But first we should notice that the prayer to which Our Lord refers is “in his Name”.  That does not mean that by concluding the prayer with the words “through Jesus Christ Our Lord”, it is thereby automatically bound to be accepted and answered by God, irrespective of what is actually prayed for.  To pray in the Name of Christ means to identify oneself with the mind of Christ and actually to pray as his representative.  So a prayer made in his Name is nothing other than the prayer which Christ himself desires to make to his Father through us.  What matters therefore is not its form, but its content.

Nevertheless, there are times when we ask sincerely and to the best of our belief in the Name of Christ for something that seems obviously good and right, such as a relative’s recovery from illness, only to find that things turn out quite otherwise.  And the effect may be to weaken one’s faith not merely in prayer, but also in God as well.

Before turning to this difficulty of unanswered prayer, we need to remember that prayer itself is something much wider and deeper than a request for some real or fancied benefit, however earnest the request may be.

For prayer itself is one’s whole conscious relationship with God: it is the awareness of his presence and the lifting up of one’s heart and mind to him.  That means that adoration and thanksgiving and penitence are in fact more important than mere asking which in itself might be no more than selfish begging.  The Lord’s Prayer sets us right.  The honour of God comes first; the extension of his Sovereign rule over human hearts comes second; and only after that do we ask for our daily bread.