Praying to Jesus...?

[CaptWalker]

I was just wondering why it seems i have always heard so many Christians praying directly to Jesus or calling out His Name and saying how much they love him, when the Lord's Prayer says we should only pray to the FATHER. But according to Philippians 2:9-11 praying to Jesus would seem perfectly fine and even the same as praying to the Father? So is it possible that He was only speaking to the disciples at that moment, and then later after He was crucified all that changed? I personally do still honor what He said and pray directly to the Father in Jesus name, but was just wondering if anyone else has felt different about this??

[Billiards Ball]

On 9/4/2022 at 10:06 PM, CaptWalker said:

I was just wondering why it seems i have always heard so many Christians praying directly to Jesus or calling out His Name and saying how much they love him, when the Lord's Prayer says we should only pray to the FATHER. But according to Philippians 2:9-11 praying to Jesus would seem perfectly fine and even the same as praying to the Father? So is it possible that He was only speaking to the disciples at that moment, and then later after He was crucified all that changed? I personally do still honor what He said and pray directly to the Father in Jesus name, but was just wondering if anyone else has felt different about this??

He said YOU (others) should pray to OUR FATHER. Jesus prayed differently to HIS Father.

Jesus is God, you may pray to Him at will.

[CaptWalker]

Well to be completely honest, i have never felt that close to the Father even though i still address Him by name(Yahoveh) when praying. But i also think many Christians can relate much more to Jesus than the Old Testament God of judgement. And i really hate to admit this but i had always thought God sent his Son to die for us because He was unwilling to do it himself, as blasphemous as that sounds. But even though they are ONE in the same they are still technically two separate entities or else Christ would never have been called His Son and neither would have called God his Father. I guess that really all goes without saying but it just seems like many Christians don't think about it that much because it is a subject that is hard to grasp, but to me the bottom line is that most people seem to be able to relate to and connect with Christ as Savior than with the Father as judge/juror/executioner, whether that is fair to say about Him or not i just feel that is the way many Christians do feel and always will, period.

[DPMartin]

On 9/4/2022 at 7:06 PM, CaptWalker said:

I was just wondering why it seems i have always heard so many Christians praying directly to Jesus or calling out His Name and saying how much they love him, when the Lord's Prayer says we should only pray to the FATHER. But according to Philippians 2:9-11 praying to Jesus would seem perfectly fine and even the same as praying to the Father? So is it possible that He was only speaking to the disciples at that moment, and then later after He was crucified all that changed? I personally do still honor what He said and pray directly to the Father in Jesus name, but was just wondering if anyone else has felt different about this??

if you don't know who you're talking to, then maybe you should examine your understanding. Surly the Lord will fill you in on what is correct and acceptable in His Presence.

[Deadworm]

Beliief in Christ's deity is no excuse for ignoring God's Word on prayer.  Nowhere in Scripture are we advised to pray directly to Jesus.  To do so is to trivialize Jesus' role as our divine mediator and  advocate.  Perhaps this is one reason why your prayers generally go unanswered.  The Lord's Prayer is Jesus' model for prayer and it teaches us to address "Our Father!"  More specifically, Jesus teaches that after His resurrection we are to pray to the Father in Jesus' name: "On that day (i. e. after the Resurrection) you will ask nothing OF ME.  Truly I tell you, if you ask anything OF THE FATHER IN MY NAME, He will give it to you (John 16:23)."
 

[CaptWalker]

Well like i pointed out before that i do honor the Lord's prayer and my own are to the FATHER in Jesus/Yeshua's name....but at the same time i have seen and still do many Christians praying to and acknowleding Jesus only and many are those of this charismatic prosperity gospel which of course has been ongoing for many years now, but these movements seemed to have slowly become intertwined for lack of a better term, and to the point where you can go on national TV and say a prayer directly to Jesus without even mentioning the Father, or at this point i can't even tell whether someone is praying or praising or where one ends and the other begins, or if that even matters anymore...? You just get all these people in one big "revival' type setting and then it's pretty much anything goes and no one seems to even be questioning anything at that point...but that's just the way it is and will only get even more extreme from this point on, mark my words. Bottom line is that the Trinity is ONE and you should not mention Christ without the Father, at least whenever praying.    

Edited September 12, 2022 by CaptWalker

[Hopefully]

“Also, the Spirit helps us. We are very weak, but the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself speaks to God for us. He begs God for us, speaking to him with feelings too deep for words. God already knows our deepest thoughts. And he understands what the Spirit is saying, because the Spirit speaks for his people in the way that agrees with what God wants.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:26-27‬ 

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭2:5‬ 

[DPMartin]

On 9/12/2022 at 9:41 AM, CaptWalker said:

Well like i pointed out before that i do honor the Lord's prayer and my own are to the FATHER in Jesus/Yeshua's name....but at the same time i have seen and still do many Christians praying to and acknowleding Jesus only and many are those of this charismatic prosperity gospel which of course has been ongoing for many years now, but these movements seemed to have slowly become intertwined for lack of a better term, and to the point where you can go on national TV and say a prayer directly to Jesus without even mentioning the Father, or at this point i can't even tell whether someone is praying or praising or where one ends and the other begins, or if that even matters anymore...? You just get all these people in one big "revival' type setting and then it's pretty much anything goes and no one seems to even be questioning anything at that point...but that's just the way it is and will only get even more extreme from this point on, mark my words. Bottom line is that the Trinity is ONE and you should not mention Christ without the Father, at least whenever praying.    

Well this guy got a favorable response:

Mat 9:27  And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.

or

Mat_15:22  And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

To be honest there doesn’t seem to be an issue seeing that God or God the Father is God to anyone not God and the Word of God is God to anyone not God (made flesh Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit is God to anyone not God, but Lord always seems to work. From the second chapter in genesis till now Lord or Lord God, but “my Lord” is sufficient response of one who seeks to do God’s will.

[com7fy8]

I pray for God to guide how I pray.

Paul says "we who first trusted in Christ", in Ephesians 1:12. So, I see from this that if we trusted in Jesus, this included communication of prayer to Jesus. 

And Paul says, "Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'" (in 1 Corinthians 12:8-9)

I take this to mean Paul communicated with Jesus. He prayed to Jesus, and Jesus communicated with Paul. 

And when Jesus appeared to Paul (Acts chapter nine), Jesus talked to Paul, and Paul talked with Jesus. 

I would say these are cases of prayer. Possibly, we could say prayer can be a two-way communication. 

[CaptWalker]

Well I have always felt someone should pray however they feel led to at any time, and it's not written in stone how exactly we should do it or that God will not honor it if you don't acknowledge HIM every single time while you are praying in Jesus name. But i also haven't found anywhere in the New Testament where Paul or anyone else had ever insinuated in any way that the original Lord's prayer was no longer necessary. But on the other hand there is no where you will find Paul or anyone saying that we have to pray in a specific way all the time, or else God will not honor those prayers. Basically to me it all comes down to conscious, and if you can pray directly to Christ without even acknowledging the FATHER then more power to you, and if that is wrong then God Himself will convict you about that, period.  Basically I lnow that the Father and/or Jesus simply wants you to PRAY more than anything else, which should obviously go without saying.  

Edited September 14, 2022 by CaptWalker