(Participation in the Nature of the Son and the Proper Response to Evil)
May 29 brings the believer into a deeper understanding of both prayer and holiness: to ask in Christ’s name is to participate in the disposition and purpose of the Son himself, and genuine love for truth necessarily includes opposition to what destroys and corrupts it.
1. Asking in His Name as Participation in His Nature
Chambers writes:
“‘In that day you will ask in My name…,’ that is, in My nature.” (My Utmost for His Highest)
Chambers moves beyond the common idea of merely attaching Jesus’ name to a prayer.
To ask in his name is not primarily a formula. It is participation.
The believer prays from within the sphere of Christ’s own disposition, purpose, and relation to the Father.
His name signifies his nature.
This means prayer becomes increasingly effective as the life becomes increasingly aligned with the Son. The believer is not attempting to persuade the Father to adopt a personal agenda, but is learning to ask from within the very communion that exists between the Father and the Son.
The prayer proceeds from shared purpose.
The more the mind of Christ is formed within the believer, the more naturally the life asks according to what the Son himself desires.
Prayer becomes an expression of sonship.
2. The Necessity of Hating What Opposes Truth
Spurgeon writes:
“‘Be angry, and sin not.’ There can hardly be goodness in a man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way.” (Morning and Evening)
Spurgeon clarifies the proper place of righteous opposition.
The Christian life is not indifferent toward evil. Love for truth necessarily includes rejection of what destroys truth.
Yet Spurgeon carefully distinguishes this from sinful anger.
The issue is not personal irritation, wounded pride, or self-defense.
It is love for what is of God.
The Son himself opposed hypocrisy, falsehood, and everything that distorted the Father’s will. Therefore, the life aligned with Christ cannot become morally indifferent.
To love righteousness is to oppose what corrupts it.
But that opposition proceeds from devotion to God, not from self-centered hostility.
3. Where the Two Meet: Sharing the Son’s Mind in Prayer and Life
These truths meet in a single reality.
To ask in Christ’s name is to participate in his nature. And as the believer increasingly shares in that disposition, the life begins to love what he loves and reject what he rejects.
Prayer and holiness proceed from the same source.
The life becomes aligned with the Son.
Therefore, the believer does not merely pray for God’s will while remaining indifferent to it in daily life. The same communion that shapes prayer also shapes moral perception.
One truth concerns asking. The other concerns living.
Both arise from participation in the life and disposition of Christ.
4. Pastoral Orientation
May 29 calls for alignment and discernment.
Do not treat praying in Jesus’ name as a mere expression. Seek to participate in the mind and nature of the Son.
Do not confuse love with moral indifference. Love what is true and reject what opposes the Father’s will.
As you continue walking “after the spirit,” you will find that prayer becomes more deeply aligned with God’s purpose, and discernment grows clearer as the life increasingly shares the disposition of Christ.
Ask in his name. Live from his nature.
And you will discover a life that not only speaks to the Father, but increasingly shares the mind, the desires, and the holy affections of the Son.