The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by David Lee of Malaysia, from the tape GC 1301-N, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 16."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1981. All Rights Reserved.

Questioner

I’m not going stand before you and say I have a full and complete understanding of the Trinity of God. I do know that dwelling within me is the Holy Spirit. But when I pray, and I know this must be an old question to you, but who do I pray to, I find myself praying to God, and than I say I’m slighting Jesus when I’m praying to Jesus, and I say I am slighting God, who do I pray to?

John MacArthur's Answer

Well, my feeling is you can pray to all of them, they’re all persons. I mean you can find in the NT illustrations of prayer directed to every member of the Trinity--in scripture. I think that there is a calling on Holy Spirit, there is a calling on Christ, there is a calling on God. I think you have that liberty to call on the Trinity in total or in part. I think we commune with all of them. I mean there are times when I just ask the Holy Spirit to fill me, there are times when I ask Christ to bless me, there are times when I talk to God the Father. And I don’t understand it, I have said for years if you try to understand the Trinity, you will find yourself under the bed saying the Greek alphabet even though you don’t know it. You can't understand it, that’s just that act of simple faith. But I think you have the freedom to talk to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So just be free to talk to any and all of them. In fact, you might even say, Now I want all three of You to listen here because this is really important.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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