LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY!

"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."
John 16:23-24 KJV

Mark these verses in your Bible. Don't let them get away from you.

When Jesus said "in that day ye shall ask me nothing," what day was He talking about? He was talking about the we are leaving in right now. Praying to the Father in the Name of Jesus belongs to us NOW- in this day.

Jesus said that just before He went to Calvary to die, before being raised from the dead, ascend on high, and sit at the right hand of the Father, rather which a new day dawned, and we came into the New Covenant.

Notice the 24th verse says, "HITHERTO have ye asked nothing in my name." Hitherto means up till now---until this time---you have not prayer in My Name. You see, it would not have done the disciples or anybody else any good to have prayed to the Father in the Name of Jesus while Jesus was here on earth, because, under the Old Covenant, they prayed to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Furthermore, when Jesus was here on earth, He had not yet entered into His mediatorial (high priestly or intercessory) ministry at the right hand of the Father, so it would not have done any good to have prayed in His Name. But just before He went away, Jesus changed His disciples' way of praying. During the interim when the Old covenant was going out, and the New Covenant was coming in, Jesus taught the disciples to pray what we call "The Lord's Prayer." He did not teach us to pray this way----Did you ever stop to think about that? He taught His disciples to pray this way. I did not say The Lord's Prayer isn't beautiful. I did not say we cannot learn something from it---because we can learn much from it. But where is the Name of Jesus in it? They didn't pray one thing in the Name of Jesus, did they? They didn't ask for one thing in the Name of Jesus, did they? This is not the New Testament Church at prayer! This is not the New Testament norm for prayer.

Right here in the 16th chapter of John is something we need to see: Just before He went away, Jesus changed their way of praying. Under the New Covenant between God and the Church, we are to come to God by JESUS CHRIST. (One reason we have missed a great deal is because some of us have tried to pray like they did back in the days of the old Covenant.)