Asking in Christ’s Name

St. John xvi. 24 v.

“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; ask and ye shall receive.”

The Master is wearying for the development of the pupil. He seeks it in the progress of his prayers. He measures the value of his prayers not by what he wants but by his reason for wanting it. “Ye have asked nothing in my name,” means “Ye have asked nothing in my interest.” It makes no difference that Adam asks an apple, and John the right hand in the

Kingdom; they both ask equally amiss, for each desires only his own joy. The fault in Adam is not that he seeks the apple but that he seeks it from the wrong garden. The same fruit may be got from either of two gardens — Eden or Gethsemane. At the gates of Eden I seek it for myself; at the gates of Gethsemane I desire it for another. The one is a request in my own name; the other is in the name of Jesus.

Name above every name, purify my desires. It is by my desires that Thou measurest my progress; teach me to pray. It is not new desires I want; it is a new name in which to bank the old treasures — Thy name instead of mine. Men have called me a worldling in the bygone time because I have sought so much for gold. Yet, it is not less of gold I would seek now; it is less of self. I feel as if I needed the wealth of this world more than I ever did; but now I need it for Thee. It is not a change of money; it is a change of investment. I put it in Thy name; I bank it for Thee. I would not have less worldly toil. I would not be seen more seldom in the exchange. I would not relax the wheels of industry nor abate the ardour of enterprise. I want a change of thought, not of theatre. I would send my merchandise over a mightier sea than ever before it traversed — the ocean of Thy love. I would make the once mammon of unrighteousness a heavenly friend. I would plant schools; I would build colleges; I would raise temples; I would endow hospitals; I would improve the dwellings of the poor; I would supply the destitute with a home; I would provide the fallen with a refuge; I would fill up that which Thou hast left behind. Forbid that I should be too unworldly to pray lc Command that these stones be made bread.” It was once the tempter’s prayer, but Thy Last Supper has made it sacramental. Hitherto I have asked it only for the wants of my own wilderness; when I have heard the cry of the multitude in the desert, I shall breathe it again in Thy name.