Hi Pilgrim,

Thanks for answering my post. I was basically asking if it is indeed correct that having the Holy Spirit means that when you pray you are praying "in Jesus name"...

"“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’" (Matthew 7:21-23)

In the above verse we clearly have a case of unsaved people, since they obviously do not have the Holy Spirit as indicated by them being called "lawbreakers" by Jesus, which (I believe) also means they did not do anything "in Jesus name".

The thing is, I haven't been able to find much regarding this subject of what "in Jesus name" means, conclusively. I did come across a few Reformed articles on the matter, but I disagree in part with their conclusions, as what I've pointed out here, they did not point out or even cover. In other words, my question remains unanswered, even when reading Reformed articles on the matter :-(

I suppose, in essence, what I'm getting at also has to do with how we are to pray. Should we pray to Jesus if we're "in Jesus name" when we have the Holy Spirit? That would be praying to Jesus through Jesus, which sounds crazy to me. From what I did gather, we pray to the Father through Jesus by the Holy Spirit, which does makes sense to me.

I've been a Christian for approx. three decades, but only just started reading the Bible, interpreting Scripture with Scripture, and became a Reformed Christian only in the past year.

Thanks again.