Who should I pray to? The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit?

The traditional understanding is that in the external life of the Trinity (as contrasted with the internal life of the Trinity), all of God does all that God does. In practical terms, this would mean that when you prayed, whichever Person of the Trinity you directed your prayers to, all of God, the whole Trinity, heard you.

A more elaborate response available here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schmid/theology.iv.ii.i.html

The Creator-God says: "them that honor Me, I will honor", so one should see what Scripture says about communion with Him. The exhortation of Jesus while here was to "ask anything (of God) in My Name, and I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). Now we who are "born again" can approach the Father in Jesus' Name, since we have access to Him. We can also speak to the Lord Jesus in communion with Him for praise, worship, and devotion, giving thanks for His wondrous sacrifice to redeem our souls; yet the thought is always to the Father (Jehovah God --Yahweh in Hebrew language) for provisions who provides all things. There is no reference to speaking to the Holy Spirit, who is the silent worker of the Godhead in us and through us as the power of God. That is the essence of it, I see.

I will try to answer this as best as I can:

God [all 3 forms for our purposes ; I do believe in the 3 and 1 trinity but that's for another time] in the 3 forms has the same communication network [the best way to describe it] so that he hears your prayer regardless.

With that being said, it does not matter much on which name you use to address God when praying- your heart, motives, and attitudes in praying matter more.

I hope that this helps.

The Bible gives us the example of 'Our Father, which art in Heaven and ends with 'in the name of Jesus.'

Worship and give praise and glory to God the Father in the name of Jesus.
Worship and give praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Worship and give praise and glory to the Holy Spirit.

Give thanks to the God the Father in the name of Jesus!

Ask God the Father to give you or do anything for you, in the name of Jesus.

Dear sickntired 771. In Matthew 22: 35-40: we are told: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." In verse 40: Jesus tells us: " on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." What to do now?? We are told in in Matthew 7: 7-10: " ask and you shall receive," we ask God for Love and Joy, then thank God, and share all love and Joy with our neighbour. (neighbour being all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends) We keep asking and receiving, then thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour. God will see our loving efforts, and God will approve and bless us.
The Bible tells us: " Repent and be Born Again," give up all our selfish wishes and wants, and start loving and caring for our neighbour. A Christian`s weapon is Love, and Love is very catching. Treat your neighbour as you love to be treated, and you will find that people will treat you the same as you treat people. Love will overcome a multitude of sins, and the Holy Spirit will help and guide us. Jesus will lead us all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY.
We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us and carry on loving and caring.
We ask God for Love and Joy, thank God and share all with our neighbour. The Holy spirit will help and guide us,
and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY. We ask God for Love and Joy, then thank God and share it with our neighbour. The Holy Spirit will always help and guide us, (if we ask) and Jesus is the Way.
I say this with love sickntired. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

sickntired771 said:

I am confused by all the interchanging between facets of the Trinity. should we pray to the Father, to the Messiah Yeshua or to the Holy Spirit? It seems prayers are all over the map on this one. On one hand nobody except Yeshua has seen The Father and maybe we can't access him because we need an intercessor Yeshua but on the other hand Yeshua is not here and we have the Holy Spirit to lead us.

Its confusing!

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The scriptures say we pray to the Father in the name of Yeshua/Jesus. (John 16:23)

The issue is not to become legalistic about this, turning it into some ritual statement... because then we are really just using his name in vain without the meaning behind it from the heart.

If you talk to God with head knowledge, it does nothing. You have to converse with him from your heart where your spirit is at. (John 4:24)

You should pray to your father in heaven.

Alan

All three persons of the trinity are fully and equally God. Pray to any or all of them.

All three.

For example, here's a common prayer in Orthodox Christianity: 'The Father is my hope, the Son is my refuge, the Holy Spirit is my protector. All Holy Trinity, glory to Thee!'

In the Trisagion prayers, we say, 'Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!'

Here's a link to an Orthodox Christian prayer book online: http://www.antiochian.org/orthodox-prayers/morning-prayers

If one understands John 14:23 one can see the Holy Trinity manifested. The Father (Creator-Jehovah --mind of the Godhead, and the Lord Jesus (anointed Lord and Savior for mankind) comes to make their abode in the true believer by the power, energy, and spiritual workings of the Holy Spirit. That is God present.

As I noted above, no where in the Word is man called to try speaking and communing with the Spirit ---that is only the imagination of men. The Spirit of God is simply the Father's outreach by grace to dwell in man as a temple (meditate on John 14:23).

We are called to pray to the Father in the Name of the Lord Jesus (who is now in Heaven). Then All blessings come from the Father by His mind (Spirit). By example: you would not address my brain if you should address me for conversation (I hope) ---you would acknowledge me. We should not go beyond Scripture and reason something more than what God shows us.

sickntired771 said:

I am confused by all the interchanging between facets of the Trinity. should we pray to the Father, to the Messiah Yeshua or to the Holy Spirit? It seems prayers are all over the map on this one. On one hand nobody except Yeshua has seen The Father and maybe we can't access him because we need an intercessor Yeshua but on the other hand Yeshua is not here and we have the Holy Spirit to lead us.

Its confusing!

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Read what Yeshua told us in Matthew 6 as to the right way to pray.
“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. And forgive us our debts,as we also have forgiven our debtors.And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from the evil one.’

sickntired771 said:

I am confused by all the interchanging between facets of the Trinity. should we pray to the Father, to the Messiah Yeshua or to the Holy Spirit? It seems prayers are all over the map on this one. On one hand nobody except Yeshua has seen The Father and maybe we can't access him because we need an intercessor Yeshua but on the other hand Yeshua is not here and we have the Holy Spirit to lead us.

Its confusing!

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Always pray to the Father, God, and closed the prayer "in Jesus' name. Amen."

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray it was “Our Father.” However there are times when other approaches make sense. E.g. in the communion liturgy there is an invocation inviting the Holy Spirit to be present. There are times when you might feel better addressing Jesus. I don’t think any of these is wrong. But if there isn’t a specific reason, I’d tend to address the Father in Jesus’ name.

sickntired771 said:

I am confused by all the interchanging between facets of the Trinity. should we pray to the Father, to the Messiah Yeshua or to the Holy Spirit? It seems prayers are all over the map on this one. On one hand nobody except Yeshua has seen The Father and maybe we can't access him because we need an intercessor Yeshua but on the other hand Yeshua is not here and we have the Holy Spirit to lead us.

Its confusing!

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Who did Jesus pray to when His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray?

dga said:

Worship and give praise and glory to God the Father in the name of Jesus.
Worship and give praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Worship and give praise and glory to the Holy Spirit.

Give thanks to the God the Father in the name of Jesus!

Ask God the Father to give you or do anything for you, in the name of Jesus.

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Very good - I can't add to that.

sickntired771 said:

I am confused by all the interchanging ...

Its confusing!

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It's very simple.

the first thing you need to do is pray to *receive* the Holy Spirit.

Then you will gain the ability to "pray in the Holy Spirit"
(John 4:23-24, 1 Cor. 14:2, 4, 14-22)

Then you will have the love, joy and peace that passes any natural man's understanding - Romans 8:26-27

sickntired771 said:

I am confused by all the interchanging between facets of the Trinity. should we pray to the Father, to the Messiah Yeshua or to the Holy Spirit? It seems prayers are all over the map on this one. On one hand nobody except Yeshua has seen The Father and maybe we can't access him because we need an intercessor Yeshua but on the other hand Yeshua is not here and we have the Holy Spirit to lead us.

Its confusing!

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God is the Father, so you pray to Him, and close "in Jesus' name, amen."

I have often wondered this same thing. In fact today actually. I read John 16: 26-27. I was puzzled. He said he does not ske on our behalf...that we can ask the Father Himself because He loves us! It makes sense becuase the Disciples had asked the Lord how shall we pray. And he started with : "Our Father who art in heaven..." I read something from John Piper on the web and the lights came on so to speak. I typed in John 16:26. Typed in the words in the google search. I would link but I cannot. Hope this info helps a bit.