Who do we pray to?

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I was sitting down to pray with some brothers recently, and the opening line of a prayer was ‘Dear Heavenly Father…’ So far, so good. It was the next word that made me think. ‘Lord…’ When we pray, who is it we are actually praying to? Is it to the trinity, each member at the same time? 

We know we don’t need to be afraid of going unheard (1 John 5:14), so it is not as though our prayers would fall on deaf ears if we were to address the ‘wrong’ member of the Trinity. Indeed, each member of the Trinity is seen to participate in prayer. We see Jesus praying to the Father multiple times throughout his life (eg, John 17), the Holy Spirit intercedes when we are wordless in our prayers (Romans 8:26-27), and the Father recieves the prayers with gladness as a father listening to their child.

So all three members of the trinity are involved in prayer. Indeed, we now pray with confidence that the Father hears us, because He heard Jesus, and we are alive in Jesus. It is through Jesus that we pray.

Does it therefore matter who we pray to, as long as it is a member of the triune God? The pattern of Scripture is a friend in this matter. Where there is no explicit answer to be found, we should look to the norm of scripture to discern what our norm ought to be. 

Before we do so, it is important for us to recognise that prayer is, at its simplest, talking with God (not to!). This immense privilege cannot be overstated. It is something we have no  natural right to, but in grace have received the right. From this, we could argue that it is good and right for us as God’s people to talk with all three members of the Trinity. That is, we want to communicate with the three persons; we do not want to neglect our relationship with any one of them. Therefore, praying to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father seems a logical practice.

From this perspective, there is no right or wrong person of the Trinity to pray to. Pray to the Holy Spirit, or Jesus, or the Father. Although there is no biblical example of praying to the Holy Spirit, it would be an argument from silence to reject the practice. 

Praying to Jesus

There are, however, examples of the early church praying to Jesus. The martyr Stephen cries out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit’ (Acts 7:29). Then he continues to address Jesus in his prayer to forgive those who are stoning him. Aside from the remarkable heart to forgive those in the act of killing him, Stephen clearly has his eyes fixed on the risen Lord Jesus, and it is to Him Stephen addresses his prayers.

The Apostle Paul also encourages praying to Jesus, as the life of a Christian is one who ‘call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 1:2). That is one who cries out to Jesus as their Lord. To cry out or to plead with is a vocal practice, though in prayer it may be a posture of dependency rather than audible cries. Who is the focus of receiving those cries? It is Jesus. Paul establishes that the life of a Christian is one who cries out and prays in dependence on Jesus as Lord.

These are two examples in the New Testament of prayers to Jesus, and while there are a few more, they are not the norm.

Praying to the Father

The normal practice is to pray to God the Father. It is Jesus’ own answer when asked how to pray (Matthew 6:9), and it is his model when he prays in his distress (Matthew 26:39, 42). The majority of Paul’s letters begin or end with some kind of partition before God for his continued grace (Philemon 1, for example). 

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul helpfully shows the relationship of the Trinity in the action of prayer. ‘For through him (Jesus) we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.’ (Ephesians 2:18). By the power of the Spirit, as we are brought into Christ, we approach the Father. 

The scriptures certainly leave space for our prayers to be directed towards the Spirit or to Christ. However, the normal practice of Scripture is to pray to the Father. It is a celebration of our adoption into His household; it is a privilege for us to come before him with the assurance of a child before their perfect and loving Father.

Next time I’m praying, I will certainly be more conscious of who I am praying to. Can we pray to Jesus or the Spirit? Yes. But the norm of scripture is good for us; in prayer, the pattern of the gospel is presented. 

We are enabled to pray by the Holy Spirit, in Jesus, we stand before the Father, and we approach our Father with assurance, comfort and joy.