Until Now You Have Not Asked in My Name
Asking in Jesus' name means asking through Jesus as mediator — using
his merit, not addressing him as God. Jesus presents the requests to
Jehovah; Jesus does not need to hear all prayers simultaneously, only
to function as the channel.
Build in three steps. Step 1 — the structure of . Jesus inaugurates a new era ("until now you have not asked... in that day you will ask in my name"). The new era is defined by His name being attached to prayer. Step 2 — verse 26 deliberately blocks the "Jesus as intercessor relaying messages" reading: "I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf — for the Father himself loves you." The Father responds to prayer made in Jesus' name directly. The Father acts on a prayer made in the Son's name as if it were made in His own. Step 3 — the omniscience implication. — "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." Jesus answers prayer Himself. For Him to answer billions of prayers, made silently in human hearts in every language across the world simultaneously, He must possess two divine attributes: omniscience (to know all prayers) and omnipresence (to receive them everywhere). Both are reserved to Jehovah in the OT (Psalm 139, , ). Either the New Testament picture of prayer is false, or Jesus shares Jehovah's omniscience and omnipresence — that is, He is Jehovah.
If Jesus is a creature, then the Father is answering prayers offered in a creature's name. The Father will not share His glory with another () — so either John 16 lies, or Jesus is no creature.
Praying in Jesus' name just means citing his merit, not addressing him
in many manuscripts reads "if you ask ME anything in my name, I will do it" — Jesus is the direct recipient. — Stephen prays "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." — Paul "pleaded with the Lord" three times, and the Lord answered him. — believers are defined as "those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." The New Testament treats Jesus as a direct prayer-recipient, not merely a merit-name appended to prayers addressed elsewhere.
Jesus presents the requests to Jehovah — he doesn't have to hear them all simultaneously
explicitly closes that door: "I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf." Jesus rules out being a messenger who relays requests. If He is not the messenger, but His name is the indispensable condition for the Father's answer, then He is doing something more than mediating — He is co-acting. And says He answers Himself.
Jehovah enables Jesus to hear all prayers through holy spirit
That introduces a power not described anywhere in Scripture. The Bible's logic is simpler: Jesus answers prayer Himself because He shares Jehovah's omniscience. says only the Spirit of God knows the deep things of God — and in the next breath Paul calls that Spirit "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16). Jesus shares the divine knowledge directly because He is the divine Son.
Don't make the conversation about the mechanics of prayer ("how does Jesus hear them all?"). The argument is theological — the New Testament requires Jesus to do what only God can do. Stay on that point.
Read and in your NWT. Notice that the Father's love is offered to those who pray IN Jesus' name (16:27), and that Jesus says HE will do what is asked in His name (14:14). If Jesus is a creature, why is the Father's love-response and the answer to prayer conditioned on a creature's name?