Should Christians Pray to the Holy Spirit?

Praying to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

As I pray together with other Christians, it is common to hear prayers offered rather generally to God. It is also common to hear prayers addressed to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes all three Persons are prayed to. In other prayers, just one divine Person is singled out. Sometimes the divine Persons are mingled together, like when we someone prays, “Dear Jesus, we praise you. Thank you for sending your Son for us.” This raises a question: how should Christians pray to a God who exists eternally as a Trinity? Is it right to pray to each Person directly?

The most pointed question I’ve heard asked by fellow believers is this: is it ever appropriate to pray directly to the Holy Spirit? From a theological perspective, an orthodox understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity affirms the full divinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As a result of this theological perspective, it seems impossible to deny that, as God, each person of the triune Godhead is worthy of worship, adoration, and praise. As fully divine persons, each member of the trinitarian Godhead is capable of receiving and answering prayer. This theological perspective serves as a strong foundation for anyone who would seek to validate the practice of praying directly to the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit in various contexts or circumstances. However, it must be noted that this theological position goes beyond what is written. It draws a conclusion that is not actually expressed directly anywhere in Scripture. When we look to the actual description and commands regarding prayer written in the Bible, a clear model emerges. The Scriptures universally teach that Christians ought to pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, and in the power (or by) the Holy Spirit.

There is a lot to unpack here. Let’s dig a little deeper into this very important question.

The Trinity & A Theology of Prayer

This is a deep question. Although it asks about prayer on the surface, at the heart of this question is the trinitarian nature of God. Without getting too deep into the theology of the Trinity in this article, we will need to examine (at least in part) the roles of each divine Person in order to satisfactorily address this question.

The Bible reveals the living God. One of the most distinct attributes of the God of the Bible is the doctrine of the Trinity. In brief, this means that the one God exists eternally as three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (For more on this important doctrine, check out our article on The Trinity.) Some think that this doctrine is too mysterious to be practical. However, understanding the trinitarian nature of God becomes essential to relating to Him properly. One of these practical areas is prayer.

A simplified answer to this question is as follows: the Scriptures indicate that as a general rule for prayer, Christians ought to pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, and by the power of the Spirit.

A Biblical Model of Prayer & Salvation

Jesus taught us to pray to our Father (Matthew 6:7-13; Luke 11:1-13). This instruction is fundamental for understanding how Christians ought to pray. It comes directly from our Lord Jesus. If you’d like to go much deeper on understanding the Lord’s prayer and how it should serve as a model for all of Christ’s people to pray, we encourage you to check out our book Faithful in Prayer: Seven Biblical Priorities in Prayer.

The Scriptures are also clear in indicating that our ability to address God as our Father is only because of the redemptive work of the Son (Galatians 4:1-7; John 1:12). The Son came into the world in order to redeem and reconcile lost sinners to our holy Father. Our sin made a separation between us and the Father. Christ came to offer us pardon and restore what was lost.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit who applies the merits of the Son to believers and places them into the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). We can’t earn it and we don’t deserve it. Even so, God is pleased to apply the perfect righteousness of Christ to all who humbly receive the gift of God through faith in God’s Son, Jesus the Christ. When we believe, we are sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise as a pledge of our everlasting inheritance.

Each divine Person in the Godhead has a different role. For example, consider the following truth:

The Father sends but is never sent.
The Son is both sent by the Father and also sends the Spirit.
The Spirit never sends the Father or the Son but is only sent by them. It is noteworthy that the Son was led by the Spirit during His earthly ministry (e.g., Matthew 4:1). Also, the Spirit does send people (e.g., Acts 13:4).

It would be a mistake to think that there is any division in the unity of the Godhead. God exists as one Being. That Being is eternally consisting of three Persons. We could spend much more time developing the nature of the Trinity and trying to explain how this is a reality. We’ve dealt with the doctrine of the Trinity in greater detail in another article (click here to check it out: What is the Trinity? One God, Three Persons.)

As we strive to understand this truth revealed in the Bible, we will always fall short. There is no fitting analogy in our world that adequately represents this reality. Our world is finite. God is infinite. In fact, the analogies that are often presented, (e.g. water, ice and steam; or the Sun: light, rays, and heat; and so on) are dangerously inadequate. They better describe the heretical view of modalism and not the biblical Trinity. We’ll leave this trail here as it begins to take us away from the matter at hand.

Biblical or Theological?

For many, “biblical” and “theological” are synonyms. However, there is a distinction that must be made. The Bible simply says what it says. The divisions that we see among professing believers are often the result of the hostility of our theological systems which go well beyond what is written. These systems draw conclusions that go beyond what is written and form the major basis for arguments, strife, and disagreements amongst believers. For more on this, don’t miss our article: Sabotaging Unity.

What’s important to understand is that, although each divine Person is equally divine, we do not see each Person being prayed to nor receiving worship in the Scriptures. Theologically speaking, it would be difficult to argue that the Holy Spirit is not worthy of receiving prayer or worship. He is worthy! However, biblically speaking, there are no examples of the Holy Spirit receiving prayer or worship. This is significant.

Similarly, although Jesus is clearly divine based on the revelation of the Scripture, we do not see Him receiving nearly as much worship or prayer as the Father. However, there are some examples of Jesus receiving worship to be sure.

As Christians who desire to be faithful to the God of the Bible, we should always be careful to submit ourselves to what has been revealed. We should not be in the practice of elevating our own reason or understanding above what the Lord has directly told us for our worship of Him. He is God. We are not. So, while I could argue and demonstrate the full divinity of the Holy Spirit from the Bible, I cannot make a case to pray to the Spirit with the same Scriptures.

The Holy Spirit & Prayer

While we never see any instruction for believers to pray directly to the Holy Spirit nor do we see any examples of believers praying directly to the Holy Spirit in the Bible, we do have plenty of verses that discuss prayer and the Holy Spirit together.

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

Contrary to believers praying to the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit actually intercedes on behalf of the saints! Intercession is prayer offered to God on behalf of another. (For more on the difference between prayer, petition, supplication, and intercession, check out our article linked here). This verse explicitly teaches that the Holy Spirit prays to God on behalf of the saints. So, even the Holy Spirit prays to the Father on behalf of the redeemed.

Paul also instructs:

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18a)

Praying “in” or “by” the Spirit can be another area of controversy due to various interpretations. Some think this has to do with praying in tongues or the heavenly prayer language. However, far from some ecstatic experience Paul expresses the specific content he wants them to pray at all times in the Spirit if we continue reading:

and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:18b-20)

Paul understands the priorities that our Lord instructed His people to pray. As a result, he exhorts fellow believers to pray according to these priorities. He also instructs them to rely on the empowering of the Spirit who is able and willing to help us to accomplish this important labor in prayer.

Jude provides a helpful summary.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:20-25)

Jude teaches to pray to God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and in (or by) the empowering of the Holy Spirit. We pray to God our Father, through Christ who has given us access, and in the strength and leading that the indwelling Holy Spirit provides.

Trinitarian Salvation

As we try to wrap our finite minds around the distinctive doctrine of a Trinitarian God, it is helpful for us to focus on the roles of each divine Person. Of particular interest is how this relates to prayer and in the context of the full revelation of God in His Word.

As a product of the Fall (Genesis 3), sin and death entered into the world. Death is both a biological and spiritual reality. Just as biological death separates our spirit from our physical body, spiritual death separates everyone from a Holy God. Even those who are biologically alive are born spiritually dead. This is helpful for understanding how Adam could “die” (spiritually) in the day he ate of the fruit but still live biologically for hundreds of years after this event.

This separation from God cannot be “fixed” by sinful man. We can and must be redeemed by God alone. Salvation cannot be earned. It can only be received as the gift of God’s grace through faith in His appointed Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

As a result of God’s kindness, mercy, and compassion toward His creation, the Father sends His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to serve as a mediator between Himself and mankind (Romans 8:3-4; 1 Timothy 2:5). The Spirit applies this regenerative work to all who place their faith (“complete trust”) in the Savior Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:3; Galatians 3:2-5; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 3:5).

Therefore, we see that the entire work of salvation is done by God. It is initiated by the Father in sending His Son. It is completed by the Son through His death, burial, resurrection and exaltation. It is applied through the agency of the Spirit to those who join their faith to the knowledge of the Son (Hebrews 4; Ephesians 1:13-14). The grace of the Lord, which is given by the Father, through the Son, and enabled in the individual by the Spirit is meant to transform the spiritually “dead” through the second birth into new creations, who are alive in the Spirit.

This working of the divine Persons in the salvation of individuals is most directly described in Ephesians 1:3-14. It is worth a careful reading over and over to see how the Father, Son, and Spirit work together to redeem those who believe the message of the gospel.

Salvation to the Glory of Our Father

This work of reconciliation and redemption by God (Father, Son and Spirit) is done for the glory of the Father (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 and Philippians 2:9-11).

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11, underline added)

Notice who gets the glory in verse 11. It’s the Father! Jesus did not come so that we would have Him alone. Christ came so that we would have everlasting life. Jesus defined this life. Christ did not describe it as a cloud and a harp after we die. Instead, Jesus teaches us that it is about a relationship with both the Father and the Son:

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

Jesus came, not so that we would pray to Him, but so that through Him we could be restored to our Heavenly Father as He is (cf. Matthew 14:36 with Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6). Jesus wants His people to pray to our Father. That is, His Father and ours because of our redemption.

Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” (John 20:17)

Is it Wrong to Pray to Jesus?

Exalting Christ By Remembering His Purpose

Is it wrong to pray to Jesus? No, I don’t think so. Even so, we can never forget that Jesus’s mission was to reconcile us with our Father. If we address most (or all) of our prayers to Jesus, then we are ignoring the reconciliation which He came to make possible. If we want to rightly honor Christ, we should want to rightly honor the purpose for which He shed His blood and rose again.

The Spirit of God makes all of these things possible. He is the one who draws us to Christ, who convicts us of our need for a Savior, and convinces us that Jesus is the Messiah (John 16:8; 1 Thessalonians 1:5). It is in the power of the Spirit, through the mediation of Christ, that we can (and should) pray to our gracious and merciful Father, who sent His Son and Spirit to bring us back to Him.

It is good and right to thank our Father for Jesus and for the Spirit. It was the Father who so graciously gave the Son and the Spirit to us. It is also good and right to thank Jesus and the Spirit for their work in our lives – both for the gift of salvation and for their present leading in our lives as believers.

After all, it is the Spirit who leads us into prayer (Romans 8:26) and who enables powerful prayers for others (Ephesians 6:18). Followers of Christ should seek to be led by the Holy Spirit every moment of every day (Romans 8:14). For a good daily reminder of this, check out our walk by the Spirit mug.

If you’re interested in reading more on this topic, I highly recommend reading Bruce A. Ware’s Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance, particularly pp. 151-153.

Ware points to many passages in his short treatment of the Trinitarian doctrine as it relates to the prayer life of believers, but the most instructive is Ephesians 2:18:

for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

For through Him (Christ) we have access to the Father in the Spirit.

I'll end with a re-statement of our simplified answer: the Scriptures indicate that as a general rule for prayer, Christians ought to pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, and by the power of the Spirit.

I'm sure this challenges many of our preconceived notions of prayer. Yet, we are always blessed when we allow the Word of God to transform our lives and bring us into greater alignment with His perfect will for us as His children and His creation.