This is one chapter excerpted from Joel's Book, "To God Be The Glory".

How Paul Prayed

“Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me" (Rom. 15:30).
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 3:14).

In our effort to understand God the Father and His relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ and to know to whom our prayers should be directed, it would be helpful to study the prayers of the great apostle Paul. He was a man mightily used of God, "an apostle of Jesus" (II Cor. 1:1), "the apostle of the Gentiles" (Rom. 11:13), "not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles" (II Cor. 11:5), and "was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (II Cor. 12:4). He is a man certainly qualified to write on the subject of prayer, and one whose example we can follow.

HOW PAUL SAID HE PRAYED.
First, let's look at Paul's writings and see to whom he said he prayed.
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:14).
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy" (Phil. 1:3-4).
"We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you" (Col. 1:3).
"For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God" (I Thess. 3:9).
"Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God" (II Cor. 9:11).
"I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers" (Phm. 1:4).
So Paul said in the six foregoing verses that he prayed to God the Father. We know for sure that is what he said, so that is what he practiced. I found 34 instances of Paul in prayer in Acts and in his epistles, and we will look at them in order to learn by his example.

In Acts Chapter 9, Paul (Saul) was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Church and had an encounter with Jesus, which left him blinded. He was led by his friends on to Damascus and continued without sight, neither eating nor drinking for three days. The Lord Jesus spoke to a disciple of that city by the name of Ananias, telling him where to find Saul, and to pray for him to receive sight. The Lord said to Ananias, "for behold he prayeth." There is no indication in this account as to whom he was directing his prayers, but in his recounting of his conversion in Acts 22, he gives this quote from Ananias to him.

"The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One (Jesus), and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth" (Acts 22:14).
"The God of our fathers" is the Hebrew God of the O.T. to whom he probably was praying, but since it doesn't say specifically who Saul was praying to, we will put a question mark by the prayers at the time of his conversion, until we see more clearly to whom he prayed thereafter.
We do know what Paul's first sermon was after his conversion, for Acts 9:20 says that "straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God." Notice, not that he is God, or the second person of the triune God, but "the Son of God." This is the message that he continued to preach throughout his ministry.
Now, for the second Bible account of Paul in prayer, look at Acts 16 where Paul and Silas had been beaten and shackled in Philippi, and thrown into jail.
"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. (Acts 16:25). So they sang and prayed to God.
Later in Acts Chapter 27, Paul was on a ship bound for Rome as a prisoner, when they encountered a severe storm and no one on board ate food for 14 days. Paul had a visit from an angel of the Lord and was told that there would be no loss of life. Paul spoke words of encouragement to all of his shipmates and verse 35 says:
"And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat" (Acts 27:35). Again, "to God."
When Paul and his companions were safely back on land they continued on their journey to Rome. Acts 28:15 says:
"And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appi forum, and the three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage" (Acts 28:15).
Now we will look at the accounts of Paul praying, as recorded in his epistles, Romans through Philemon. (Since the authorship of Hebrews is questioned by some we will discuss it in another chapter). Because they are 30 in number we will only list the location of each prayer and a quote from the Scripture as to whom it was addressed.

Location of Prayer in Scripture To Whom it was Addressed
Romans 1:9-10 "God"
Romans 10:1 "God"
Romans 15:5-6 "God"
Romans 15:13 "God"
Romans 15:30 "God"
Romans 16:25-27 "God"
I Corinthians 1:4-9 "God"
II Corinthians 1:3-5 "God even the Father"
II Corinthians 2:14 "God"
II Corinthians 9:12-15 "God"
II Corinthians 13:7-9 "God"
Ephesians 1:15-23 "God"
Ephesians 3:14-21 "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"
Philippians 1:9-11 "God"
Philippians 4:20 "God our Father"
Colossians 1:9-12 "the Father" (God)
I Thessalonians 1:2-4 "God"
I Thessalonians 2:13 "God"
I Thessalonians 3:11-13 "God"
I Thessalonians 5:23-24 "God"
II Thessalonians 1:11-12 "God"
II Thessalonians 2:13-17 "God"
II Thessalonians 3:5 "the Lord...God"
II Thessalonians 3:16 "the Lord of peace"
I Timothy 1:17 "God"
I Timothy 6:13-17 "God" "whom no man hath seen"
II Timothy 1:3 "God"
II Timothy 1:16-18 "The Lord" (God)
II Timothy 4:14-18 "God"
Philemon 4-6 "God"

It is very enlightening to look at these 30 prayers and see that each one was prayed to God the Father. I cannot find where Paul clearly prayed one prayer to the Lord Jesus; it was always to God. Neither have I found where any other apostle prayed to Jesus after his ascension, nor where any N.T. writer told us to address our prayers to Jesus. The closest thing I have found from Paul's writings, in regard to a prayer to Jesus is in I Tim. 1:11-12:
"According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry."
Is this a prayer or is it an attitude of the heart? You be the judge. Look at verse 17 of this same Chapter:
"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."
The "king eternal, immortal, invisible" is none other than the Lord God, the Father, whom Paul called "the only wise God."
Now let's look at how Paul spoke in regard to the prayers of us, the Lord's saints:
"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7).
"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:1-3, 5).
"Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21).
Please note, our faith is toward our Lord Jesus Christ (in the work he did on the cross), but our repentance is toward God.
"Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered" (without hair) (I Cor. 11:13)?
"Withal praying also for us, that God would open us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds" (Col. 4:3).
"Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ"s sake,...that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me" (Rom. 15:30).

"He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks: and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks" (Rom. 14:6).
"For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God" (Rom. 14:11-12).
The Lord to whom "every knee shall bow" in verse 11 above is the Lord God. Paul is quoting from Isa. 45:23 but look at verses 22 and 23 to see who was speaking:
"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."
And yes, one day every knee will bow to God"s son, Jesus.

"Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11)."To the glory of God the Father," for He is the one who decreed this honor for His Son.
Look at I Cor. 14 and see that speaking in tongues is prayer or praise to God.
"For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries" (v. 2).
"For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful" (v. 14).
"What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also" (v. 15).
"For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified" (v. 17).
"But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God" (v. 28).
Luke the author of Acts agrees:
"For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" (Acts 10:46).

I must confess that I have only seen these truths regarding to whom we should pray, in the past few weeks. A few months ago I was still praying to God the Father, and to Jesus. Up until the last few years I had prayed to Jesus, believing that he was in fact God the Father. My belief was called "Oneness" or "Jesus Only." In another Chapter I mentioned how I found the apostles’ prayer in Acts Chapter 4 to God the Father, in "the name of thy holy child Jesus: (v. 27, 30). That was the beginning of my awakening.

I must say however that my family and I have had many prayers answered through the years by praying to Jesus. We did it in sincerity and God was gracious. In our ministry since 1959, through prayer we have seen healing for cancer, asthma, Crohn"s disease, shingles and various other afflictions and diseases miraculously through prayer. In our family we have seen the dead raised to life again by calling on the name of Jesus. We have seen marriages healed and lives restored while praying to Jesus. But perhaps we could have been much more effective if we had approached God in the manner that He has prescribed in His word. In the past few weeks, as I have begun to see how Paul and the other apostles prayed, I became more aware of the public prayers of my fellow ministers. In one service the minister who opened with prayer prayed his entire prayer to Jesus. Three nights later another minister addressed the opening of his prayer to God and closed in the name of Jesus. In a wonderful service in another church this week a fine brother started off praying to "our Lord God"; later in the prayer he called him Jesus and thanked him for dying on the cross. He ended in Jesus name. Of course our "Lord God" did not die on the cross, but our Lord Jesus Messiah surely did.

But we are learning. And as we do, I believe that God the Father will require us to approach Him properly, in order to see our prayers answered. There is a protocol to approaching God. He is the Great King. We enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; then we approach boldly to His throne of grace, in the name of His son Jesus. (In Jesus' righteous worthiness, claiming what he purchased for us on Calvary, Isa. 53:5).
If you have ever had a prayer answered, God answered it!

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Paul) (Phil. 4:19)
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).
Jesus prayed to God the Father always, and this was not just a formality or to set a good example.
"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed" (Mark 1:35).
"And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed" (Luke 5:16).
"And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12). (Jesus prayed "to God").

"He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering (glistening)" (Luke 9:28-29).
"And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray" (Matt. 14:23).
"Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray" (Matt. 19:13).
"Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder" (Matt. 26:36).
"And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44).
"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him (God) that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared" (Heb. 5:7).
Jesus was a praying man and he prayed to the one whom he called in John 20:17, "my Father and your Father; and to my God, and your God." Prayer is a declaration of dependence upon God, and Jesus always prayed.
Look at what he taught his disciples regarding prayer in the closing days of his earthly ministry;
"Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 18:19).
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him" (Luke 11:13)? Notice, "That ask him....your heavenly Father."
"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14:13-16).
Notice, Jesus did not say “ask me”, he said, "Ask in my name." "That will I do," means he, Jesus, acts as the Father"s agent in answering prayer. In Matthew Chapter 9 Jesus saw the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd and he was moved with compassion. He said to his disciples:
“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest (not himself), that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:38).

He is saying in essence:
“Pray to God about this problem.” (“My father is the husbandman,” John 15:1).
"And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you" (John 16:23)
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:24). Jesus had not included his name in the prayer he had taught them earlier called "The Lord"s Prayer" (Matt. 6:9-13).
"These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs:...but I shall show you plainly of the Father" (John 16:25). Jesus is teaching them something new.
"At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you" (John 16:26).
Notice Jesus words "at that day" and realize that this was to be after Jesus went to the Father. Jesus prays ("to request, entreat, beseech") for us in heaven. "I will pray for you." Look at Hebrews 7:25:
"Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession ("entreat in favor of") for them."
"Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom. 8:34).
Jesus" closest friends knew that while he was on earth he prayed to God for their needs. Look at what Martha said at the tomb of her dead brother Lazarus:
"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask God, God will give it thee" (John 11:21-22).
Brethren we must learn the lesson that Jesus taught in John 16. God desires to answer our prayers, but we must pray to God the Father, in Jesus name. Again, "in that day ye shall ask me nothing." This is asking in prayer. We all have lost loved ones, sick friends, we live in a dying world, and Israel is still blinded to whom her Messiah is.

We need prayers answered!
"If any man be a worshiper of God...him he heareth" (in prayer) (John 9:31). We must get our worship right!
"The Father seeketh such to worship him" (John 4:23).
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally...and it shall be given him" (James 1:5).

James says again (regarding the use of the tongue):
"Therewith bless we God, even the Father" (James 3:9).
"And if ye call on the Father..." (I Peter 1:17).
"Ye also...offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (I Peter 2:5).
"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Paul) (Eph. 5:20).

WHAT ABOUT OUR PRACTICE OF ASKING JESUS TO COME INTO OUR HEARTS?

Let's see what Paul says:
"God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6).
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" (Eph. 3:14, 17).
"Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (II Cor. 1:21-22).

As we end this chapter, let's look again at what Paul says in Philippians 4:19:
"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

WHO WAS PAUL'S GOD WHO SUPPLIES ALL OF OUR NEED BY CHRIST JESUS?

Verse 20 says:
"Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen" ("One is your Father, which is in heaven" - "Not any man hath seen the Father" - "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God") (Jesus speaking) (Matt. 23:9;John 6:46;20:17).

Let's pray to God the Father, in Jesus name. Paul did!

LETTER OF RESPONSE

Dear Friends:

We are in the process of mailing the tract, “Can You Face Reality,” to over 75,000 ministers and cannot possibly answer all of the questions we are receiving. I do regard your questions and have answered them very carefully in a 390 page book, with over 1000 Scripture references. I spent 9 months writing the book and know that it is a revelation of God found in His word. This is not about selling books, this is about helping my brethren whom I love, understand the truth as to who the one Most High God is.

My book is written from the KJV but its theme is expressed very well by Paul in I Cor.15:21, 24-28 (New Living Translation). “So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. For the Scriptures say ‘God has put all things under his authority’ (of course, when it says ‘all things are under his authority,’ that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.” (All a quote from the NLT). Read it in your favorite translation, it will say the same!

The focus of my book isn't what Jesus is not, but rather who God the Father is. God is immortal - Jesus was not. He was appointed to death Heb. 9:27. God is omnipresent - Jesus was not. He said at Lazarus' tomb, "I am glad for your sakes that I was not there" John 11:15. God is omnipotent - Jesus was not. "The son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. I can of mine own self do nothing, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." "The Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at anytime, nor seen his shape" John 5:19, 20-31, 37. God is omniscient - Jesus was not. He did not know when he would return. He went to a fig tree to see if perhaps, "haply he might find anything thereon" Mark 11:13.

Jesus is coming to reign on earth (“the throne of his father David” Luke 1:32 - he was never promised God’s throne in heaven - Rev. 3:21) for 1000 years. Why just 1000 years? Then God Himself is coming! Please read Revelation chapters 19, 20, 21. The crowd was looking at Jesus, when he said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” At the end of the 1000 years Jesus will lay the kingdom at God the Father’s feet, and will himself be eternally subject to God the Father. (For proof see I Corinthians 15:20-28 & Rev. 20:7-14)).

Hebrews teaches, and I believe that Jesus did not come in the God family (there is only one God), or the angel family, but in the human family (Heb. 2:7, 9). He is perfect, sinless man, but man nevertheless! “Wherefore in all things it behooved him (was necessary) to be made like unto his brethren... to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17). A God-man could not redeem us. It took a sinless man, the Lamb of God, with righteous blood untainted by the sin of Adam, to redeem mankind. He is the second Adam, not the first God-man. Jesus is: “a priest for ever” (Heb. 5:6). “An high priest for ever” (Heb. 6:20). “A priest for ever “ (Heb. 7:21). “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat on the right hand of God” (Heb. 10:12). Please see also Psalm 110:1 and Acts 2:29-35.

If the disciples who had just seen Jesus ascend to heaven in Acts chapter one, did not pray to him in Acts chapter four, then he is not God! They prayed to “God, the Lord God,” and one time they referred to “thy holy child, Jesus,” and once they said, “by the name of thy holy child Jesus.” (Acts 4:23-31). That is what Jesus had taught them in John 15:16, “Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” Also in John 16:23, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” There is not one verse in the N.T. where we are commanded or encouraged to pray to Jesus.

Jesus was not just a body full of God, he was a man full of God. He had a human mind, soul, spirit and will. Being full of God does not make a person God. Paul said in Ephesians 3:19 “That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” See II Cor. 4:11, “That the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our mortal flesh.” (This of course does not make us Jesus). The incarnation as taught by modern Christianity is a fable. Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, 1996 edition says:

“(Incarnation) refers to the Christian doctrine that the pre-existent Son of God became man in Jesus. None of these writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke) deals with the question of Jesus' pre-existence. Paul does not directly address the question of the incarnation...It is only with the fathers of the church in the third and fourth centuries, that a full-fledged theory of the incarnation develops.”

Professor James Dunn, a Trinitarian scholar says in his book “Christology In The Making,”
“We cannot claim that Jesus believed himself to be the incarnate Son of God” (p. 254). “In Matthew and Luke Jesus’ divine sonship is traced back specifically to his birth or conception: he was Son of God because his conception was an act of creative power by the Holy Spirit” (p. 51). “It is less likely that we can find such a Christology (‘incarnation or pre-existence’) in Paul or Mark, or Luke or Matthew” (p. 64). “Only in the Fourth Gospel can we speak of a doctrine of the incarnation” (p. 259). My contention is, that if Jesus, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Peter knew nothing of a pre-existence and incarnation, it did not happen! John has been mis-understood! (Its what God said that became flesh). Listen to James Hastings, a noted Trinitarian Bible Scholar, “It may be that St. Paul nowhere names Christ ‘God.’ To a Jew the idea that a man might come to be God would have been an intolerable blasphemy” (Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: 1994; p. 707-708).

This is about God the Father’s glory. In Isaiah 42:1-7, “God the Lord” gave an awesome prophecy concerning the Messiah, “my servant” who He would send. But in verse eight He says, “My glory I will not give to another.” He says again in 48:11, “I will not give my glory to another.” Jesus has “his own glory” (Luke 9:26). He shall “sit in the throne of his glory” (Matt. 19:28). Jesus said “Father...the glory which thou gavest me...that they may behold my glory which thou gavest me” (John 17:22, 24). Peter said, ”God...raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith might be in God “ (I Peter 1:20-21). I believe that we as Christians, in our sincere desire to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, have given him the place in our hearts, esteem and worship, that rightly belongs to God, his Father and ours. “I ascend to my Father...and to my God” (John 20:17). “The true worshipers will worship the Father” (John 4:23). When Jesus was worshiped in the N.T., he was not worshiped as God, but as Messiah, Son of God. There is a difference. Solomon was “worshiped” in I Chron. 29:20, but not as God. One day overcoming saints will be worshiped (Rev. 3:9), but not as God.

Here is a good question. If we continue to give God’s glory to another, even His highly exalted, sinless, virgin-born son, after we have come to the knowledge of the truth, will it be accounted to us for idolatry? God still speaks! Please pray and ask Him.

Christian Love & Prayers,
Joel Hemphill