I have heard prayers to every kind of deity imaginable as a Christian, having had fellowship with many factions, sects, and denominations. The Mormons, for instance, like to think of God just as their "Heavenly Father." They put God in a box, and fail to see Him as Redeemer, Judge, and Counselor as well. God is multifaceted like a diamond and we shouldn't just see God as "the man upstairs," the "Great Spirit in the Sky" or "the Old Man," for instance. We don't invoke God like the Greek pagans, who said, "O mighty Zeus, judge of the right, protector of the innocent, power behind the lightning bolt, ad infinitum; we don't try to butter up God, but simply call on Him as He gave us the right to do via Jesus' instruction in the Sermon on the Mount.
Suppose one person addressed the president as President so-and-so, another as John, and another as Dad; who do you suppose had the greatest privilege and intimacy? There is power in knowing God as Father, and we have the right to be called the children of God (John 1:12). In prayer, how would you feel if someone prayed in the name of the "Man Upstairs?" Wouldn't it show more respect and intimacy to use Jesus' name? Angels don't even have this authorization to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit--which is our formula for prayer, Let your prayers show your intimacy with the Almighty and not alienation or unfamiliarity. We go to the top, and the Most High has an open-door policy for us.
"...I write to you dear children because you have known the Father" (1 John 2:14).
"So if you call God your Father..." (1 Pet. 1:7).
God has given us His covenant names to claim and to realize His divine nature, but He loves it when we address Him simply as "[Our] Father" (this is the most honorable appellation He has given us as His children--see 1 John 3:1). Note: There is no universal fatherhood of God--only believers can claim God as their Father. When Jesus introduced this, it was radical and revolutionary; it was a breakthrough and taking new ground or territory spiritually. "The Spirit cries out with our spirit, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15). Per contra popular thought, Abba doesn't mean "Daddy," though abi does. We have this divine privilege that angels don't have a family! We are adopted into God's family and born of the Spirit. If we pray simply: "O God in heaven," it sounds like we don't know our Lord very well.
Surely God is in heaven, but He is here too! "Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away?" says Jeremiah 23:23. He is the "YHWH Shamah" or "the LORD who is there." Case in point: "Surely the LORD was in this place and I knew it not." God is the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord is upon us to pray "in the Spirit" (Jude 20). The formula, I reiterate, and that the Bible sanctions are to pray in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note that I am not saying we cannot intersperse other forms of address in our prayer, like LORD God, but the primary focus is on His Fatherhood.
We are to "boldly approach the throne of grace" as Hebrews 4:16 exhorts and have faith. When we take ourselves too seriously and take our eyes off of Jesus it is hard to penetrate His dimension ("Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise" per Psalm 100:4). Jesus ushers us into the very throne room of God and we have access and the right to go to the top with God's "open-door policy." Jeremiah 3:19 says that God was disappointed that Israel didn't call Him "Father" ("I thought you would call Me Father.") Father is a term of endearment or gesture of intimacy.
When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God," he felt distant from His God and Father. There is no greater honor (every human father is proud to have his son call him Dad and would be insulted if he were called "Mr. so-and-so," or even "Sir"); there is no greater privilege. We should take advantage of this right and not feel estranged from God anymore. When we pray we are to "put on the Lord Jesus" and that means to pray as a SON!
In conclusion: It is not wrong to pray to Jesus or the Holy Spirit (though it is sinful to pray to any saint or invoke the Virgin Mary, which is Mariolatry); but there is little precedent for praying to Jesus (the text in John 14:13-14 is dubious), or the Holy Spirit it in Scripture and we should really pray as the Lord taught us in obedience. We are ushered into the dimension of God, His very throne room, and presence, by the virtue of Jesus' redemption on our behalf.
The scriptural formula is expressed in Eph. 2:18, NKJV: "For through Him we both have access by one spirit to the Father." Soli Deo Gloria!
Suppose one person addressed the president as President so-and-so, another as John, and another as Dad; who do you suppose had the greatest privilege and intimacy? There is power in knowing God as Father, and we have the right to be called the children of God (John 1:12). In prayer, how would you feel if someone prayed in the name of the "Man Upstairs?" Wouldn't it show more respect and intimacy to use Jesus' name? Angels don't even have this authorization to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit--which is our formula for prayer, Let your prayers show your intimacy with the Almighty and not alienation or unfamiliarity. We go to the top, and the Most High has an open-door policy for us.
"...I write to you dear children because you have known the Father" (1 John 2:14).
"So if you call God your Father..." (1 Pet. 1:7).
God has given us His covenant names to claim and to realize His divine nature, but He loves it when we address Him simply as "[Our] Father" (this is the most honorable appellation He has given us as His children--see 1 John 3:1). Note: There is no universal fatherhood of God--only believers can claim God as their Father. When Jesus introduced this, it was radical and revolutionary; it was a breakthrough and taking new ground or territory spiritually. "The Spirit cries out with our spirit, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15). Per contra popular thought, Abba doesn't mean "Daddy," though abi does. We have this divine privilege that angels don't have a family! We are adopted into God's family and born of the Spirit. If we pray simply: "O God in heaven," it sounds like we don't know our Lord very well.
Surely God is in heaven, but He is here too! "Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away?" says Jeremiah 23:23. He is the "YHWH Shamah" or "the LORD who is there." Case in point: "Surely the LORD was in this place and I knew it not." God is the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord is upon us to pray "in the Spirit" (Jude 20). The formula, I reiterate, and that the Bible sanctions are to pray in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note that I am not saying we cannot intersperse other forms of address in our prayer, like LORD God, but the primary focus is on His Fatherhood.
We are to "boldly approach the throne of grace" as Hebrews 4:16 exhorts and have faith. When we take ourselves too seriously and take our eyes off of Jesus it is hard to penetrate His dimension ("Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise" per Psalm 100:4). Jesus ushers us into the very throne room of God and we have access and the right to go to the top with God's "open-door policy." Jeremiah 3:19 says that God was disappointed that Israel didn't call Him "Father" ("I thought you would call Me Father.") Father is a term of endearment or gesture of intimacy.
When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God," he felt distant from His God and Father. There is no greater honor (every human father is proud to have his son call him Dad and would be insulted if he were called "Mr. so-and-so," or even "Sir"); there is no greater privilege. We should take advantage of this right and not feel estranged from God anymore. When we pray we are to "put on the Lord Jesus" and that means to pray as a SON!
In conclusion: It is not wrong to pray to Jesus or the Holy Spirit (though it is sinful to pray to any saint or invoke the Virgin Mary, which is Mariolatry); but there is little precedent for praying to Jesus (the text in John 14:13-14 is dubious), or the Holy Spirit it in Scripture and we should really pray as the Lord taught us in obedience. We are ushered into the dimension of God, His very throne room, and presence, by the virtue of Jesus' redemption on our behalf.
The scriptural formula is expressed in Eph. 2:18, NKJV: "For through Him we both have access by one spirit to the Father." Soli Deo Gloria!
This was prompted by a friends prayer that didn't jibe with me and I wondered if our prayers were getting through. We should show solidarity in our corporate prayers by saying "Our Father" Incidentally, "Heavenly Father" doesn't necessarily mean He is in heaven, but only that He is divine or like a heavenly being. I can recall Dr. D. James Kennedy's prayers saying "O God" and they didn't seem to articulate very much familiarity with the Father. "Let's talk to the Father about this!" We need to accept the Fatherhood of God as well as the Lordship of Christ.
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