Is Praying In Jesus’ Blood Biblical?

Does praying in the name of Jesus’ blood match what Scripture says what we ought to pray?

In Jesus’ Name

I take a lot of prayer requests at our church and our church loves to pray for others. It doesn’t matter if they’re from our church or not, but to know how to pray is important, and we must be biblical when we pray, and to learn how to pray in the way Jesus taught His disciples. One way to learn from Jesus was when He “was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1), so Jesus’ disciples say Him pray and pray intently, and often, and with such intimacy, that they wanted to know how to pray like that. They had seen Jesus numerous times displaying the power of God through His intimate relationship with the Father, so Jesus told them to pray first of all, to the Father, hallowing or revering His holy name, praying for His kingdom to come as well as His will to be done (Luke 11:3), and asking for our daily bread (Luke 11:4), and the forgiveness of sins, avoidance of temptation, and asking for forgiveness of our sins as we forgive others who have sinned against us (Luke 11:4). That’s the model of how we ought to pray. The Apostle John records Jesus speaking of a time that is coming, and now has come, when prayer is done through or in His name. Jesus said, “In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:23-24), so we are told to pray to the Father but to pray in Jesus’ name. That’s what He told us. There are no other ways in which to pray He gives, and never does He tell us to pray through or in the name of anything else other than His own name. Not even one time.

By His Blood

The Pharisee who prayed that he was thankful that he was not like the tax collector didn’t understand that the tax collector, by confessing his sins before God, went home justified, while the Pharisee went home dignified, but being justified is infinitely more valuable than being dignified (Luke 18:14). The Pharisee trusted in his own righteousness (not safe), while the tax collector trusted in God’s mercy. Since we know that God shows no partiality, but in fact will resist the proud (James 4:6), we know how to pray and why we need to pray, but why do people, it seems all of a sudden, want to pray in “Jesus’ blood?” or “in the blood!”  Why?   Aren’t we told to pray in Jesus’ name? How is praying in His blood biblical, besides, why would we not want to use Jesus’ name? He is our High Priest and Mediator before God. Blood is blood and cannot mediate or go before the Father to ask something. Jesus can! And, Jesus does, but never does the Bible teach us to pray in “In the blood” or “in Jesus’ blood.” Praying to God is not the purpose for the blood; the blood’s purpose is to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It’s the shed blood of Christ that reconciles us back to God, not communicate for us to God, nor does the blood have special powers when we pray in the blood’s name. Only Jesus’ name has power. We should be thankful for the shed blood of Christ, but not pray in the blood of Christ. We should not be praying in the name of something that is not personal, like Jesus Christ, by whose name we are told to pray. By now, you’ve probably heard someone pray for something using Jesus’ blood as having power. Yes, it does have power…the power to cleanse which means it has the power to save, but it was Jesus’ Who shed His blood and Jesus’ name has power, so it is in Jesus’ name we must pray…not in the name of or by the power of His blood.

The Purpose of the Blood

We have already read the purpose for the blood of the Lamb of God, and it wasn’t to make our prayers more effectual or powerful, so what is the true purpose of the shed blood of Christ? The Apostle Peter wrote “that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1st Pet 1:18-19), because “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1st John 1:7). Since animal blood could never take away sins, it was necessary for Jesus to have “entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12), since “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22). That’s what the shed blood of Christ is all about. That’s it! Nothing more.

Conclusion

The Bible records that “Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood” (Heb 13:12), not in order that they might be able to pray in it. Praying in Jesus’ blood or “in the blood I pray,” which is frequently said, is not biblical and it detracts from the reason we are to pray in Jesus’ name; so that His name may be glorified. When we receive answered prayer after praying in Jesus’ name, we rejoice and praise God, and Jesus’ name is glorified. That’s why Jesus’ name is used, so to use His blood as a power in prayer is to place a higher value on His blood than on Him, and that would be a tragic mistake.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is host of Spiritual Fitness and also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.