"...I write to you, dear children because you have known the Father" (1 John 2:13). Act and pray like you know Him! We invoke the name of the Father who is on the throne ruling in heaven and can call Him Lord and God, but we have the sole privilege of also calling Him "Father." We should never invoke the names of saints or "The Blessed Mother or Virgin Mary." Only God hears prayer!
"To You who hear prayer, to You all men will come" (Psalm 65:2). The vital thing is that we know the one we are praying to and have a relationship with Him.
I have been around a lot in different so-called Christian circles and have heard many types of prayer. My earliest recollections are of going to a charismatic Bible camp and everyone praying to Jesus. I told them that I pray to the Father like Jesus told us to. They thought I was a kook. I'm not saying that Jesus doesn't hear prayer, but that in the Lord's Prayer the precedent is to pray to the Father in heaven. They can point to the example of the first martyr Stephen praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." But I don't see any conflict of interest or contradiction at all--of course, He can receive our spirits upon our demise. Show me one legitimate example of a prayer in the New Testament to Jesus, We are to pray to the Father (our spirits cry out, "Abba, Father"), in the name of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit--that's the formula. And so we should pray to the Father, plain and simple.
Pentecostals that I have been around prayer to the so-called "Father-God" and this moniker or title is nowhere to be found in Scripture. Of course, we assert the deity of the Father and any suggestion otherwise is heresy and damnable. But why give God a nickname that seems to have an exclusive mindset that you are "in." They don't seem to accept you unless you pray like them. For this reason, I refuse to pray to the so-called "Father-God," not that I deny Him, but I don't see any precedent. Let's simply pray to the Father and there will be no reason to be critical. Jeremiah 3:19 says, "...I thought you would call me 'Father'..."
Jehovah's Witnesses pray to Jehovah and believe sincerely that that is His real name--actually God has no name that we can comprehend and also many names, but His covenant name is "I AM WHO I AM" or "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE." "I AM THAT I AM." I don't pray to Jehovah for this reason, I don't want to be in solidarity with a cult. Jesus said to Mary, "I go to My Father, and to your Father." He is our Father and corporate prayer should address Him so.
I know of a brother who always prays to "O God, in heaven." I have been taken aback by figuring this out. Naturally, there is a God in heaven, but nowhere in the Scriptures does anybody pray to this God as named. It is simply not biblical and some are sticklers about being aligned with the Word of Truth so that no one can say anything to judge us. The above name person sounds like he doesn't know his God very well, that he prays to such a generic title for God. Muslims can pray to a God in heaven and claim Allah is just His name. No legitimate religion gives the stamp of approval to such a prayer. Why not pray to God using His covenant name. Only Christians can pray to the Father, angels cannot address God this way! We are part of God's family and have the "privilege" to pray using this name for God.
Now there are Old Testament prayers that don't pray to the Father: But they didn't quite grasp God as their Father yet and the revelation wasn't made manifest until Jesus came. They always thought of God as their Father but dared not presume to be too friendly or familiar with God. But this is what God wants: that we should feel comfortable and familiar with God and pray freely in the Spirit.
To conclude, you might think I'm being too picky or splitting hairs and this is not important, but the proof is in the pudding and I have found God answering my prayers since I have called upon the name of the Lord and address Him as He desires--i.e., Father--a familial and familiar formula. Jesus is the one who laid down the law and gave us His example to emulate, as it were, not me. It's a matter of reverence and devotion: "Come, my children, and listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD" (Psalm 34:11). Let's not be lax in our prayer life! Let's err on the side of caution and obedience. Note that I am not saying that something is true because it works, but if it's true it will work. (TM works, but is not true, for example.) [The modern test of an idea according to John Dewey is not whether it's true, but whether it works! That's pragmatism.] Soli Deo Gloria!
"To You who hear prayer, to You all men will come" (Psalm 65:2). The vital thing is that we know the one we are praying to and have a relationship with Him.
I have been around a lot in different so-called Christian circles and have heard many types of prayer. My earliest recollections are of going to a charismatic Bible camp and everyone praying to Jesus. I told them that I pray to the Father like Jesus told us to. They thought I was a kook. I'm not saying that Jesus doesn't hear prayer, but that in the Lord's Prayer the precedent is to pray to the Father in heaven. They can point to the example of the first martyr Stephen praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." But I don't see any conflict of interest or contradiction at all--of course, He can receive our spirits upon our demise. Show me one legitimate example of a prayer in the New Testament to Jesus, We are to pray to the Father (our spirits cry out, "Abba, Father"), in the name of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit--that's the formula. And so we should pray to the Father, plain and simple.
Pentecostals that I have been around prayer to the so-called "Father-God" and this moniker or title is nowhere to be found in Scripture. Of course, we assert the deity of the Father and any suggestion otherwise is heresy and damnable. But why give God a nickname that seems to have an exclusive mindset that you are "in." They don't seem to accept you unless you pray like them. For this reason, I refuse to pray to the so-called "Father-God," not that I deny Him, but I don't see any precedent. Let's simply pray to the Father and there will be no reason to be critical. Jeremiah 3:19 says, "...I thought you would call me 'Father'..."
Jehovah's Witnesses pray to Jehovah and believe sincerely that that is His real name--actually God has no name that we can comprehend and also many names, but His covenant name is "I AM WHO I AM" or "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE." "I AM THAT I AM." I don't pray to Jehovah for this reason, I don't want to be in solidarity with a cult. Jesus said to Mary, "I go to My Father, and to your Father." He is our Father and corporate prayer should address Him so.
I know of a brother who always prays to "O God, in heaven." I have been taken aback by figuring this out. Naturally, there is a God in heaven, but nowhere in the Scriptures does anybody pray to this God as named. It is simply not biblical and some are sticklers about being aligned with the Word of Truth so that no one can say anything to judge us. The above name person sounds like he doesn't know his God very well, that he prays to such a generic title for God. Muslims can pray to a God in heaven and claim Allah is just His name. No legitimate religion gives the stamp of approval to such a prayer. Why not pray to God using His covenant name. Only Christians can pray to the Father, angels cannot address God this way! We are part of God's family and have the "privilege" to pray using this name for God.
Now there are Old Testament prayers that don't pray to the Father: But they didn't quite grasp God as their Father yet and the revelation wasn't made manifest until Jesus came. They always thought of God as their Father but dared not presume to be too friendly or familiar with God. But this is what God wants: that we should feel comfortable and familiar with God and pray freely in the Spirit.
To conclude, you might think I'm being too picky or splitting hairs and this is not important, but the proof is in the pudding and I have found God answering my prayers since I have called upon the name of the Lord and address Him as He desires--i.e., Father--a familial and familiar formula. Jesus is the one who laid down the law and gave us His example to emulate, as it were, not me. It's a matter of reverence and devotion: "Come, my children, and listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD" (Psalm 34:11). Let's not be lax in our prayer life! Let's err on the side of caution and obedience. Note that I am not saying that something is true because it works, but if it's true it will work. (TM works, but is not true, for example.) [The modern test of an idea according to John Dewey is not whether it's true, but whether it works! That's pragmatism.] Soli Deo Gloria!