Praying in the Name of Jesus

On January 20^th, Barack Obama will become the next President of the United States. Two things have taken center stage regarding inauguration day. First, will Obama say “so help me God” at the end of his oath and secondly, will Rick Warren say “in the name of Jesus” at the end of his prayer? The two questions arise out of the battle by some to remove God from all areas of our government and the desire to include all Americans in a happy nonreligious family.

Some believe that Warren should offer a prayer that includes all Americans without offending anybody. For instance Bishop Gene Robinson, who has been selected to offer an invocation at an inaugural event, says in a NY Times interview, “that this will not be a Christian prayer, and I won’t be quoting Scripture or anything like that. The texts that I hold as sacred are not sacred texts for all Americans, and I want all people to feel that this is their prayer.” He continues by saying that he might address the prayer to “the God of our many understandings.” This idea of trying not to offend anybody is ridiculous. By having a prayer at all, some people are going to be offended.

Whether Warren speaks the actual words or not is irrelevant. What is important is the spirit in which he offers the prayer. For an excellent series of posts from Mark D Roberts regarding praying in Jesus’ name click here. In one post he says:

When Christians welcome children, or gather together, or pray, we do these things in the name of Jesus, whether

or not we say “in Jesus’ name.” To pray in Jesus’ name is come before God’s throne of grace, not in our own merit

or authority, but in the merit and authority of Jesus. We have no right to approach God’s throne of grace in our sinfulness, but in the righteousness of Jesus, we can be bold when we come before God in prayer (Heb 4:14-16).

Since Warren is a Christian pastor, I would expect him to pray in the spirit of Jesus’ name. If the prayer is not offered in Jesus’ name, what good is it?