The absence of lordship keeps prayers unanswered. Dr. Tony Evans reminds us of the important role Christ plays as mediator between heaven and earth. When you pray to the Father without the backing of the Son, you don't get the support of the Son in the requests you made to the Father. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. It's one of those things Christians do but don't always understand. I'm talking about wrapping up a prayer with the words, In Jesus' name. In today's message, Dr. Evans took a look at John chapter 16 and talked about how to connect with the power in that name by using it the way God intended.
Let's listen in. Forgery is the unauthorized use of an identity or a name for personal benefit and privilege. Forgery is a crime.
To illegitimately and in an unauthorized way seek to benefit from somebody else's identity is against the law. Unfortunately, many Christians are spiritual forgers because often we as believers use Jesus' name to get what we want when we've not been authorized to do so. And that becomes illegitimate, illegal praying. It is normal for us to conclude our prayers with, In Jesus' name. And yet for many of us when we conclude our prayers that way, we just canceled out our request because it was forgery.
It was an illegitimate use of his name. Yet it is the most important phrase in a prayer. When you conclude your prayer, In Jesus' name, it determines whether you get what you ask for or whether you don't. Jesus makes an astounding statement. He says, when you ask for anything in my name, you will receive it. Yet we all can testify that we've used the name and not got what we asked for. What I want us to look at today is whether we've been using it legally or illegally because the use of the name and its legitimacy or lack thereof will determine whether we get what we pray for if we pray at all.
So I want to look at three things because if you grab what I share with you today, you will see prayers answered like you've never seen them before. You'll see kingdom authority, leave eternity and come into time, leave heaven and come down to earth, leave the infinite and join the finite because we will have made contact with eternity. Now the first thing we've got to answer is what is this concept? What is this principle of in my name?
What does that even mean? To understand that, we have to understand a little bit of theology here. God has already determined that what he does in history on earth where you and I live, he will do by means of Jesus Christ. God is, in the words of theologians, holy other. He exists in a whole nother realm. But we live here in the realm of the five senses.
How can I get that realm way out there to join me in this realm way down here in a way that's vibrant and meaningful? God has established a mechanism, a means through a person to connect the two realms. That's why 1st Timothy 2 5 says, there is one mediator, one in-between person, between God and man and that is the man Christ Jesus. Hebrews chapter 7 verses 24 and 25 says that Jesus ever lives to be the intercession, interconnection point between us and God. That he ever lives to make intercession.
That means to be the intersection like when you go down the highway and two roads intersect. He is the intersection between the holy other God who's way out there and you and I who are way down here because he's fully God and fully man, he can grab both realms at the same time. So the reason that Jesus is critical is he is the designated person, the second member of the Trinity to connect the two. The Bible says he mediates or brings to bear the promises of God.
Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6. So the Word of God, the ways of God are mediated or transferred by and through the person of Jesus Christ. When we talk about his name, we're not talking about his nomenclature alone. We're talking about the person who stands behind the name. So when you talk about in the name of Jesus, you need to know the Jesus whose name you just used.
It can't just be the word. It has to be the authorized use of the person whose name you just called. Recently when I was with my dad, he gave me power of attorney. He gave me the legal right to handle his affairs, to handle the medical decisions, to handle the financial decisions, to handle the legal decisions. I possess the power of attorney. It's been delegated to me to act on his behalf. But as my father, unique as he is, after we went through all of the papers to sign the transfer of authority and authorization, he said, let me explain something. I have given you authorization, but you are not to do anything until I okay it. In other words, just because you authorize don't mean you can do your thing. I have authorized you to do my thing for my good on my behalf, so you best get my okay. If you go out there on your own, I'll find another power of attorney.
What he was saying is, I will give you authority as long as I'm authorizing how you're using it, because the moment you use it in an unauthorized way, you lose my backing of the authorization I put on loan to you. When you pray to the father without the backing of the son, you don't get the support of the son in the request you made to the father. But now let me give you the good news. The good news is that God the Father never turns down God the Son.
Let me say that again. God the Father never turns down God the Son. There's only one time when God the Father turned down God the Son, and that's when he bore our sins on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
If it's possible, let this cup pass from me. God turned down the Son because he was bearing our sin. That's the only time that has happened. That is the only time it ever could happen again. It can never happen again. God never turns down Jesus.
So here's the deal. You want to make sure what you're praying for, Jesus is praying for. Because of what you're praying for is what Jesus is praying for. Since the Father never turns down the Son, then what you're praying for, that Jesus is praying for, that the Father always accepts, becomes an answered prayer for you. So you've got to have a link between your prayer, his name, and the request you make to the Father. In John chapter 11, we find Jesus telling Martha, he tells Martha to move the stone.
Martha says, while he stinks, he'd been dead four days. Jesus said, did not tell you you wouldn't see what I'm up to till you believed, which wasn't a feeling, was move the stone. When she finally got around to moving the stone, then Jesus raised his head toward the Father, and this is what Jesus says, Father, you do always answer my prayers.
You do always answer my prayers. And guess what happened after that? A miracle. A change of a situation. Lazarus is called forth because Jesus has been engaged legitimately in an authorized way, and his name is used. So the question on the floor is not whether you're using the nomenclature, but whether you're using it in an authorized way. Because an unauthorized use of his name means a meaningless prayer request, because the Father loves the Son and responds to the Son. Then he responds to us, who've responded to the Son, who the Father responds to.
When you sign a check, if the check bounces, they don't come looking for the check. They come looking for you, because they're looking for the person behind the name, not just the statement of the name. Jesus's name is not magic. There is a person behind the name. If you are not related right to the person, your use of the name is a waste of time. So that's why the name is important.
So that raises the question then. Number two, what are the prerequisites for me being able to use the name legitimately and with kingdom authority, so that I can get heaven to come down into my history and to blow my mind, to answer my prayers, to respond to my requests? We're getting ready to go into some deep cotton here, but it will change your prayer life, it will empower your prayer life, and you will see you won't have to live on other folk testimony, because you will see that your prayers got through and that God actually heard your request. So what are the prerequisites for answered prayer?
I can sum it up in one word that was on our introduction today. If you want Jesus's name to have authority in your prayer life, that means there must be total surrender. We'll hear about what that surrender must look like when we pick up with more of this message about bringing heavenly power to bear on our earthly problems. It's from a classic sermon series called Igniting Kingdom Prayer, and right now we are offering both volumes in this 12 message collection as our gift when you make a contribution to help support the ministry of the alternative.
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Well, let's get back to our message now. What are the prerequisites for answered prayer? If you want Jesus's name to have authority in your prayer life, there must be total surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. This is not a buffet for most Christians. Commitment to Jesus Christ is a buffet. When you go through the buffet line, I want this, I don't want that, I want that, I don't want that. We pick and choose the parts of Jesus we like, we prefer, and we want.
This is not a buffet. God demands total surrender. Romans chapter 14 verses 8 and 9 says, Jesus lived and Jesus died to control all of your life.
Not a part of it, not Sunday morning. He wants Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, back Sunday again, 24-7, and everything you do in each one of those minutes of each one of those days. Now that's what he wants. Now we know we're not perfect people, but he wants that to be the mindset, the mentality, the orientation. If you expect him to listen to your prayers, if you are a part-time Christian, don't expect big-time answers. He demands total surrender, even when it's not preferred, because that's what surrender is. Surrender isn't just because I like it, surrender is because you said it. It is submission to his lordship. Or as Luke 646 says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't do what I say? So in other words, you can't say Lord and rebel, because if you say Lord and rebel, the word Lord was wasted conversation. Lord means you are now my master. I am now your servant and slave.
I am here to do what you say do, whether I prefer it, want it, like it, or not. It is the absence of lordship that keeps prayers unanswered. It is the absence of his comprehensive rule, because God knows that we're gonna pick and choose what we like, pick and choose what we want, so he doesn't have total control.
He has some commitment sometime, and he wants absolute complete surrender. When you look at Colossians chapter 3, you find something very interesting. Beginning in verse 17, listen to these words, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Let me read that again. Whatever you do in word, what you say, or deed, what you do, because we're always saying I'm doing something, do all, not some, in the name of the Lord Jesus.
When you decide my whole life is owned by him. Let me quote another verse. You won't like it, but I need to quote it. It's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 and 20.
Hold on to your seat belt, because this will rock your world. He says in 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20, you are not your own, you've been bought with a price. You don't get to own you once you become a Christian. You don't get to own you. He says you are not your own. I bought and paid for you with my blood on the cross.
So don't say what you're gonna do when I say something different. You don't own you. See the problem with too many of us is we still own ourselves, and if you own you, he doesn't own you, and if he doesn't own you, why don't you pray to you? Because you own you. He says you have been bought with a price.
You are not your own. If you are willing to give up ownership of your life, now you can have access and kingdom authority in prayer. You can see God move, but he goes on and then he breaks it down, just so you're not thinking about church. He says, verse 18, husbands, be the kind of husband I want you to be, because I'm your Lord. Children, be the kind of child I want you to be, because verse 20 says, because I'm your Lord. He goes to 21, fathers, be the kind of father I want you to be, because I'm your Lord.
Then he goes to the workplace. He says, servants, when you go to work tomorrow, be the kind of worker I want you to be, because I'm your Lord. Whatever you do, he says, verse 23, do your work heartily as for the Lord, rather than from men, knowing from the Lord you will receive the reward of inheritance. It is Jesus Christ, the Lord, whom you serve. You don't serve the man. You work for the man, but you serve the Lord.
You don't even get to go to work tomorrow morning without Jesus being Lord. He wants to own your home, your life, your money, your time, your efforts, your work. You mean he wants it all?
Hello. He wants total ownership. If you want answered prayer, if you want to see heaven, if you want to see Kingdom Authority manifested in your life, if you want to see the rule of God demonstrated, there must be surrender for Kingdom Authority to be realized. Again, Kingdom Authority is the divinely authorized right and responsibility for believers to act on God's behalf and spiritually ruling over his creation under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Listen, the more you surrender, the more of heaven you'll see. The more I surrender, then the supernatural will become more natural.
You won't have to wonder about it because you'll be seeing God show up and show out in ways that will blow your mind. That's why the Bible calls him, by the way, Lord of Lords, so that anything that you think is Lord, he wants to trump. He's Lord on top of the Lords, or anything you hold in high esteem in your life and in your world. Now, this is going to involve your growth in spiritual intimacy, because the closer you get to him, the more you'll trust his Lordship. You see, it's scary to say, I'm gonna stop owning me, I'm gonna let him own me if you're not close to him, because then you wonder what he gonna do to me. So that's why growth in intimacy is critical to experiencing his authority. You want to draw near to him. You want to get close to him. That's why the scripture talks about how much the Father loves the Son. They are so into each other that they never turn each other down, because they so into each other. He wants us to be into him like that. You abide in me, and my word abide in you.
Ask me whatever you want to, and I will do it for you, because we hang out together. How does this work? It works like this. Whatever the Father thinks, the Son thinks exactly the same thing, because they're always on the same page. Whatever the Father thinks that the Son thinks, the Holy Spirit thinks, because he's part of the triune God, so they're always on the same page. The closer you get to the Lord, whatever the Father thinks, the Son thinks that the Spirit thinks, because he renews our mind, we think. So we begin to think what the Spirit thinks, that's exactly what the Son thinks, that's exactly what the Father thinks. So when you get on your knees and pray, you can only pray for what you think.
But if the Spirit has affected what you think, and it's the same thing that the Son thinks, that's the same thing that the Father thinks, they got to answer your prayer, because you're all praying for the same thing, because you have now come on a divine wavelength, because you've drawn near to him, close to him, you've settled the lordship issue. Matthew 6 24, no man can serve two masters. You can't have the Lord and anything as a final decision maker. No, everybody has ideas, only the Lord gets the final decision maker to rule and overrule. Overrule your manhood, overrule your womanhood, overrule your marriage, overrule your singlehood, overrule your work, overrule your finances, overrule your activities, overrule your entertainment.
He wants the whole kingdom kaboodle. That is, if you want to see heaven's authority on earth. You see, people say, well, I'm just glad I'm going to heaven. Well, trust me, you're gonna need some heaven on your way there. You're gonna need some divine intervention on your way there. And if you have not dealt with this surrender issue, with this lordship issue, then you will not see what God can do in time and space. Now, let me tell you something else. You must settle the lordship issue.
You must pursue intimacy, because the more intimate you are, the more you will yield to the lordship naturally and easily, because you will see his power and authority. But then you must also be willing to publicly identify with him. You can't be a secret agent Christian, a spiritual CIA representative, and a covert operative.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let me put it this way. It's not enough to believe in God. Now, that's not good enough when it comes to having God move on earth.
He moves on earth through his son. So your belief in God, and love of God, and appreciation of God, that's nice, but it's not sufficient for intervention in history. That comes through Christ.
If you want intervention in history, then Jesus Christ, you must be willing to be identified with him. People ought to know that you're a Christian, and you ought to be found guilty of all charges. You should not apologize for your faith.
You should not be apologizing that you are a follower of Jesus the Christ. Dr. Tony Evans, on the importance of identifying with the one in whose name we pray, part of his classic sermon series on igniting Kingdom prayer. For a limited time, you can get the complete two-volume series featuring all 12 full-length messages on CD or downloadable mp3s, along with a special bonus, the companion book that goes hand in hand with this series. It's called Kingdom Prayer, Touching Heaven to Change Earth. Both the book and audio collection are yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener supported program on the air. The place to go for details is tonyevans.org, or call 1-800-800-3222, where someone from our friendly resource team is ready to assist you. That's 1-800-800-3222, or online at tonyevans.org. Well, tomorrow we'll dig deeper into the rights and responsibilities believers have when praying in Jesus' name. I hope you'll join us for that.
