Who are we to pray to?

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Abd_Yesua_alMasih

Puritan Board Junior
This has confused me a bit since becoming Reformed and I am wondering who is prayer supposed to be made to? Charismatics/Pentacostals can come up with a lot of answers but I am wondering what the Reformed/Biblical answer is?

My first thoughts are as follows (please correct me if I am wrong) - prayer is to be made to God the Father Almighty through (and in the name of) Jesus Christ who is our mediator. Is this correct? My support for such a view comes from - 1 Timothy 2:5 which says, "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, " Hebrews 12:22-24 in a condensed version says, "But you have come to ... Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant..."

Again when Christ was asked how we should pray he said, "Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." (Matthew 6:9).

What are your thoughts?
 
John 14:13-14

"And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

John 15:16

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you."

John 16:23-24

"And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."
 
Fisher's Catechism, Q. 98:

QUESTION 98. What is prayer?

ANSWER: Prayer is an offering up of our desires to God for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.

Q. 1. "Are we to pray to God only?"

A. "God only being to be believed in, and worshipped with religious worship, prayer, which is a special part thereof, is to be made by all to him alone, and to none other."[164]

Q. 2. Why is prayer to be made by all to God alone, and to none other?

A. Because "God only is able to search the hearts, hear the requests, pardon the sins, and fulfil the desires of all."[165]

Q. 3. May we not direct our prayers to any of the persons of the adorable Trinity?

A. To be sure we may: for the Three-one God being the sole object of religious worship, whichever of the three persons we address, the other two are understood as included, 2 Cor. 13:14.

Q. 21. In whose NAME are we to ask things agreeable to God's will?

A. In the name of Christ.

Q. 22. What is it to pray in the name of Christ?

A. It is, "in obedience to his command, and in confidence of his promise, to ask mercies for his sake?"[166]

Q. 23. Is the bare mentioning of Christ's name, a praying therein?

A. No; but a "drawing our encouragement to pray, and our boldness, strength, and hope of acceptance in prayer, from Christ and his mediation."[167]

Q. 24. "Why are we to pray in the name of Christ?"

A. "Because the sinfulness of man, and his distance from God, by reason thereof, is so great, as that we can have no access into his presence without a Mediator."[168]

Q. 25. Is there any other Mediator but Christ, in whose name we may approach to God?

A. No; "there being none in heaven or earth appointed to, or fit for that glorious work but Christ alone, we are to pray in no other name but his only, Col. 3:17.[169]
 
Does anyone else think it odd when people pray to Jesus and end with "we pray in Your name?"
 
Mat 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
 
Thomas Watson in his commentary on the SC:


Q. In what order must we direct our prayers to God? Here the Father only is named. May we not direct our prayers to the Son and Holy Ghost also?

Ans. Though the Father only be named in the Lord's prayer, yet the other two Persons are not excluded. The Father is mentioned because he is first in order; but the Son and Holy Ghost are included because they are the same in essence. As all the three Persons subsist in one Godhead, so, in our prayers, though we name but one Person, we must pray to all. To come more closely to the first words of the preface, 'Our Father.' Princes on earth give themselves titles expressing their greatness, as 'High and Mighty.' God might have done so, and expressed himself thus, 'Our King of glory, our Judge:' but he gives himself another title, 'Our Father,' an expression of love and condescension. That he might encourage us to pray to him, he represents himself under the sweet notion of a Father. 'Our Father.' Dulce nomen Patris [Sweet is the name of Father]. The name Jehovah carries majesty in it: the name Father carries mercy in it.
 
The following verse was quoted above in Fisher's Catechism.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 2 Corinthians 13:14

How does this support the statement "...whichever of the three persons we address, the other two are understood as included."?
 
Originally posted by Abd_Yesua_alMasih
The following verse was quoted above in Fisher's Catechism.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 2 Corinthians 13:14

How does this support the statement "...whichever of the three persons we address, the other two are understood as included."?

It is a reaffirmation of the Trinity. Our God is a Trinitarian God, three Persons in one Being. When one Person is worshipped, the other two are worshipped as well.
 
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