Who am I praying to?

[Godlovesmetwo]

God the Father?
God the Son?
God the Holy Spirit?
My boss?
My parent?
My friend?
My line manager?
My personal trainer?
My counsellor?
My judge and jury?

Part of the problem I have with praying is trying to imagine who God is? What role is He assuming? If He can be all of the above, then I am confused. Who is listening to me?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this problem.
Just focus on God the Father then?

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

.

 

[ImAllLikeOkWaitWat]

To Jesus, Buddha and Spongebob.

Buddha stole my gut And my beer gut shirtless fashion.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

What would I do without you guys! You are always there when I need to take myself less seriously!

 

[ImAllLikeOkWaitWat]

What would I do without you guys! You are always there when I need to take myself less seriously!

I will never leave you or forsake you...unless my internet goes out or cf goes down for some random reason. But besides those things I stand by what I said.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

I will never leave you or forsake you

now that is what I call self-sacrifice!

 

[GabrielTheWorshipper]

God the Father?
God the Son?
God the Holy Spirit?
My boss?
My parent?
My friend?
My line manager?
My personal trainer?
My counsellor?
My judge and jury?

Part of the problem I have with praying is trying to imagine who God is? What role is He assuming? If He can be all of the above, then I am confused. Who is listening to me?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this problem.
Just focus on God the Father then?

I have never thought about this at all. I just feel like I'm praying to God. Sure the trinity exists, but they all three are one God. I don't feel like I'm praying to one of them or another. Whether I mention The Father, Son or Holy Ghost in my prayers, I refer to each as fully God.

 

[Philip_B]

Prayer has many guises, and the focus of intent in our prayer may well take on such dimensions as you allude to in the OP. Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Intercession, and Supplication draw out different aspects of our relationship with God. That is not at all unreasonable, because in our relationships with each other there are often/always many aspects to the relationship, and I see no reason why it should by any more simplistic when we are talking about our relationship with God who called Existence into Existence and prayed mercy from the Cross for I had no idea what I was doing. In the silence of contemplation there is no need to answer these questions, simply to rejoice in the embrace.

 

[Greg J.]

We have one God in three Persons. You can pray to our one God or one of the Persons as you feel led. Some people pray to the Person whose role is most connected to what he or she is praying about. Jesus is our direct Lord/brother/friend, the Father created everything, the Holy Spirit is God's presence on earth, etc. Scripture describes things Jesus did that the Father didn't do (such as die on a cross). It's not a statement that they were separate from each other. It's simply that some events were described to us that way in Scripture.

Here we see each Person being responsible for different things:

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 1984 NIV)

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

You can pray to our one God or one of the Persons as you feel led.

I mean if I have a choice, I am going to pray to a friend, not a parent figure who might judge me.

 

[Greg J.]

God is less judgmental than anyone you have ever met or heard of. The more you know God, the more you will love him (and like him). The disparity between that and most people's perception of God is one of the reasons it is so important to do everything we can to attain to the truth.

to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13, 1984 NIV)

 

[GabrielTheWorshipper]

I mean if I have a choice, I am going to pray to a friend, not a parent figure who might judge me.

God is only a frightening judge to the unsaved sinners. He is a caring father to us. He is always there for us, and always listens. Same reason I never understood the whole thing about "Mary is kinder, so I pray to her." (I don't believe in praying to anyone else besides God, period. But y'know what I mean.) He cares for us, but also judges sinners. I don't feel uncomfortable praying to him one bit. I believe he is very quick to forgive me of my sins. But of course I don't sin on purpose and abuse his grace.

1 Peter 5:6-7

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:"

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

God is less judgmental than anyone you have ever met or heard of. The more you know God, the more you will love him (and like him). The disparity between that and most people's perception of God is one of the reasons it is so important to do everything we can to attain to the truth.

to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13, 1984 NIV)

Great Post Greg. that moved me.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

God is only a frightening judge to the unsaved sinners. He is a caring father to us. He is always there for us, and always listens. Same reason I never understood the whole thing about "Mary is kinder, so I pray to her." (I don't believe in praying to anyone else besides God, period. But y'know what I mean.) He cares for us, but also judges sinners. I don't feel uncomfortable praying to him one bit. I believe he is very quick to forgive me of my sins. But of course I don't sin on purpose and abuse his grace.

1 Peter 5: 6-7

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:"

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

You sound like a model Christian. Thanks for your post.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

I'm not saved in the Protestant sense. I mean I havent had a public Baptism as an adult. I was baptised as a Cradle catholic.

 

[GabrielTheWorshipper]

I'm not saved in the Protestant sense. I mean I havent had a public Baptism as an adult. I was baptised as a Cradle catholic.

I was baptized in a private place with only my own family.

 

[sparow]

God the Father?
God the Son?
God the Holy Spirit?
My boss?
My parent?
My friend?
My line manager?
My personal trainer?
My counsellor?
My judge and jury?

Part of the problem I have with praying is trying to imagine who God is? What role is He assuming? If He can be all of the above, then I am confused. Who is listening to me?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this problem.
Just focus on God the Father then?

I think the commandment is pray to the Father in Jesus's name. What is important is the communication medium: electromagnetic, audio or thought; I think I pray through the spirit within me who may provide the communication link.

 

[Greg J.]

I'm not saved in the Protestant sense. I mean I havent had a public Baptism as an adult. I was baptised as a Cradle catholic.

You don't need to be baptised to be saved. You need to be baptised to be obedient. Is Jesus your Lord? I urge you to accept him as such in your life, and respond with actions in accordance with that, such as being baptised.

 

[GabrielTheWorshipper]

You don't need to be baptised to be saved. You need to be baptised to be obedient. Is Jesus your Lord? I urge you to accept him as such in your life, and respond with actions in accordance with that, such as being baptised.

I also agree that baptism does not save, but is simply something each saved person should wish to do for their Lord and Savior.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

I also agree that baptism does not save, but is simply something each saved person should wish to do for their Lord and Savior.

This is hugely embarrassing for me to admit but I naturally assumed that when Protestants say they are saved, it means they accept Jesus Christ as their saviour in a public Baptism. (often with lots of emotional music and so on)