Are you sure if you should pray to God the Father, His son Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or the Saints?
This is an extremely challenging subject to consider. The Bible says to diligently study God's Word; not to assume or guess about anything. After 8 and 1/2 hours of careful Bible study on this subject, I am confident that we must be careful not to decide what scripture means, based on what we think we know, nor how we wish things were, but by what God's Word actually reveals to us in truth, through scripture, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts as our wise Teacher. I'm glad God's Word doesn't leave us to guess on this complex subject. God always gives me His best and I always want to give Him nothing less than my best. I learned quite a lot through this study. I hope you'll take away something valuable from it, too.
In scripture, "God" is understood as the Trinity - Father, Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit - all being one God, yet three distinct persons... each having their own role in the Trinity and Godhead. We know that, because Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the foul of the air and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth." So when we pray to "GOD", we are including every person in the Trinity, but should we pray solely to the Holy Spirit? In order to answer that, we must first check out whom God is...and is not!
The verse people most commonly cite to support praying "to" or "in" the Holy Spirit is Ephesians 6:18, which states: "Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication". I don't see one word in that verse, that instructs us to pray exclusively to the Holy Spirit. This verse only instructs believers to pray, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and empower them. That is the Holy Spirit's divine role... in unity with the Father and Son.
Another relevant verse is Jude 20, which says "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit"....not TO.
While these verses don't explicitly say "pray directly to the Holy Spirit", they do encourage us to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and empower us during prayer. In fact, when someone asked Jesus how we ought to pray, He told them to pray to God the Father, then gave them the example of the Lord's Prayer. Even Jesus prayed to His Father in heaven from the cross, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!"
When by yourself, Matthew 6:6-13 directs us: "But when you pray, enter into the closet and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret, shall reward you openly."
That doesn't mean we must literally only pray in our closet. Prayer can be said anywhere. The Lord is wanting us to get alone with Him, where it's quiet and there are no distractions from the devil, to interrupt our prayer or our thoughts during prayer.
Even Jesus wants us to focus our prayers to His Father. Jesus' particular role in the Godhead, is that He was appointed by God the Father, to be Savior of the world. That does not mean He forced Jesus to die on the cross to pay for our sins, as Jesus volunteered to be our Savior, out of His great love for us.
We are to pray to the Father in the name, authority, and merit of His Son, Jesus. That is the Bible's trinitarian prayer structure. It is only possible to come to God in prayer, in the name of His Son, because Jesus is our Great High Priest and our only Meditator between God and man (1st Timothy 2:5). We have no access to God, without Christ and His name. Since the Father is the only true God according to Jesus, it is the Father that Jesus is referring to, as the only One whom we should worship.
In the Bible, the commandment that says we should only pray to one god, is in Exodus 20:3, which states, "You shall have no other gods before Me". This forbids and protects us from worshipping a false god, instead of praying to whom Jesus said is the only true God....Yehweh.
Deuteronomy 4:35, 39 confirms that — "Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightest know that the LORD, He is God; there is none else beside Him."
Luke 4:8 - Jesus answered, “It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only. '”
Exodus 20:3, is the first commandment in the Ten Commandments. It forbids the worship of false gods and instead requires the worship of the one true God. The Lord Jesus tells us to worship God the Father in Spirit and TRUTH. (John 4:23, 24) It doesn't say to pray to the Holy Spirit or even Mary. Revelation 5:8 simply says that when "the Lamb" had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of all the saints. It says nothing of our praying TO Saints. These are prayers that saints have prayed and then offered before God, but it doesn't say about what nor for whom. Praying to saints (those followers of Christ who have passed on to be with the Lord) goes against the first commandment. Remember, God said Jesus is our only Advocate/Meditator between God and man. 1st Timothy 2:5
Where in the Bible does it say, "I am the only God?"
That's in Isaiah 45:5 - "And you don't even know me! I am God, the only God there is. Besides me, there are no real gods."
This verse emphasizes that there is no other god besides Yahweh, and that worship and allegiance should be exclusively reserved to Him. The Bible says that God is the only one worthy of worship, and that we should love and serve him with all our heart, soul, and mind. There are 38 other verses that say the same. How many times and ways does God have to tell us?
This also includes a prohibition of making idols, which are graven images or likenesses of anything in the heavens, on earth, or in the waters.
Prayer should first be directed to God the Father. As we have seen, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed (holy) be thy name..." Matthew 6:9. The Father sent his Son into the world to redeem sinners, so we may be reconciled to Him, John 3:16. We pray to God the Father, in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus always points us to God, His Father.
The key thing to remember is that Jesus, being sinless, took on the punishment for humanity's sins by dying on the cross, allowing God to forgive us and declare us righteous.
Imputed righteousness:
This means that God "counts" Jesus' righteousness as our own, even though we cannot earn salvation through our own actions, Ephesians 2:8-10. God did not appoint nor give us permission to change His Plan of Salvation. We are saved by grace alone - UNEARNED favor from God...by trusting in Jesus' promise to save us.
According to the Bible, Jesus is worthy of praise, being the Savior of humanity and His life, death, and Resurrection, demonstrate His righteousness.
Evidence in the Bible:
Hebrews 1:1-4 describes Jesus' attributes, including His radiance, power, and role as the exact representation of God.
Revelation 5:13 describes how every creature will sing to Jesus and proclaim His worthiness.
Psalm 145:3 describes the Lord as great and worthy of praise.
Jesus himself said, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6). Notice He did not say He was "just any old way" to get to heaven, but "THE WAY" to have eternal life in heaven. Jesus is worthy of our love and praise.
Why does Jesus say that we are to pray to the Father, instead of praying to the trinity, if all three persons are one God in equality?
While Jesus is part of the Triune God, he consistently instructs people to pray to the Father, because He is demonstrating the distinct relationship within the trinity, where Jesus acts as the Meditator between humanity and God the Father; essentially, we access God through Jesus, so when we pray, we address our prayers to the Father, in Jesus' name.
The Bible often highlights a distinction between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with Jesus acting as the Intermediary. By praying to the Father, Jesus is showing us how to approach His Father, through Himself. When we pray in Jesus' name, it means we are coming before God through Jesus' sacrifice and authority.
