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Bible Question: I
do not know of any scripture that tells us to worship or pray to the
Holy Spirit. Nor, for that matter, do we pray to Jesus. We pray to
the Father in Jesus' name. Specifically, we are told to make our supplications
to God (Phil. 4:6). The word "God" means the "Father."
Now, just one other argument from logic for not praying to the Holy
Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who helps us pray. If the Spirit Himself
helps us pray "to" God then is He helping us pray to Himself?
The Spirit is obviously not going to pray to Himself.
Bible Answer: You
are partly correct. Should we pray to God? The answer is yes, because
Jesus encourages us to pray to God the Father (see below). We can
also pray to Jesus, because the early church prayed to Jesus. But
we are never encouraged to pray to the Holy Spirit nor are there any
examples of people praying to the Holy Spirit?
Prayer To the Father. Jesus
encouraged us to pray to God. He did not encourage us to pray to anyone
else. He taught His disciples to pray in what is commonly called the
Lord's Prayer. It is actually Our Prayer. Jesus would not have prayed
this prayer because He never sinned.
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Pray,
then, in this way: "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed
be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as
it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive
us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not
lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men,
then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."
(NASB) Matt. 6:9-15 |
All throughout the New Testament we find that the apostles and early
Christians prayed to God.
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Passage |
Question |
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Acts
12:5 |
So
Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made
fervently by the church to God. (NASB) |
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Acts
16:25 |
But
about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns
of praise to God . . . (NASB) |
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2
Cor. 13:7 |
Now
we pray to God that you do no wrong . . . (NASB) |
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Philippians
4:6 |
Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (NASB)
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Colossians
1:3 |
We
give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you . . (NASB) |
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Heb.
13:15 |
Through
Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise
to God . . . (NASB) |
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When the early church prayed to God, they were praying to the Father
(see Col. 1:3 above). Yet, it is important to note that the Greek
word, THEOS, for "God" is not the Greek word, PATER, for
"Father." While these words are not the same word, the New
Testament does use both words sometimes to refer to the same person
- God the Father. |
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