The One We Pray
To!
Therefore David blessed the Lord before all
the assembly; and David said: “Blessed are You,
Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.”
1 Chronicles 29: 10
In recent
years, it has become common to hear
public officials use this phrase: “Our thoughts and
prayers are with all those impacted by this event.”
Such statements are commendable and appreciated
in times of crisis or suffering. But given the
religiously
pluralistic nature of societies, the offer of prayers
raises the question: Prayers to whom?
The reason it matters is prayers must be directed
to a deity that has invited such prayers and
has the
power to answer them (Hebrews 4:16). In the Bible,
there's never any doubt to Whom prayers are being
offered. So often
God is named specifically, as when
David prayed, “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel,
our Father, forever and ever.”
Jews, and later Christians, didn’t pray to an unnamed
God. They prayed to the God who had made promises
that became the basis of their prayers (2 Peter 1:3-4).
It matters to whom we pray, and why.
We pray to God the Father, in the Name
of the Son, and in the power of the Spirit.
"The Bible is a letter God
has sent to us, prayer is a
letter we send to Him."
Matthew Henry