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Showing posts from March, 2010

Should I Pray in Jesus’ Name?

Do you remember learning how to pray? Perhaps your parents taught you to pray before you went to bed. “God, thank you for my brother even though I don’t like him. Thank you for my dog…” Maybe your parents or Sunday school teachers also taught you to pray “in Jesus’ name.” Did you know that none of the recorded prayers in the Bible include the phrase “in Jesus’ name”? Yet we often end every prayer in Jesus’ name. Wayne Grudem explains praying “in Jesus’ name” aptly in his work Bible Doctrine . The following excerpt is taken from page 161 of his book. “Does this mean that it is wrong to add ‘in Jesus’ name’ to the end of our prayers? It is certainly not wrong, as long as we understand what is meant by it and that it is not necessary to do so. There may be some danger, however, if we add this phrase to every public or private prayer we make, for very soon it will become to people simply a formula to which they attach very little meaning and say without thinking about it. It may even begin