How does the Bible teach us to direct our prayers?
score:6
How does the Bible teach us to direct our prayers?
In Scripture we read in the Lord's Prayer that we should pray in this manner, "Our Father which art in heaven..." (Matthew 6:9) and in John 16 that we should pray in Jesus' name. We can also mention 1st Peter 1:17 in this context, "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:" which assumes that prayer is offered to the Father. There is nothing else taught on this subject. However, both Stephen and John do make a short exclamatory sort of prayer to Jesus after seeing a vision of Jesus, namely in Acts 7:59 "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." and Revelation 22:20 "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." There are no prayers addressed to the Holy Ghost in scripture that I can see (correct me in the comments if you know of one).
What is an overview of the practices of Christian denominations regarding the proper direction of prayer?
I don't think the difference in practice today breaks down by denomination so much as the different views on the Trinity.
In the church of Christ we pray only to the Father in Jesus' name (although I've heard some in public prayer throw in a "Jesus we love you"). But we aren't credal, so we don't accept or enforce any creed like the Athanasian Creed. We go by that motto "no creed but the Bible." As a result there are different views on the Trinity held among us, but in the mainstream I'd say nobody is an Athanasian Trinitarian but only Subordinationist Trinitarians. That is, rather than holding the Father and Son to be "coequal" (as in the Athanasian Creed) or that "in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another" (again, the Athanasian Creed) we acknowledge that the Father is greater than the Son and higher in order or hierarchy, as we read in 1st Corinthians 11:3 "the head of Christ is God," and as Christ says in John 14:28 "My Father is greater than I." Paul also says "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father" in 1 Corinthians 15:24, which shows a sort of hierarchical relationship between the Father and Son. This is one obvious reason why the practice of praying to Jesus or the Holy Spirit has not gained much currency.
Strict Athanasian Trinitarians, however, who hold to that creed, because they believe the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be "coequal" and that there is no hierarchy in the Trinity, will have a much higher tendency to pray to each Person of the Trinity independently, especially since the creed says "we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord". If you hold to that, you are likely to end up considering it unfair to pray to only one Person of the Trinity, and thus would pray to all three.
Now Oneness Pentecostals, being modalists (that is, believing that God is only one Person, namely Jesus Christ, and that he goes by the names of Father and Holy Ghost sometimes) will not see praying to Jesus or the Holy Ghost as at all different from praying to the Father, since in their mind, all three are one and the same person.
Upvote:0
What is an overview of the practices of Christian denominations regarding the proper direction of prayer? plus How does the Bible teach us to direct our prayers?
Answer
This answer has drawn from what is common among the The United Methodist Church, Calvary Baptist Church, and Lutheran ecclesial communities and the Catholic Church in ascending order, based on the number of members.
An overview of and what is common and biblically based to these Christians regarding the proper direction of prayer is that prayer, which ought to be humble and from the heart, is directed to God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, when the one praying raises their mind and heart to God in conversation or request things from God.
One can pray to the Father (he is primarily the one addressed in prayer e.g. as in the Our Father), to the Father through the Son (cf. through Christ Our Lord), to the Son (e.g. 'Lord help me.'), and to the Holy Spirit (to teach us to pray - it is by him in us that we can say Abba!, Father!).
Please see the sources:
- 10 ways to improve your prayer life |The United Methodist Church.
- Calvary Baptist Church's Guide to Prayer | Calvary Baptist Church.
- Theology and Practice of Prayer | A Lutheran View.
- The first paragraph of To whom are we to pray, the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit?.
And
The Catholic Perspective
Please see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2663-2682.
2680 Prayer is primarily addressed to the Father; it can also be directed toward Jesus, particularly by the invocation of his holy name: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners."
2681 "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 12:3). The Church invites us to invoke the Holy Spirit as the interior Teacher of Christian prayer.
Please see also Catechism of Church, Part 4 Christian Prayer especially CCC, 2559:
2559 "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God."[St. John Damascene, Defide orth. 3,24:PG 94,1089C.] But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart?[Ps 130:1.] He who humbles himself will be exalted;[cf. Lk 18:9-14.] humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought,"[Rom 8:26.] are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."[St. Augustine, Sermo 56,6,9:PL 38,381.]
And
To whom may we pray in Prayer | New Advent.
Upvote:1
well, since the Holy Spirit, our Heavenly Father, and Jesus of Nazareth who appeared on this planet some 2000 years ago are all God and there is One God, then i am not so sure what it matters (of which name is used).
since God knows our needs for healing, instruction, and gracious distribution of anything before we even know these needs, it seems to me that what's at least as important as supplication in prayer is listening in prayer. when we pray, we need to listen. God knows what we need without our telling Him (but we should ask anyway, me thinks).
Upvote:1
How does the Bible teach us to direct our prayers?
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Luke 11:1-2 (KJV)And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:13 (KJV)
There seems to be a biblical basis for praying either to Jesus or to the Father.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
John 14:11 (KJV)
The ministry of the Holy Spirit seems unidirectional. It does not seem that there is a biblical basis for praying to the Holy Spirit.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
John 16:13 (KJV)
More post
- 📝 Does saying "Thank God!" count as using God's name in vain?
- 📝 Do Latter-day Saints believe Muhammad is a prophet?
- 📝 What is the Church attitude to the belief that Jesus had a biological father?
- 📝 Is there any reference to Abraham building a house of worship? Where is Bakkah?
- 📝 Do Eucharistic miracles all have the same DNA?
- 📝 During the Mass, may the Priest skip the Act of Penitence and the Kyrie Eleison?
- 📝 What Evidence Is There That Saul/Paul Actually Killed Christians?
- 📝 Possible relic found?
- 📝 Does extreme use of capital punishment in ANE & Mosaic laws attest to a universal recognition of God's wrath, or God's tolerance of universal cruelty?
- 📝 What was the ante-Nicene Fathers' view on image veneration?
- 📝 Did Pelagius or Pelagians in General Deny Orthodox Christology
- 📝 What is the Christian Doctrine that balances God's self-sufficiency and perfection with His wants or desires?
- 📝 At what moment did humans become sinful?
- 📝 From an LDS perspective, what is an Unclean Spirit?
- 📝 Why does St. Paul say that a husband is "divided" between his wife and God?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, what did Jesus mean by saying "Neither this man nor his parents sinned"?
- 📝 According to mainstream Christianity when did time begin?
- 📝 How does the New Testament define a Christian and a non-Christian, a brother in Christ and not a brother in Christ?
- 📝 Where does the Body, Soul and Spirit of man go after Death?
- 📝 Which churches/denominations teach about spiritual spouses and marine spirits?
- 📝 How do Trinitarians understand what Jesus said in the garden of Gethsemane?
- 📝 Jesus marks on Paul's body
- 📝 Are there recommendations for books for learning about the customs and rules of a Christian life?
- 📝 How to pray for a corrupt government involved in drug trafficking?
- 📝 How is the ‘Resurrection of the Holy Ones’ in Mt.27:51-53 understood by those who consider it a literal, historical event?
- 📝 What did God mean when He said 'lest they live forever'?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for tithing money instead of agricultural produce or animals?
- 📝 What is specified complexity?
- 📝 Can one pray for something "bad" to happen to yourself?
- 📝 According to the Catholic church everyone has a Guardian Angel,but what happens when you get married?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How does the Bible teach us to direct our prayers?
- 📝 From a non-Trinitarian perspective, how would you show that the Bible does not teach that the Son is equal with the Father?
- 📝 If the Bible is open to interpretation, how does one know which one is right?
- 📝 How does the Westminster Confession address the paradox of the Bible canon?
- 📝 How does the Bible describe the gender roles?
- 📝 How does Sola Scriptura understanding of the Bible affect the anagogical sense of the Bible?
- 📝 How does the Bible differentiate between sickness and sin?
- 📝 How does our work on this earth transfer into the new earth when God returns?
- 📝 Does the Bible say anything about our human relations being kept after death?
- 📝 Does the Bible provide any passages that might help in understanding how Satan became sinful?
- 📝 How does spiritual maturity affect our hermeneutic (how we interpret the Bible)?
- 📝 What does the Bible teach about domestic discipline?
- 📝 How does the Bible explain the existence of fossils that are millions of years old?
- 📝 According to the Bible how does one receive the gift of the Holy Ghost?
- 📝 What does it mean to say the Bible is the "Word of God" and how is it justified?
- 📝 What does the Bible say about how we should pray?
- 📝 Does an understanding of how the Bible was written, play a strong role in any Christian sect?
- 📝 What does the Bible teach about "fire" in the phrase "Hell fire"?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church tell us to do reparation for our sins according to Church teachings?
- 📝 What does the Bible tell us about how people knew right from wrong before the Law of Moses?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church teach that God requires our consent to work miracles on us?
- 📝 How does the bible describe heaven
- 📝 Examples for passages of the Bible which teach us how to be kind and not judge people for their own misery?
- 📝 Does the Jerusalem Bible teach that Adam had a wife before Eve?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, what does the Bible teach about sins of omission?
- 📝 Does the bible give guidance on how one can achieve happiness?
- 📝 Does the bible command us to pray three times a day or how many times a day we should pray?
- 📝 how does the bible WORD FOR WORD say that h*m*sexuality is wrong?
- 📝 How does the LDS Church reconcile their understanding of the "Godhead" which is three beings/three gods with the Bible stating there is only one God?
- 📝 Does the Bible teach us to be truthful or nice?