Who Should We Pray To?

Recently I was engaged in a conversation about who we should pray to.  We were talking about the Trinity and how, to some degree, each Person of the one God has particular roles.  Only Jesus, for instance, died for our sins, not the Father or the Holy Spirit.  This idea led to the question: do we pray to particular Persons for particular things?  Let’s look at this:

The Father:

Jesus tells us to pray to the Father: Matt. 6:9 (ESV)  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”  This is the “Lord’s Prayer,” of course, and in it Jesus lists some things to pray for: God’s Kingdom to come, God’s will to be done here and in heaven, for our daily needs, for forgiveness, not to be tempted, to be delivered from evil, and give praise to our God.

The Son:

Jesus says something similar, though briefly, about Himself in John 14:14 (ESV)  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.   “Anything” would certainly include the full list of the Lord’s Prayer and then some.  So, praying to the Son is as appropriate as prayers to the Father.

The Holy Spirit:

Acts 13:2-3 (ESV)  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

This passage doesn’t directly state the disciples’ prayers and worship were directed to the Holy Spirit, but I believe it implies it strongly, especially in verse 3 after the Holy Spirit had answered their prayer and given them direction.  So prayer to the Holy Spirit is just as appropriate as to the Father and the Son.

Why is this important?

The title question stems from our misunderstanding of our God, Yahweh, and our place in His care.  Our God is one God.  God is a gracious God. There is no pride in Him and, therefore, no prideful jealousy.  Even if we could get it wrong, God looks at our hearts.  He knows what you want to say and listens intently.  He is infinite in all of His ways.  He’s infinitely benevolent so is anxious to listen and respond to our benefit.  He is infinitely knowledgeable to understand all we say and do, so He listens to our mistakes, our stumbling, our uncertainty in prayer and makes sense of those.  No matter how great we think God is, He is greater.

We as His children cannot make mistakes in our prayers to this great and gracious God.  We can’t pray to the wrong Person.  We can’t pray in a wrong way if our heart is pure toward Him.  If this is a concern for anyone you know, I suggest you point them to Romans:

Romans 8:26 (ESV)  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.