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Is it okay to pray to Jesus or the Holy Spirit and not address God the Father by name in the prayer??

I want to know how to pray better. I have been told to use “the Lord’s prayer” as a model to discover this. But I find that I don’t understand it enough or lack imagination to expound off of that very much to make an impacting prayer [or I feel like it is too regimented and rehearsed]. Please help!!!

Great question! There are a plethora of books and teachings on how to pray, why, when, and what to pray about. I believe we need more teaching exactly whom our petitions and prayers are to be directed within the Trinity. I believe this is a very important issue.I  believe the Bible presents God as one being in three distinct persons. I believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are ontologically equal, the same in being and nature. It is important to learn how we connect with the God, the Trinity, and specifically how we do so in prayer.
I’ve spent a long time in my own journey studying the Bible about the Trinity  for my own purposes in order to shape my understanding of prayer.  I believe that scripture systematically describes our relationship with God the Father, through Jesus Christ, empowered and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. And I believe the same is true in our prayer life. We pray to the Father, through (or by) Jesus, as the Holy Spirit empowers, guides, and directs us.  So this is a hot button for me so I’ll do my best to answer this with scripture and with other theologians who have helped me.

I’ve found there are many approaches to prayer being taught and practiced. I believe some are Biblically rooted, others are rooted in church tradition, and others plainly are not Biblical or found in the tradition of Evangelical Christianity at all. Yet one question arises continually. To whom do we pray to within the Trinity? Some people pray to Jesus, some to Holy Spirit, others to God and still others to all three at the same time.

When I first started following Jesus a teenager I wasn’t specifically taught how to pray.  I just remember being taught that praying was important and the central way to relate to God. I developed my theology of prayer by listening to others and modeling what I heard. Usually it entailed addressing God in some fashion.  “Dear Jesus,” was common and making sure the Holy Spirit was mentioned was important. And of course closing with, “In the name of Jesus, Amen.” I then haphazardly passed this method on to others. As I have matured and experienced different ministry contexts (from Conservative High Catholic Church to Pentecostal Charismatic assemblies), I’ve realized I need a more concise and clear method in order to teach others to pray, especially in regard to the Holy Spirit. Not everyone agrees with me, so I encourage you to come to your conclusions and be able to back them up biblically.

When learning (or teaching someone) to pray I believe the place to start is with how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. The Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6 (and Luke 11) is significant and intentional. “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”

Notice that Jesus taught prayer addressed to, “Our Father in Heaven.” This is pivotal in our theology of prayer. Jesus himself never speaks to the Holy Spirit, invites him to come, petitions him, points others to speak to him, or says that he has been speaking to him. So therefore I don’t teach this or practice this myself. I believe that we are to follow Jesus and do what he did and pray as he prayed.  Jesus directs us to pray to God our Father. Another way that I understand prayer can be found in Jesus’ invitation to those who want to be his disciples. He says, “Follow me.” In taking up his invitation to follow him there are two things that I believe about his invitation. The first is that his invitation invites us to become a student of him as master teacher. We are invited to watch him, model him, learn from him, become like him, and ultimately pray like him. And second his invitation comes with a destination. Jesus invites humankind to follow him because we have been invited to reconnect once again to the Father from whom we have been separated.

One of my favorite theologians, Stanley J. Grenz, says, “It is always important that we pray in accordance with our Lord’s functions within the divine program.” Grenz teaches that the Father is the recipient of not only our petitions but of our confessions, as well. As it is with the Father that sin destroys fellowship  and requires reconciliation. It was for this reason Jesus was sent to give his life on the altar for us, to heal us, and reunite us in God’s family.  Jesus as human interacted with God the Father through this Spirit for which we also are invited to replicate. It is through this theology we see the Holy Spirit at work revealing the truth and pointing us to Jesus who is the way to the Father and enables us to pray.

Arthur Wallis’ book “Pray in the Spirit,” says, “Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension have torn the curtain apart and opened a way for man into the otherwise inaccessible presence of God .” This invitation includes a relationship with God the Father in which we relate to him praying through Jesus while the Holy Spirit works in us, speaking to and through us and reminding and revealing the truth that Jesus has given us. This is why Jesus said in Luke 11, after teaching the Lord’s Prayer, that God the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Again, we are not directed to speak to the Holy Spirit, but to receive him and allow him to work in and fill us.  So in prayer I say, “Father God, I pray to you through Jesus and ask you to send Holy Spirit to fill me, heal me and guide me.”

Paul says in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit is at work praying through us, and crying out, “Abba” through us. I believe this is further evidence that we address our prayers to the Father with help from the Holy Spirit. Rather than teach people to pray to the Holy Spirit, I teach that the Spirit helps us to pray to the Father. The New Testament presents God the Holy Spirit as an intercessor, comforter, advocate, bringer of truth, and Spirit who fills believers with power.

Wallis says, “ Praying in the Spirit” summarizes in a phrase the New Testament norm for the believer’s prayer life .“ I am convinced that if we are to learn to pray from Jesus’ model as well as the other New Testament figures, we find that the Holy Spirit is at work powerfully as believers are praying by the name (character and person) of Jesus Christ directly to God the Father.

Take the believers’ prayer in Acts 4: 24-31. The disciples raised their voices together in prayer to God. They addressed God as Sovereign Lord, stating he spoke through the Holy Spirit. They don’t even address their petition to Jesus because we read they speak about Jesus signifying that they are talking to God the Father. In verse 29 they pray, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” They pray through the name of Jesus (and not to Jesus or the Spirit) and after, the house shakes. They then are filled with the Holy Spirit and they are empowered to speak boldly.  That’s prayer in the Spirit. This prayer aligns with the life and teaching of Jesus. Jesus is the only mediator between humankind and God . When we believe upon Jesus we are welcomed to talk directly with the Father whereby there is supernatural Spirit activity.

We see this in Paul’s epistles. His prayers are directed to God the Father through Jesus. (Only one time is noted when Paul didn’t petition God the Father. He pleads to the “Lord” for the thorn in his flesh to be removed). When opening his letters, like Romans 1:8, Paul says, “How I thank God through Jesus Christ.” In Colossians 1:3-14 Paul models praying, thanking, and asking God the Father through Jesus Christ. He exhorts the Philippians to pray and bring their requests to God so that the peace of Christ will be with them. He says, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice .” This is compelling for those wanting to learn about prayer. We need to build a theology of prayer on the totality of scripture. Combining the teaching and practice of Jesus with what Paul teaches we have a very specific model of prayer in which to put into practice. This continues my thesis that we pray directly to God the Father as Jesus made the way for us and do so filled with the Holy Spirit.

Clark H. Pinnock’s book, Flame of Love, illuminates another aspect of the Spirit in prayer. “Perhaps the Spirit wishes no other name than that the generic ascription for God. The others are called ‘Father’ and ‘Son,’ but Spirit takes no special name and chooses to remain anonymous. Deferentially he turns away from himself and graciously points to the others .” Pinnock goes on to say that Holy Spirit is humble and he hides his face, but blesses those he loves and also feels anguish in turn when those he loves are not in right relationship with God.

Dr. Scot McKnight, professor and well-known author, casually lectured on prayer and the church at a seminar I attended. He taught that we should address God as Father as we are taught to pray by Jesus who directed his prayers to the Father . I raised my hand and asked if he could speak more about praying to the Father opposed to Jesus or Holy Spirit. He casually in a matter-of-fact tone said, “Jesus taught us to pray to the Father and therefore we do, that’s it.” He turned to his notes and continued to talk. The questioning hands went up around the room. Many more wanted to comment and question this topic. He looked up from his notes and realized there were about ten hands in the air. He asked, “Is this really that big of an issue?” There was a resounding murmur of yeses! This topic of whom to pray to created a huge buzz that Dr. McKnight did not believe nor seem ready to discuss. He ended up writing a post entitled, “To Whom do we pray?,” on his blog  that day and it generated a lot of response.

I am seeking to pray and learn about the mysterious yet what I believe to be a systematic order to the Trinity. I believe that indirectly I am teaching and discipling others as I pray aloud, like Jesus did outside the tomb of Lazarus in John 11. As others listen to us pray, they develop a theology of prayer. Jesus was concerned that his hearers knew that the Father sent him. He didn’t pray to the Holy Spirit, he prayed to the Father. Later when Jesus was preparing to leave the Earth he taught his disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and remind them of what he taught. The Spirit would convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. When this happens people turn toward Jesus and the cross, which covers their guilt and sin so that they can stand before and petition a Holy God and Father. This relationship of prayer seems to me to be consistent with what I see in scripture. Regardless, we know God is a God of grace and is about teaching us gently and helping us to know him, who he is and how he works.

~Tony Gapastione, College Age and Young Adults Pastor