My custom, personally, is
pray to Yahweh in the Name of Yahshua, as this is the example which the Messiah
gave us, and this is what I grew up with. There are some, however, who are
teaching that prayer to Yahshua is idolatry, and this NEEDS to be
addressed. First we ask the question, what is prayer?
“Prayer: 1) In a general
sense, the act of asking for a favor, and particularly with earnestness.
2) In worship, a solemn address to the Supreme Being consisting of adoration,
or an expression of our sense of [Elohim’s] glorious perfections, confession
of our sins, supplication for mercy and forgiveness, intercession for
blessings on others, and thanksgiving, or an expression of gratitude to
[Elohim] for His mercies and benefits.”
Webster goes on to state that the word
comes from the same family of words as “preach” or “bless”, the primary sense
being to throw or to pour forth sounds or words. So to say that one can
not pray to the Messiah is to say that one cannot talk to Yahshua! Does
that make any sense??
Acts 7:59 And they were
stoning Stephen as he was calling and saying, “Master Yahshua, receive my
spirit.” [60] And kneeling down he cried out with a loud voice, “Master, do
not hold this sin against them”. And having said this, he fell
asleep.
Clearly we see that Stephen prayed to
Yahshua. Now let’s turn to Revelation.
Rev. 22:20 He that bears
witness of these matters says, “Yea, I am coming speedily.”
Awmain. Yea, come Master Yahshua.
So we see that John ends his revelation by
praying/speaking to Yahshua as well.
Now to answer the next phase of the
question, why does Yahshua say:
Jhn. 14:13 And whatsoever ye
shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be esteemed in
the Son.
Jhn. 15:16 Ye have not chosen Me,
but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth
fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of
the Father in My Name, He may give it you.
Jhn. 16:23 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.
Jhn. 16:26 At that day ye shall ask
in My name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father on your
behalf.
Okay, in plain words Yahshua is saying, “I
am the mediator between you and the Father. Give it to me and I’ll pass it
on.” But then Yahshua says, “In that day you will ask Me
nothing” (Jhn. 16:22). What does that mean? Basically
He is just telling the disciples that He will soon be ascending to the Father,
and they will no longer be able to talk to Him in physical form, which brings us
to the last phase of this question – Why didn’t Yahshua pray to
Himself? First off, from a human perspective, that would have been rather
strange. After all, why don’t we talk to ourselves? Much more
important than that, however, is that one of Yahshua’s primary reasons for
coming to earth, besides making atonement, was to set an example for us to
follow, and once He was ascended, we would have to pray to Yahweh in the Heavens
in order to have contact. If He had prayed to Himself, it would have set
the example of praying to a man, because He was in the form of humanity.
But when He prayed to the Father, He set the example for us to pray to Yahweh,
in His Name, or according to His example (see Matt. 6:9-13, Luke
11:2-4).
