Prayer is without a doubt one of the most common forms—maybe even the most common form—of worship. Every person who considers himself religious prays. Even those who are not religious may do so when everything else they’ve tried has failed.

But is every prayer heard and answered? No. I direct you to the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel during the days of Elijah as proof of this. In an attempt to have their god rain fire down from heaven and consume their sacrifice, they prayed as persistently as anyone can: from morning till evening, we are told, and as intensely as anyone can, even mutilating their bodies with knives and lances until their blood flowed. And what was the result? “No one answered, no one paid attention.”

Of course not, for these prophets prayed to an idol that could neither hear nor help them. And sadly, many Christians today pray to dead people who cannot hear or help them either. But the misconceptions concerning prayer do not stop there, I’m afraid. Many Christians today—again in the fashion of those false prophets of old—see prayer as a way to manipulate God and compel Him to do what they want. They may not mutilate themselves as those men did, but they falsely and foolishly believe that the more they pray, and the more people they can get to pray on their behalf, the better their chances are of getting a favorable answer.

Thankfully, we don’t have a God whom we can manipulate to carry out our will. We have a God who, in His grace and mercy, is determined to carry out His will for us, which is our eternal salvation. And good thing, too. Listen again to these Spirit-inspired words of St. James: “…he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

The Law of God is a mirror, in which you see an honest reflection of yourself. If, after examining yourself in this mirror, you see the reflection of a person who does all that the law demands—who is pure in thought, word, and deed—you will be blessed by what you do, not only in this life, but also in the life to come. But that’s not what you see, is it? In fact, it’s the very opposite. When you examine yourself in the mirror of God’s holy Law, comparing your works to those that God demands of you, you see the reflection of a sinner who has earned for himself a one-way ticket to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

That you do not despair over this, let me say it again: God’s will is not that you perish, but that you have everlasting life in blessed communion with Him. For this reason He sent His only begotten Son into the world to do for you what you, weakened by sin, could never do for yourself. The Word, who was with God in the beginning—because He is God—became flesh. The Sinless made His dwelling among the sinful. But even more remarkable, the Holy One became sin for you that He might suffer the punishment that your sin brought down upon you.

This He did by His cursed death on the cursed tree. And after He obtained God’s full and free forgiveness of all your sins through this, He was taken down from the cross and laid to rest in a tomb—but not for long. On the third day, He took up His life again, and forty days after that, ascended to the Father—not to abandon you, but so that He could wash and cleanse you of all your sins in the flood of your Baptism. And after that, place His Body united to bread into your mouth to eat and pour His Blood united to wine over your lips to drink, for the forgiveness of your sins. For he whose sins are forgiven by Him has life and salvation through Him.

But only he who believes this receives these gifts. Thus, your Lord—who gives Himself to you in the Sacraments—speaks to you through His Word. For it is through your hearing of His Word that the Holy Spirit blesses you with faith to receive your Savior where He is present for you and for your salvation today.

Now, it is in the light of all this, and only in that light, that Jesus made this promise directly to His disciples on the night He was betrayed, and indirectly to you through the pen of St. John: “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you.”

The first and most obvious thing He teaches by these words is to whom you are to pray. It is not to false gods, as pagans do, nor is it to dead people, as do far too many misinformed Christians, but it is only to the one true God. For He who is ever-present will hear you, He who is almighty can help you, and He who is love will in love do whatever must be done to save you.

But is this God not also holy? And is it not a fact that any sinner who dares to approach Him on his own will be struck down and die? Indeed, it is—which is why Jesus didn’t say, “Whatever you ask the Father He will give you,” but, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you.”

To pray “in Jesus’ name” is to pray in the faith that you can approach this holy God through Him who is your righteousness, and He will receive you, hear you, and answer your prayers—every one of them—regardless of where or when you pray them.

You can find proof of this also on Mount Carmel. God didn’t answer the prayer of those prophets who prayed to a false god. But when His prophet Elijah prayed, “O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again,” the fire of the Lord fell down from heaven and consumed his sacrifice—even the altar on which it lay. And as the people of Israel, who were wavering at the time as to whether the Lord was God or Baal, saw it, they fell down on their faces and confessed, “The Lord, He is God!”

Therefore, dear Christian, when you pray, pray as did Elijah: confidently and without any doubt or uncertainty that your Father in heaven, for Jesus’ sake, will answer your prayer and give you—not necessarily what you want—but always what you need for your salvation.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.