Praying to the Heavenly Father

[Christopher]

Is praying to the Heavenly Father a misdirected prayer? John 14:6 says

"I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me"

So does that not tell us to pray to our Lord Jesus and no other?

I welcome input on this question

[SERay]

Thanks for the new thread Christopher!

This topic was partially discussed from this article published in 2006: http://www.eternalpath.com/jesusonlyway.html However, your question is more centered on the verse than on the person of Christ. The fact that you started this post under the "Holy Trinity" gives indication you have a sense of the answer.

Jesus made the John 14:6 statement with the conviction of supreme authority on the night before His death. It is probably the most exclusive statement ever made by anyone. It is of paramount offense to our modern age of tolerance. But the truth remains. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The world outside of Christ abhors that statement. The truth is Jesus is Lord (Phil. 2:8-11). “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). The “way” is the means to God the Father. Meaning, only this ONE WAY takes us to the Father, and this way is through a living sacrifice.

One might ask as you have "Who do we pray to, the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit?" It would seem fair to say, in light of the oneness of the Trinity, that we can pray to each member of the Godhead. Jesus said in John 14:14, "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." This without a subscription to whom we address.

Nevertheless, we never see an instance in the Bible where anyone prays to the Holy Spirit. Why is that? The answer is that the Holy Spirit does not bear witness of Himself. He bears witness of the Son (John 15:26). But still, we can pray to the Spirit because we are also called into fellowship with the Spirit. 2 Cor. 13:14 says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all."

In summary, the Son made way for us to the Father, and Christ said no one knows the day or hour except the Father in Matthew 24:36. In this, we have a type of authority hierarchy in an otherwise equal domain. The answer based on the prayer model given us in Matthew, we are to pray to the Father. We do so orchestrated by the residing Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus the Christ who is the ambassador that opens our approach into the Holy of Holies. The Father is Creator, the Son is the Sacrifice that made the way, the Holy Spirit is the paraclete or helper who assists us during our earthly residence.

[Christopher]

It is more clear now

I ran across this commentary in my NKJV Study Bible, and the Holy Sprit really spoke to me when I read this:

"John 16:15 To say that the Holy Spirit will take what belongs to Christ (v. 14) does not mean He will concentrate on Christ to the exclusion of the Father. There is no division within the Godhead. What the Father has, the Son has (17:10). What the Son has, the Spirit will declare (see 1 Cor. 2:13). However, the focus will be on Christ because He is the “image of the invisible God” (see Col. 1:15). His steps are the only ones we can follow because He is the only one we have “seen.”

(The NKJV Study Bible. 2007 (Jn 16:15). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.)