Can We Pray to Jesus? Learning from the Psalms
And part of it is assessing this messianic angle when you're in the Psalms, thinking about Jesus first, and maybe even that he's the speaker of some psalms.
Praying to Jesus - Exploring His Praise in the Psalms
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Begin with the truth
All right, one other new thing I want to share with you, but I'll hold off for just a little bit, stand by on that. Just in case you're mentally engaged in this question, who should we be praying to, and how do God's people see this, and what does the Bible say?
I'm going to give you what I perceive to be, and I think many would agree, the top five reasons why some believers do not pray to Jesus, whether it's praise or supplication or whatever it might be, they always address it to the Father, certainly publicly, which I think is a place you have to be much more careful so that you don't invite people into your view, but even privately they hold that conviction.
What this reveals about God
Thus, we pray to the Father because Jesus has given us access to the Father and works in some high priestly way, which is common terminology for him, particularly in Hebrews, to take our words and present them to God. By the way, while I'm saying that, we all know Jesus is God.
There's not a single part of this, I hope, that's saying the Father is the only one that's God, and that's why Jesus and the Son are unworthy.
Let faith take root
Remember when he was being stoned, Jesus had ascended and was sitting at the right hand of God, and he looks up and he sees Jesus and he says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. The first statement unquestionably addresses Jesus, and the second statement looks like it follows in suit with a request made of the Lord, which I mentioned to you in the open, some have a distinction between praising Jesus or making a request of him, and here you certainly seem to have that second thing happening.
Now, some might say that Stephen's situation seeing Jesus is unique.
Respond in daily life
But in the Old Testament, we've started over with Genesis and we're going to look at how each story, each instance, each thing takes us straight to Jesus. If you go to Amazon, type in my name, you type in Genesis, a Jesus book or something like that.
I'm excited, so excited, about working at least through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and ultimately the Psalms and who knows, maybe the entire Old Testament.
Take the idea with you.
- 01Where do I see the problem or opportunity described in “Can We Pray to Jesus? Learning from the Psalms” in my own life?
- 02What Scripture or spiritual principle in this study most needs my attention?
- 03What one specific change can I make this week to put this teaching into practice?
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