A well meaning Christian once
told me, that we should pray to Father God, and not to Jesus, although we can
talk to Jesus. However, in my personal walk, I have always found it comforting
to pray to Jesus. Well, considering that Father God loves the Son, I cannot
imagine that He would be displeased if we prayed to His Son. However, we should
examine what the Scripture says about this.
Now Jesus taught about prayer
extensively in His teachings. The Lord’s prayer in particular teaches us the
manner in which we should pray to God the Father. First, it starts off with
“Our Father who art in Heaven”, focusing our attention on Father God in Heaven.
Then comes “Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
as it is in Heaven”. Our first priority at the start of every prayer is never
our needs no matter how pressing it may be. It is always first about Father
God’s glory, for His kingdom to come and for His will to be done. There follows
“Give us this day our daily bread”, speaking of asking Father God for our daily
provisions, and “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”
which speak of asking Father God for forgiveness of ours sins while we commit
to forgive others. Next, comes “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from
evil” which asks God for protection from ourselves because of our capacity to
fall into temptation and protection from others who mean evil against us.
Comparing earthly fathers to
Father God, the Lord explains that if even earthly fathers give good gifts to
their children, how much more will Father God give the Holy Spirit to those who
ask Him. This teaches us that we are to ask Father God for more and more of His
Holy Spirit, the best gift He can give us. In the book of James, we are
encouraged to ask Father God for wisdom, who gives generously to all without
finding fault.
In the manner that we pray to
Father God, the Lord also teaches us to persevere and keep on asking, giving us
the illustration of a lady who keeps pestering a judge for justice and a man
who keeps knocking on the door of his neighbor for bread.
Therefore, by and large, most
of our prayers in our prayer life should rightfully be addressed to Father God
who provides for us all our needs, who protects us, who forgives us. Even when
we think of a good father in an earthly sense, we picture one who provides for
and protects and disciplines his children so that they do not stray to harm’s
way.
However, one important point that
we must remember is that when we pray to Father God, we should do so in Jesus
name. That’s why we always end our prayers in Jesus name. For Jesus said “No
one comes to the Father except through me”. Therefore, all prayer to Father God
is only possible through Jesus Christ.
Now looking at prayer to our
Lord Jesus, we must first remember who our Lord Jesus primarily is to us. In
the Sinner’s prayer, we invite Jesus to come into our hearts as Lord and
Savior. Let’s look firstly to Jesus as our Savior. It is He who saves us. Our
first response, when we are in trouble, is usually “Lord Jesus, save me!” When
He walked the earth, the Lord healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the
dead. When Peter sank in the waves, he cried “Lord, save me”. Remember that
salvation in the Greek sense is all-encompassing, including physical,
emotional, spiritual healing. Therefore, just as the many cried “Lord Jesus,
heal me”, it is also right for us to pray that. Interestingly, Paul prayed to
Jesus to remove the “thorn in his flesh”, which again is a fitting prayer to
Jesus as Savior and Healer and Deliverer but the Lord would not, saying that
“My grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in your weakness.”
When Stephen died he cried “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”, which is a fitting
prayer at the end of our lives to our great Savior.
Now looking at Jesus as Lord,
we must remember that we are His servants and His disciples. Therefore, we have
to obey Him, to understand His instructions in His Word and say “Yes, Lord”. In
regard to calling and specific ministry and even daily decision-making it is good
to come to Jesus and pray “Lord, where should we go? What shall we do?” He is
our Leader and Shepherd, and we are to follow Him. And He speaks to us through
the Holy Spirit whom He has given us from Father God. Also, if we don’t
understand something in His Word, we can ask Him to help us comprehend, praying
“Lord, help us understand”, as the disciples often asked Jesus concerning His
parables.
Remember also that as His
disciples, we are to become more and more like Him, to the point that we can
like the Apostle Paul say, to live is Christ. So it is good to pray “Lord
Jesus, help me become more and more like you!”
As a helpful model for our
prayer lives therefore, it is good to pray to Father God and Lord Jesus
thinking of them respectively as Perfect Father and Savior Lord. Still, we
should not be rigid in our prayer lives and think we can only pray to Father
God this way or only pray to Jesus that way, but rather pray freely to both
Father God and Lord Jesus as the Holy Spirit leads us.
On a closing note, it is good to read John Chapter 14 where
Jesus says “Believe me when I say that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the
works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will
do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than
these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you
ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You
may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. “If
you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit
of truth.”
So we see that we can pray to Jesus for
anything in His name, and to pray to Jesus is to pray to Father God as the
Father is always in Jesus. Whatever Jesus asks the Father, the Father will do
as the Father loves the Son and is glorified in the Son. Therefore let us pray
freely to Father God and Lord Jesus, praising precious Father and Son, trusting
in them, obeying them, and desiring to do their will, even as we are led by the
precious Holy Spirit whom they have given us. In Jesus name, Amen
God bless,
Jason Gong
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