QUALIFIED TO USE THE NAME OF JESUS ?

Jesus said: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). And “ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). God’s Holy Word says, “if we ask anything according to his will…we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John5:14-15). However, the Lord said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). According to the Bible some people evidently qualify to prosper through asking in Jesus’ name and others do not qualify. 

BEING QUALIFIED TO ASK IN THE NAME OF JESUS

The Bible evidently says you qualify to get what you ask in Jesus’ name if you do the following: 

• Seek first the kingdom of God and it righteousness, and all other things will be given to you (Matthew 6:33)
• Repent, believe in Jesus Christ and be born of the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3-16; Acts 2:38)
• Keep the Lord commandments (John 14:15)
• Deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow him (Luke 9:23)
•  Be conformed to the image of God’ Son (Romans 8:29)
• Love God with all your heart… (Matthew 22:37; and love others sacrificially as Jesus loved you (John 13:34).
• Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of you heart (Psalm 37:4).

BEING UNQUALIFIED TO ASK IN JESUS’ NAME

Jesus said people should live ”on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

 (Matthew 4:4; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). But some people may take some of what God said out of line with what the complete Word of God says. For example, They may selectively focus on the Lord saying “I will do whatever you ask in my name;” but may disregard that he also said, “ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”  Such people may not abide in Jesus and do God’s will; but may misuse his name essentially for self-gain. They may be unqualified to ask in the name of  Jesus. For instance:

• Some people may not seek to obey every word of God; but invoke Jesus’ name primarily to satisfy “desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life”– which “is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16).

• They may be more interested in achieving “health, wealth and prosperity.” than in pleasing Go. They may have a “form of godliness” but deny the power of God to work in their lives  (2 Timothy 3:5). Jesus said to such people, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).

• These people may follow false teachers or preachers not to hear or obey the truth about Jesus; but because they tell them what their ears really want hear (2 Timothy 4:3). Such teachers may exploit the name of Jesus, by deceptively telling their followers about how the Lord “plans to prosper you” with the things of the world (Jeremiah 29:11).

• False teachers or preacher, who are under the power of the devil (Ephesians 6:12), may cleverly use the name of Jesus to attracting followers to themselves for personal profit. But they may distort and minimize the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ as part of  drawing people to themselves (Acts 20:30; 2 Timothy 4:3). They may essentially circumvent or marginalize preaching about the true gospel of Jesus Christ; about many sins in the Bible (1 Corinthians 6:9-11); about the need to repent and believe” in Jesus Christ to avoid perishing (Act 2:38; Luke 13:3); about Jesus saying, you “must deny [yourself],  and “take up [your] cross, and follow me” if you want to qualify as his disciple (Matthew 16:24). 

PROSPERING IN BEING QUALIFIED 

 God wills that you qualify to prosper not solely with thing of the world; but that you prosper “in all respects …just as your soul prospers”–  through abiding in his Son.(3 John1:2; John 15:7). God  counsels us to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all [other] things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). “Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).  The biblical Word of God  instructs us to meditate on “this book” and “do everything written in it.” And “then you will be  prosperous and successful,” according to God’s will in Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:4; Joshua 1:8).