Proclaimer Blog
Should we pray to the Spirit?
People often ask their pastor – "Is it right to pray to the Spirit?" I wonder – do you have an answer? Do you have a practice in your own prayer life? It is true – there are no prayers to the Spirit in the New Testament; but then, there are relatively few prayers in the New Testament full stop, so this does not necessarily answer the question. Before we are too quick to cut things off, we must always remember that the Holy Spirit is God himself and that as one of the three persons of the glorious God we worship, he is revealed in Scripture as having a certain role. It seems appropriate therefore, that when we are praying about the things that, as it were, are in his domain, it is not wrong to pray to the Spirit. Of course, the Spirit proceeds from the Father, so it is always possible to turn a prayer around from "Spirit, witness with my spirit….." to "Father, let your Spirit witness with my Spirit…." I tend to go for the latter – recognising the unique work of the Spirit, but appreciating that he acts for the Father.
What we want to avoid is our people's prayers (and ours) becoming Unitarian, as though God were just Father, just Jesus, or just Spirit. There's lots of praying like this which begins to cement false teaching if we don't gently correct it – for example, "Father, thank you for coming to die for us" may we a well meaning prayer but it is a confusion of the doctrine of the Trinity. Therefore, I think, it behoves us to pray in a Trinitarian way publically. Here's a good example, from the well-known Valley of Vision.
Three in One, One in Three, God of my salvation, Heavenly Father, blessed Son, eternal Spirit, I adore thee as one Being, one Essence, one God in three distinct Persons, for bringing sinners to thy knowledge and thy kingdom.
O Father, thou hast loved me and sent Jesus to redeem me;
O Jesus, thou hast loved me and assumed my nature, shed thine own blood to wash away my sins, wrought righteousness to cover my unworthiness;
O Holy Spirit, thou hast loved me and entered my heart, implanted there eternal life, revealed to me the glories of Jesus.
Three Persons and one God, I bless and praise thee, for love so unmerited, so unspeakable, so wondrous, so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory.
O Father, I thank thee that in fullness of grace thou hast given me Jesus, to be his sheep, his jewel, his portion;
O Jesus, I thank thee that in fullness of grace thou hast accepted, espoused, bound me;
O Holy Spirit, I thank thee that in fullness of grace thou has exhibited Jesus as my salvation, implanted faith within me, subdued by stubborn heart, made me one with him forever.
O Father, thou art enthroned to hear my prayers,
O Jesus, thy hand is outstretched to take my petitions,
O Holy Spirit, thou art willing to help my infirmities, to show me my need, to supply my words, to pray within me, to strengthen me that I faint not in supplication.
O Triune God, who commandeth the universe, thou hast commanded me to ask for these things that concern thy kingdom and my soul. Let me pray and live as one baptized into the threefold Name.