Should I Pray to the Father, the Son, or the Spirit?

00:00:00.000 | A podcast listener named Joe writes in to ask a perplexing question faced by all of

00:00:09.280 | us, "Should I pray to Jesus or to the Spirit or to the Father?"

00:00:15.160 | It is remarkable, Tony, how many people over the years have asked me this question.

00:00:20.800 | It's just one of the most common, and it's a good one.

00:00:24.840 | And I think I understand why it comes up so much, because we have traditions that most

00:00:31.560 | of us grew up in, and we wonder, "Well, is that tradition the only permissible way?"

00:00:40.600 | For example, most of us—it's true for me and my family—most of us in the evangelical

00:00:47.400 | family probably grew up beginning our prayers with "Heavenly Father" or "Our Father" or

00:00:54.880 | "Dear Father," and ending them with "In Jesus' name, amen."

00:00:59.840 | That's a liturgy that we've just learned.

00:01:02.760 | Pray to the Father, close in Jesus' name, amen.

00:01:06.120 | And frankly, I'm going to argue that's a great tradition.

00:01:10.600 | I think children should grow up with that form as the main form of their prayer.

00:01:18.800 | Pray to God the Father in the power of God the Spirit, in the name or by the authority

00:01:25.120 | and the merit of God the Son.

00:01:28.440 | That's the Trinitarian structure mainly of prayer in the Bible.

00:01:36.040 | And so it's not surprising that it's profoundly rooted in Scripture.

00:01:41.200 | So Hebrews 4, "Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,

00:01:46.400 | Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

00:01:50.560 | For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one

00:01:55.560 | who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

00:02:00.680 | Therefore," crucial word, "Therefore, let us with confidence draw near to the throne

00:02:07.040 | of grace."

00:02:08.440 | We only can come to God in prayer pleading for grace because we have a high priest, which

00:02:13.720 | is why we pray in Jesus' name.

00:02:17.040 | I would never let my kids, at least I tried not to, use "In Jesus' name, amen" as a throwaway

00:02:24.040 | phrase at the end of prayer.

00:02:26.920 | I told them, "Don't slur that.

00:02:29.360 | Don't rush that."

00:02:31.680 | These words express something glorious and essential.

00:02:35.760 | We have no access to God without Christ and His name.

00:02:40.520 | And so when we pray, "In Jesus' name," we're saying that to the Father.

00:02:44.360 | I'm coming not in my own name, not in my own merit, not in my own worth.

00:02:48.000 | I'm coming because Christ loved me, Christ died for me, Christ rose for me, Christ intercedes

00:02:53.000 | for me.

00:02:54.000 | That's what that little name, that little phrase carries, and it's just huge.

00:02:59.080 | And Paul draws in the third member of the Trinity, right?

00:03:02.720 | In Ephesians 6, 18, "Praying at all times in the Spirit," or Jude 1, 20, "You, beloved,

00:03:11.720 | building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit," which I think

00:03:17.720 | means realize that your heart would never have an inclination to pray to God for true

00:03:26.680 | blessing apart from the humbling, transforming, faith-giving work of the Holy Spirit.

00:03:32.400 | So confess this, say this to the Lord and to yourself.

00:03:37.600 | I rely upon the Holy Spirit when I pray in Jesus' name to the Father.

00:03:44.280 | And of course, Jesus put it totally plainly in John 15, 16, "Whatever you ask the Father

00:03:50.020 | in my name, He will give it to you."

00:03:55.840 | Now having said, "Amen, amen," that's the basic right, good tradition, I want to also

00:04:04.400 | say it is good and it is healthy to speak to Jesus as your friend and Savior and Lord

00:04:14.360 | and God and to the Holy Spirit.

00:04:18.240 | Even though some manuscripts are different here, the best one, most of the modern translations

00:04:23.600 | translate John 14, 14 like this, "Jesus said, 'If you ask me anything in my name, I will

00:04:33.360 | do it.'"

00:04:34.360 | And Revelation 22, 20, we're speaking to Jesus when we say, "He who testifies to these things

00:04:41.720 | says, 'Surely I am coming soon,'" and we respond, "Amen, come, Lord Jesus."

00:04:47.880 | Or 1 Corinthians 16, 22, "If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed," and

00:04:54.040 | then we talk to the Lord, "Oh Lord, come."

00:04:58.320 | And frankly, Tony, my own soul says, "If I grieve the Holy Spirit," which it says I do

00:05:05.560 | in Ephesians 4, 30, "If I grieve the Holy Spirit, I think I should say, 'I'm sorry,'"

00:05:14.120 | to the Holy Spirit.

00:05:15.120 | I mean, it's just strange if he's a person and I have grieved him, that I would just

00:05:21.240 | ignore talking to him and go to the Father and say, "I'm sorry I grieved your spirit."

00:05:25.720 | Well, that's okay, but there is something profound in the Trinitarian reality of the

00:05:31.200 | personhood of the Son and the Spirit that we would treat them as persons.

00:05:36.380 | So my conclusion is, let your normal, regular praying be prayer to the Father through the

00:05:42.680 | Spirit in the name of Jesus, but realize that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are persons, and

00:05:51.080 | to speak to them as a saved sinner would cannot be unnatural.

00:05:58.200 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for the question, Joe.

00:06:00.880 | We recently talked about prayer in another episode, episode number 413, titled "When

00:06:05.160 | Should I Stop Praying for Something?"

00:06:07.760 | Be sure to check that out.

00:06:09.440 | Well, it's Friday and we have a long weekend ahead of us here in the States, thanks to

00:06:12.920 | Labor Day, but the Ask Pastor John podcast does not take a break.

00:06:16.360 | No, we will be back on Monday.

00:06:18.160 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.

00:06:19.700 | Have a wonderful extended weekend.

00:06:21.760 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

00:06:30.600 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Should I Pray to the Father, the Son, or the Spirit?

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