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Can You Pray To Jesus?

CAN YOU PRAY TO JESUS?

by Wendell Winkler-Polishing the Pulpit -- "Lord Teach Us To Pray," September 27, 2004

 

"Let me tell you something about that, brethren: you be very careful about the position you espouse on that, and I'm going to tell you why. We've got brethren that do nothing but hear a few speeches on the lecture program, and then they start to go out and mouth it. We need to be careful about that. Primarily, our prayers are to God in the name of Christ. But when brethren become so adamant that they say that we cannot pray to Jesus, we need to be careful. Jesus is deity. If we're not careful, we can take some absurd position over here and even reflect on his deity. I don't have much sympathy for that kind of business.

"I'm going to tell you something that's a little personal, but I think is illustrative. Can't we thank Jesus during the Lord's Supper? When I get through with my primary Lord's Supper meditation, I conclude with a prayer, and here's my prayer: "Father, I thank thee for thine unspeakable gift; and Jesus, I thank thee for being willing to die for me." Is there anything wrong with that? Tell me something is wrong with that....

"So I just beg of you good brethren, I beg of you, before you take a position, you better study it through—you could get in some difficulty. And I've said it time and time again: What about Stephen when he said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit"? Brethren have tried to explain that every way in the world, saying that wasn't a prayer. If that wasn't a prayer, I don't understand prayer.

"I'm going to tell you something: when I die, I hope I'm conscious enough to where I can say something like that. I'm going to tell you something: I'm going to be in a prayerful mood, I guarantee you that. I just want you to know that we need to be careful. I'm not asking you if you agree with me; I'm asking do you understand my point? Be careful."

[Question from audience: "What about songs that speak to the Holy Spirit—that maybe even pray to the Holy Spirit?"]

"I don't know that I would take an adamant stand on that for this reason: you've got to take the whole picture into consideration. Romans 8 says the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. I'm going to tell you frankly: in my periods of illness, I've got to the point that I don't know what to say. I've been so deeply distressed and deeply disturbed. But I know the Holy Spirit was pleading in my interest. Would I have sinned against God if I had said to the Holy Spirit: "Intercede for me, please"? Do you think I've sinned if I made that statement? But I made the petition to [the Holy Spirit]. Don't tell me I've sinned. But if we carry this thing so far as some are carrying it today, we can't even do that."

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I have never prayed to Jesus in a public prayer and probably never will. Just because you have the right to do something does not always mean it is right to do so if it might offend your brother. That is the message Paul is giving us in 1st Corinthians 8:1-13. It was not wrong to eat meat but Paul said he would give up that right for the sake of his brother who thought it was wrong.

Even if I have the right to pray directly to Jesus, it is just as acceptable to pray to the Father, so I will continue to pray to the Father in my public prayers for the sake of those who may feel it is wrong to pray to Jesus.

 

With love and concern,

Larry




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Apologetics Press has a large variety of material on Christian Evidences, Alleged Bible Discrepances, the Existence of God, the Deity of Christ, etc. The magazines "Reason and Revelation" (for adults) and "Discovery" (for children) can also be viewed
housetohouse.com has back issues of House to House and Glad Tidings of Good Things are available as well as some freebies. Lots of good short articles etc.
churchzip.com is a great website for finding churches of Christ surrounding a zipcode.
At searchingfortruth.org you can view or download the Searching for Truth video.
Truth for Today has a wealth of material for bible study.
The McCoy Family Singers have wonderful MP3's available for free download. There are traditional songs, contemporary and some they have written themselves.
World Video Bible School is a fantastic place to get inexpensive videos for use in classes, individual study or for distribution to the public. Videos on various topics, studies of books of the bible, etc. are available. Printed material is also avai
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