirit, but we don't have Jesus physically present, but we do have His, we do have the Holy Spirit, and we do have Jesus' name. And so in Jesus' absence, we as Jesus' followers are able to pray in that name, and as we do, we pray with His interest in mind and keep advancing the mission of God as we do it. All right, so that then helps us with one of the verses, John 14, when Jesus says, whatever you ask in my name, I'll do, right?

Yes. Well, all right, I'd like to be the next, I'm 67, but I'm going to ask God to make me the world's best basketball player starting tomorrow. I'm going to ask Him to give me a hundred billion dollars so I can buy all kinds of yachts.

I'm going to ask Him to destroy all my competition so I can be number one. Okay, so ask whatever you wish, ask whatever you will. Then we do John 15, seven, if you abide in me, my words abide in you, then ask what you will, it'll be given. So there's a context, we have to be abiding in God with this word in us, which will then color the direction of our prayer, but you're saying that by the very nature of saying in Jesus' name, we have to be aligned with Jesus' mission, and we are now receiving what we need to be His vehicles in the earth. That's right.

Yeah, so that's exactly right. So explain, someone says, okay, I've heard there's power in praying in the name of Jesus. So again, it's not just saying the words, although if our faith is set with that, you know, amen, so be it, but what is the power? What's the power in Jesus' name? You know, turn into not just an academic, but as a preacher here, what's the power in Jesus' name?

Yeah, no, just in that phrase itself. I mean, when you are using the name in the proper way, I mean, let's think about this, we are praying in the name of the Savior of the world. We're praying in the name of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We're praying in the name of the one before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess. So there is inherent power and authority in Jesus' person, but also by necessity in His name.

And so that is the great privilege that we have. We are not only believers in dwelt by the Spirit, but we are possessors of His name. And so as we use that name, there's authority there, and I think again, as you mentioned, this is not magic, it's not just the word itself, the name itself, but as believers, it's our responsibility. It's our job and our joy, isn't it, to understand what Jesus' name means, and understanding His name, understanding the nature of of His ministry and what it represents. So when we get that, and we understand that Jesus came from heaven to the earth to seek and save the lost, to set the captives free, and when we align with that mission, not just using the name, but when we align with that mission, well, we're called the friends of God as we walk in obedience to Him. We are walking so closely with Him that God gives us this ability to use His Son's name, and His Son's name gets His attention and brings authority into our lives. I love just that concept of getting the Father's attention, because we use His name. You know, I'm going to come at this from a different angle, but when I was doing my academic studies in grad school and Old Testament, and I was reading about Old Testament prophets, and they said they use what's called commission-bound messenger speech, meaning that someone is sent, bound by a commission, as the messenger of the one sending, and that's the authority that they carry.

That's why the prophets would say, Kol Mar Adonai, this is what the Lord has said, or Uma Adonai, utterance of the Lord, because they weren't speaking their words, but they were bound and sent with this message. So I had just finished teaching this. I had an adult Sunday school class that met in the pastor's house right next to the church building, and I ran a little late and didn't realize it, and a boy, to this day no clue who the boy was, this was late 70s, early 80s, the boy comes walking in the room and says, Sunday school is over. Dave Haber says, well Dave was the assistant pastor, so I don't know who the little boy was, but when he says, my buddy the assistant pastor, Sunday school is over, used his name, okay, we got to get in there, you know, it's not just this little boy. So when, let's just put this in earthly terms, the father's busy with doing a bunch of things, right? You know, an earthly father, I'll get a note, and it's my grandson has a question, oh I'm going to stop, everything I can stop, I'm going to, because that's my boy there. So this gets God's attention, whatever is going on, a prayer coming to him with understanding of through Jesus now, because now we're his buddies too, we are insiders through him, we're not just co-heirs, we're brothers and sisters. Technically he's our elder brother, he's our Lord, but the heavenly father is our father, he's our brother, so it's like, hey, Jesus is saying, he's with me, he's with me.

Am I oversimplifying it? No, that's exactly right, and fidelity to Jesus is so important, because in John 15 we read the language of abiding, what it means to abide in Jesus, and as we remain close to him, there's this union that takes place, a practical day-to-day union where when we walk closely with Jesus, then, I mean again, we're called friends, and you know, friends share information with one another, Jesus shares his word with one another, there's trust that's involved there, so when we are faithful to him, and of course he's always faithful to us, but there is this, there's an entrusting that takes place where his name is given, and then we can use it appropriately from that relationship, and that's the ethical nature, I believe, of prayer. Again, drawing on Exodus 20 and the third commandment there, of not just taking up the name and speaking the name, but taking up the name, yes, speaking the name, but also making sure that we're submitted to that name, and to the mission of the one it represents, and when we do that, again, we get the Father's attention because we're so close with Christ, and to be close with Christ is to be close to the Father. Yeah, and it's all tied in with praying in his name. So again, the book, Scott Adams, in Jesus' name, his name, especially if you're a serious student of the Word, really want to understand this better and make for a great informative read. We've just got a minute, is there something also where we're praying, using that, and through his merit, through what he's done on the cross, that's opened the door of heaven to us?

Ask that, I'm sorry, ask it a different way. Yeah, so to pray in his name is also to pray by his merit, what he's done and accomplished opens up heaven to us. Yeah, and I raise that because one of my friends who's ministered in Israel, lived there for years, when he'd be ministering to ultra-orthodox Jews and asked, can I pray for you, let's say they're sick or something, when he'd say, I want to pray in Yeshua's name, they had an issue with it, he said, I want to pray bezchut Yeshua, in the merit of Yeshua, because that's being such a Jewish concept, as you know, it opened their hearts, like, go ahead, it made more sense to them. So friends, we've scratched the surface, Scott spent many, many years researching these things. Check out the book, In Jesus' Name, by Scott Adams, and hey man, we got to connect in Louisiana again one of these days. Oh, love to have you again, and thank you for having me on the show today, Dr. Brown, it's an honor. My joy, my joy. All right friends, back with you tomorrow, thoroughly Jewish Thursday, you bet. Another program powered by the Truth Network.