In this video, Dr. Michael Reeves unpacks the profound relationship between prayer and the Trinity.
People sometimes ask if it’s possible to pray to all three persons of the Trinity, and particularly thinking, “Can I pray to—should I pray to—the Holy Spirit?” And the truth is all three persons are God, and therefore it is right to speak to all three persons.
And we have biblical evidence for people praying to the Father. We see Jesus addressing His Father regularly. We see so many prayers to the Father. We also see a few evidences of prayer to Jesus in Scripture, Stephen, for example, in Acts praying to Jesus. Now, we don’t have an explicit evidence, a verse that clearly shows us someone praying to the Spirit, but because He is a divine person and we have fellowship with Him, communion with Him, we can grieve Him. Therefore, because we have communion with Him, it is right to pray to Him so that we can have right communion with each of the three persons of the Trinity.
But that said, normal Christian prayer is itself complete Trinitarian prayer shaping the Trinitarian shape of our salvation. And it means this normal Christian prayer is I pray to my Father. And so I say, “Our Father in heaven.” And I’m praying to God the Almighty and calling Him “Father” because I’ve been adopted in Jesus Christ. And so I’m praying in Jesus name and I’m feeling as I pray, “I don’t always know what I can say to this mighty God, compassionate and gracious. What can I say?”
And so, I can know the Spirit works. And this is Romans 8, wonderful encouragement in Romans 8. The Spirit works through us such that in His power, the sons of God cry, “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15). The children are able to pray. The Spirit is the wind in the sails of our prayer. So every prayer that says, “Our Father,” in Jesus’ name, relying on the Spirit’s power, that’s truly Trinitarian prayer, reflecting confidence in the fact that Father, Son, and Spirit have all achieved our salvation. Each person together contributing to this completely achieved salvation that we enjoy as we pray to our Father.