“And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John16:23-24).
Jesus said this just before He went to the Cross. He was referring to the day in which we now live – after He went to the Cross, ascended up on High, and was seated at the right had of the Father. He is now our Mediator, our Intercessor, our Advocate, and our Lord. He stands between the Father and us.
When He says, “In that day,” He means the day of the New Covenant. When Jesus was here on the earth, the disciples could ask Him: they could talk to Him personally in the flesh.
A minister friend of mine never gets answers when he prays. Prayer is a struggle for him because he prays to Jesus. I pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus. I’ve prayed this way for more than sixty years, and I’ve gotten everything I’ve asked for.
I usually get it immediately. However, in the case of money it sometimes takes a few days because it has to come through various channels.
If this friend of mine were to ask me to pray for his finances, then he and I would have to agree on it. But his will could block my will and faith, for we have authority over demons and evil spirits, but we don’t have authority over human spirits. If we had authority over human spirits, when we could make everybody get saved.
In John G. Lakes’ book, “Sermons on Dominion Over Demons, Disease, and Death,” he tells about praying for a man who had sugar diabetes. They knelt to pray, when suddenly Lake asked the man what this $5,000 was that kept coming up before him. The man answered that his brother and he had been in business and his brother had died. His sister-in-law wanted him to liquidate the business, and he did.
But he had kept $5,000 out for himself because he felt he deserved it, even though it was actually her money. He told Lake that he had more than $5,000 in the bank, whereupon Lake told him to write out a check for $5,000, and then he would pray for him. The man wrote the check, walked to a mailbox, and sent it to his sister-in-law. When he came back he was healed.
Sometimes matters like these nullify the effects of prayer.
Some may say that they believe John 16:23 and 24, but….
Don’t say “but,” because there’s not a “but” in that verse. Somebody says they believe this scripture, if…. Again, there is not an “if” in that verse, so don’t say “if.” Just take Jesus at His Word.
Jesus says in John 16:24, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name….” Up to this time, no one had ever asked anything in His Name because He was on the earth. Praying in Jesus’ Name didn’t do any good until He began His mediatorial intercession a the right hand of the Father.
“…Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (v.24). Your joy cannot be full with your needs unmet. Your joy cannot be full if you cannot pay your rent or your bills. You cannot be full of joy if your children are sick.
Praying in Jesus’ Name
Let us call attention to the difference between praying for Jesus’ sake and praying in the Name of Jesus. When you go to God and ask Him to do something for Jesus’ sake, you are asking that it be done to help Jesus, on your credit. That sounds foolish because Jesus does not need the help, and you don’t have any credit to guarantee it, if He did. We need the help, and He has the credit! From now on, don’t pray, “For Jesus’ sake.”
If I have a stomachache, and I am praying for healing, I don’t want it to stop hurting for Jesus’ sake, it is to help me. I am the one who is hurting, not Jesus. If I owe one hundred dollars and I am praying for it to come in the offering, I do that to help myself.
I know that God has helped us on a lower level when we did not know any better, but we ought to be able to grow in prayer. The Bible teaches us that there is a similarity between physical and spiritual growth. No one is born a fully grown human being. People are born babies, and they grow up. We ought to be able to improve upon our praying just as we improve upon things physically.
When I was a young boy, I used to pray, “Now I lay me down to sleep….” But I do not pray that way anymore. When some were spiritual babies, they might have prayed certain ways and God met them, helped them, and it sufficed for that day, but God wants us to grow spiritually.
When you meet God on His level, it makes a big difference. He requires more of you as you grow. When light comes and teaching is given, God requires you to walk in that light.
“…In my name…they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17). Every believer ought to be speaking in tongues. You can do it in Jesus’ Name. That means that if you are accidentally bitten by a viper, you can shake it off and claim immunity in the Name of Jesus.
For example, when Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked on an island, he picked up some sticks to build a fire, and a viper fastened onto his hand. The people thought he had done something terrible, for it looked as if judgment had come upon him. They expected him to fall dead. They watched him, but he did not get sick and did not fall dead. They thought he was a god.
In east Texas, a minister friend of mine and some friends of his were out fishing in one of the rivers, and a cottonmouth moccasin bit him. It frightened the other men because they were not saved. My friend shook it off in the Name of Jesus and went about his business. His friends watched him, and saw that it never had any evil effect on him. This is not extreme because it is biblical.
The Bible says, “if they drink any deadly thing [poison], it shall not hurt them…” (Mark 16:18). This means that if you accidentally take poison, you have the right to claim immunity in the Name of Jesus.
The Name of Jesus belongs to me just as much as my hands and feet belong to me. I just go ahead and use them because they are mine. You will find that the devil will seek to confuse you. He will see to withstand you. But the Name of Jesus is yours – so use it!
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.