The Trinity and My Prayers

Who do I pray to? The Father? The Son? The Spirit? God? The Trinity? All of the above?

Here is the theologically correct answer: pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Most New Testament prayers follow that pattern. There are a few recorded prayers to Jesus in the New Testament and, as far as I know, no recorded prayers to the Holy Spirit. But the Son is a divine person, and the Spirit is a divine person, and you can pray to them. But don’t forget … about the way the Spirit and the Son occupy the offices of intercessor and mediator to bring us before the Father. There is a current that runs that direction, and when you know that, you can immerse yourself in that current. It is the logic of how prayer is actually working anyway. Think about it: if you are in the habit of praying to Jesus, are you approaching Jesus the eternal Son of God on the basis of your own merits and deserving? No. Then on what basis? On the basis of his propitiation and mediation. Even prayer to Jesus has to be prayer in Jesus name. So you can see how that current of mediation runs in that direction, and you can be aligned to it by praying habitually to the Father in Jesus’ name.

Fred Sanders in The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything.

Heidelberg Catechism

Question 78. Are the bread and wine, then, changed into the actual body and blood of Christ?

Answer: No. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into the blood of Christ, nor is it the washing away of sin itself, but is simply God’s sign and confirmation, (a) so too the bread in the Lord’s supper is not changed into the actual body of Christ, (b) although it is called the body of Christ Jesus (c) in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments. (d) 

(Scriptural proofs after the fold.)

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Sunday's Hymn: Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed

Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,
And did my Sovereign die!
Would he devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I!

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree!
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker, died
For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While his dear cross appears;
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes in tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
‘Tis all that I can do.

—Isaac Watts

Congregation and choir

Instrumental trio

Red Mountain Church
At the Cross (same words with added refrain)

Other hymns, worship songs, prayers, sermons excerpts, or quotes posted today:

• The Covenant at The Upward Call
• Love Lifted Me at The Happy Wonderer
• Achtliederbuch: The First Wittenberg Hymnal at Theology for Girls
• Make Us Intruments of Your Peace from Trevin Wax
• Your weekly dose of Spurgeon: The power of the Scriptures at Pyromaniacs
• Grace without measure at Tried With Fire

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.