What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name?

To pray in Jesus’ name means that we recognize Jesus as the “one mediator between God and man” (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus is “our faithful and merciful high priest who makes propitiation (i.e., an atoning sacrifice) for our sins” (Hebrews 2:17). Through Jesus we “can draw near with confidence to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace in time of need” (4:16). It is only through Jesus that we receive “grace upon grace” (John 1:16). He said, “No one can come to the Father except through me” (14:6). “Through his name we receive remission of sins” (Acts 13:38). The apostles preached that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). It is “in the name of Jesus” that believers were baptized and “received the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit” (2:38). This emphasizes that the only way to approach God is through Jesus Christ, his Son.

Everything believers say or do they are to “do in the name of Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). To pray in the name of Jesus, to be baptized in the name of Jesus, and to say or do things in the name of Jesus does not mean that the name of Jesus is necessarily, verbally pronounced. “In the name of” means “by the authority of”. It means that Jesus is Lord, that he is recognized as our savior, and that all that we do is because of him and through his will and work on our behalf. None of the prayers and blessings in the New Testament verbally say, “In the name of Jesus.” New Testament prayers recognize Jesus and come to God through him which is what the expression means.