Good grief.

"I will do anything you ask the Father in my name, so that the Father will be given glory because of the Son."

I love to listen to people pray, and then slap a little "...in Jesus' name, Amen" on the end of whatever they asked for. I love it because it's clearly what Jesus was talking about. His comments recorded in John could probably be paraphrased like this: "Make sure that you get the appropriate tag-line on your prayers; the closing sentence is like a secret code to unlock all of the wealth of the nations to flow into your checking account. I have a secret handshake too. I'll tell you about that one later."

I believe completely that Jesus meant exactly what he said when he said, "anything." I think he meant that he would give me a car, or make me able to fly, or magically fill my freezer with chocolate ice cream. I believe that because during his ministry, Jesus was in the habit of doing crazy stuff just like that. So why aren't Christians all around the world just majicking up fabulous new lives for themselves? Didn't Jesus say that was cool?

The secret key to the ability to fly and riches untold is this: only ask for things the same way that Jesus did. Last I checked, Jesus always had other people's welfare in mind when he did something nutty. And, he never got any credit for what he did. He always split the scene if it looked like people were going to praise him. God the Father always was the object of Jesus' activity; the Father's glory and other peoples' needs were what moved him.

So drop the "in Jesus' name" off your praying. It ain't doing anything, anyhow. Try implementing Jesus' attitude and lifestyle; then ask for crazy stuff.