¹³ “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

Martha had already concluded that Jesus had a special inside access to God, as she exclaimed to Him, “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” (John 11:22). Now the disciples are being offered the same access. We have mediated access when we come to the Father, “in Jesus’ name.” This is more than just tacking that phrase onto our prayer requests. It means we come with the needs for serving the way Jesus served. We represent Jesus’ interests in the world, on His behalf. He has sent us into the world to preach the good news (Mark 16:15), as His ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20). And we need His provision to do His work, which will be greater in and through us than what He did Himself during His earthly lifespan.

We must be clear. The goal in our asking is that Jesus might be glorified. We as His followers ask the Father for things that will help us magnify Jesus, that the world might see Him more clearly, that He would get the attention. That is the Father’s goal, and that must be ours.

Now if it is God’s will for us to glorify Christ, He delights to answer prayers that line up with that goal. John put it this way, “… if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14–15). So if we ask God for anything that He desires to happen, then why would He not give us what we request if the goal is to glorify Christ?

It is interesting that instead of just loading us up with what we need at the moment of salvation, God leaves many things for which we must ask. While it is true that we have already been given everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), it lies dormant, waiting to be activated through prayer. This is not like a soldier going to the quartermaster and being assigned what the army says he needs. No. Rather the Christian goes about seeking to do the “greater works,” discovers his need and approaches the divine quartermaster, the Supplier of all the resources he needs to do those things. Like when Jesus told the disciples to feed the five thousand (Mark 6:37), the disciples came to see their inability to accomplish the feat. Their being faced with the inability placed them in a position to see Christ’s ability. So God takes us into the “greater works” endeavor and then waits with anticipation for us to see the need for His help. He delights to answer us then.

Lord, my desire is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ through my life. Help me hone my requests to only that which will bring Him glory.