Andrew Murray's Daily Meditations
In My Name
“Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
To pray in Christ's name is not to add three words at the end of a prayer. It is to pray as Christ would pray, and to ask only what he would ask. It is to lay your petition in his hand and say: Lord, present this for me, if it is fit.
This is the secret of bold prayer. We are not asking in our own name — that name has no standing at the throne. We are asking in the name of the Beloved, whose name opens every door in heaven. What he asks, the Father grants.
Learn, then, to pray in his name. Stay close enough to him to know his mind. Bring before him only what you can bring with him at your side. Such prayers cannot fail, for they are his prayers passing through you.
From With Christ in the School of Prayer