Praying to the Holy Spirit

We pray to Jesus and the Father, so should we pray to the Holy Spirit?

Rachel,

On Monday, you expressed disappointment in the sermon from Sunday. I asked you what you hoped they would cover in a series called Foundations with the title Holy Spirit. I don’t know why certain topics were summarized or omitted, but I can try to help send you in the right direction for your questions.

If I remember correctly, you had a question about praying to the Holy Spirit, that I didn’t have a very good answer for. I looked into it more, and here’s what I’ve found along with some additional resources for learning about the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives and in relation to the Father and Jesus.

We pray to Jesus and the Father, so should we pray to the Holy Spirit?

The repeated example that we see in scripture is praying to God (Yahweh). Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God using the term Father (Abba), and Jesus prayed to the Father. The Father, Son, and Spirit are one, and they also have distinct roles throughout the scripture. The 3-in-1 picture of prayer is that through the Spirit we pray to the Father in the name of (on the authority/basis of) Jesus. That’s the example we see in scripture anyway.

Here’s an example of Jesus praying to the Father through the Spirit.

In that same hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and have reavealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because it was Your good pleasure.” Luke 10.21 HCSB

Examples of Jesus praying to the Father.

“Whenever you pray, say: Father, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come.” Luke 11.2 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup…” Luke 22.42 “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23.34

This is my favorite prayer of Jesus because he prays for himself, the disciples, and for us (those who believe in Jesus through the message of the disciples). It’s lenghty, but definitely read it. Notice how Jesus interacts with the Father throughout the prayer.

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You…” John 17

John Piper has a good article about this

The Bible Project has a good short video and blog post about the Holy Spirit, but if you’re looking for more, they also have a podcast with a 3 part series on the Holy Spirit with a Q&A at the end (Spotify podcast link, scroll down to Feb 2017 or search for “Holy Spirit”)