Do We Have to Pray to the Whole Trinity or Just Jesus?
Q : Since Jesus, is the God whom human's have visibly seen and Jesus himself is also the completeness of God. Is it enough to worship and pray to Jesus alone??? Or should we consider whole of Trinity in our worship?
A : This is a question that many Christian genuinely have. Even though Jesus was present on earth as fully human and fully God, He did not use the privilege of the Godhead inorder to serve humanity as God's bondslave (Phil 2:5-8). To the world that sees and decides about the value of someone, he was a simple and a humble human being (John 1:11; 10:33; 9:16; 8:57; 7:46; 6:42; 5:18). Yet He was seen in the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form by the Apostles and the first century people. The Apostle Peter testifies of this experience in his epistles and also apostle Paul mentions some five hundred believers seeing Jesus in the resurrected bodily form after His resurrection along with all the apostles and by himself finally (Matt 17:1-9; 2 Peter 1:16-19; 1 Cor 15:5-8). We do not see Him physically now but we believe the prophetic Scriptures given by God through apostles, and as a result we are blessed to believe without seeing Jesus as He himself said it to apostle Thomas (John 20:29; Eph 3:5-6).
Philip the apostle who after being with Jesus and seeing the supernatural miracles that Jesus performed for nearly three and half years, [the moment] when Jesus said, "7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." (John 14:7-11). From the preceding Scriptures we understand that the moment we pray to Jesus, we are also praying to our Father God in heaven as Jesus is in the Father interpenetratively. This is the reason Jesus said, "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (John 14:13). In this preceding verses we see Jesus telling that if we ask to Jesus in His name, He will do it for the glory of the Father God. In the sixteenth chapter of the same book of John Jesus said, "23 “And in that day [i.e. after Jesus' resurrection] you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:23-24). In this preceding verse, we see that the Father God answers a believer without fail when he or she comes to Him in Jesus name. Comparing these two verses we can see that the response to both the prayer to the Father or to Jesus in the name of Jesus brings a perfect answer to our petitions. The common chord we see is the name of Jesus.
From the above exegesis we can easily conclude that the name of Jesus is something given to all humans to pray to both the Father and the Son (Acts 4:12). Once we pray by faith in the name of Jesus, our prayer goes to God through Jesus who is our Mediator (1 Tim 2:5-6). In this way, all our prayers are heard both by Jesus and also our Father in heaven.
The next question that may come to our mind is, then what about the Holy Spirit? Actually the Holy Spirit was given to all believers individually and personally as Jesus has prayed to the Father to send Him in to the heart of all believers, once Jesus left the earth (John 14:16-18). Jesus left the earth to our advantage so that He could speak to all believers on earth at the same time through the Holy Spirit, which otherwise could not be done if Jesus was physically present on the earth (John 16:7, 13-15). In other words, the Holy Spirit acts as the mouth piece for Jesus on earth now. All believers have the ability now to hear the voice of Jesus as well as the Father's voice as they are one, in their spirit-man (John 10:27-30; 14:23).
But what about the Holy Spirit hearing our prayer? Can we pray to the Holy Spirit? We do not pray to the Holy Spirit, but we do have communion with Him as He is with us in His Presence (2 Cor 13:14). Communion means having intimacy and fellowship with the Holy Spirit as did the apostles in the first century (Acts 11:12; 15:28). We come to know the Holy Spirit intimately as we seek Jesus day after day. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and is equally God as the Father and the Son (Matt 28:19). But the Holy Spirit hears the instruction of Jesus and will fullfill it to glorify Jesus only (John 16:14). At the same time as a friend of us, the Holy Spirit empowers us to pray exactly according to the will of God (Rom 8:26-27). So the Holy Spirit not only hears our prayers when we pray to Jesus, but produces it according to the will of God for us individually and corporately. In others words, the Holy Spirit produces the prayer in us that which the Father, the Son Jesus and He Himself will answer. So we do not pray to the Holy Spirit but we pray through Him as He is present with us. The Holy Spirit will empower a person to pray and will hear the prayer which is done by faith, when it is done only in the name of Jesus. So we can come to the conclusion that the prayer of faith in the name of Jesus, irrespective of whether it is addressed individually by name of the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, all the Trinity hears it all the time. As the Bible says, sometimes the Holy Spirit by unction starts to address the name of the Father and also the Son through us (Rom 8:15; Acts 4:29-31). These are Spirit led and Spirit filled prayers that all of us should learn to pray as we grow spiritually day by day (Eph 6:18).
ThANks and mUCh BleSSIngs....
A : This is a question that many Christian genuinely have. Even though Jesus was present on earth as fully human and fully God, He did not use the privilege of the Godhead inorder to serve humanity as God's bondslave (Phil 2:5-8). To the world that sees and decides about the value of someone, he was a simple and a humble human being (John 1:11; 10:33; 9:16; 8:57; 7:46; 6:42; 5:18). Yet He was seen in the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form by the Apostles and the first century people. The Apostle Peter testifies of this experience in his epistles and also apostle Paul mentions some five hundred believers seeing Jesus in the resurrected bodily form after His resurrection along with all the apostles and by himself finally (Matt 17:1-9; 2 Peter 1:16-19; 1 Cor 15:5-8). We do not see Him physically now but we believe the prophetic Scriptures given by God through apostles, and as a result we are blessed to believe without seeing Jesus as He himself said it to apostle Thomas (John 20:29; Eph 3:5-6).
Philip the apostle who after being with Jesus and seeing the supernatural miracles that Jesus performed for nearly three and half years, [the moment] when Jesus said, "7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." (John 14:7-11). From the preceding Scriptures we understand that the moment we pray to Jesus, we are also praying to our Father God in heaven as Jesus is in the Father interpenetratively. This is the reason Jesus said, "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (John 14:13). In this preceding verses we see Jesus telling that if we ask to Jesus in His name, He will do it for the glory of the Father God. In the sixteenth chapter of the same book of John Jesus said, "23 “And in that day [i.e. after Jesus' resurrection] you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:23-24). In this preceding verse, we see that the Father God answers a believer without fail when he or she comes to Him in Jesus name. Comparing these two verses we can see that the response to both the prayer to the Father or to Jesus in the name of Jesus brings a perfect answer to our petitions. The common chord we see is the name of Jesus.
From the above exegesis we can easily conclude that the name of Jesus is something given to all humans to pray to both the Father and the Son (Acts 4:12). Once we pray by faith in the name of Jesus, our prayer goes to God through Jesus who is our Mediator (1 Tim 2:5-6). In this way, all our prayers are heard both by Jesus and also our Father in heaven.
The next question that may come to our mind is, then what about the Holy Spirit? Actually the Holy Spirit was given to all believers individually and personally as Jesus has prayed to the Father to send Him in to the heart of all believers, once Jesus left the earth (John 14:16-18). Jesus left the earth to our advantage so that He could speak to all believers on earth at the same time through the Holy Spirit, which otherwise could not be done if Jesus was physically present on the earth (John 16:7, 13-15). In other words, the Holy Spirit acts as the mouth piece for Jesus on earth now. All believers have the ability now to hear the voice of Jesus as well as the Father's voice as they are one, in their spirit-man (John 10:27-30; 14:23).
But what about the Holy Spirit hearing our prayer? Can we pray to the Holy Spirit? We do not pray to the Holy Spirit, but we do have communion with Him as He is with us in His Presence (2 Cor 13:14). Communion means having intimacy and fellowship with the Holy Spirit as did the apostles in the first century (Acts 11:12; 15:28). We come to know the Holy Spirit intimately as we seek Jesus day after day. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and is equally God as the Father and the Son (Matt 28:19). But the Holy Spirit hears the instruction of Jesus and will fullfill it to glorify Jesus only (John 16:14). At the same time as a friend of us, the Holy Spirit empowers us to pray exactly according to the will of God (Rom 8:26-27). So the Holy Spirit not only hears our prayers when we pray to Jesus, but produces it according to the will of God for us individually and corporately. In others words, the Holy Spirit produces the prayer in us that which the Father, the Son Jesus and He Himself will answer. So we do not pray to the Holy Spirit but we pray through Him as He is present with us. The Holy Spirit will empower a person to pray and will hear the prayer which is done by faith, when it is done only in the name of Jesus. So we can come to the conclusion that the prayer of faith in the name of Jesus, irrespective of whether it is addressed individually by name of the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, all the Trinity hears it all the time. As the Bible says, sometimes the Holy Spirit by unction starts to address the name of the Father and also the Son through us (Rom 8:15; Acts 4:29-31). These are Spirit led and Spirit filled prayers that all of us should learn to pray as we grow spiritually day by day (Eph 6:18).
ThANks and mUCh BleSSIngs....
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