Prayer and Worship TO the Holy Spirit?

I agree with most Christians that God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and that they are distinct persons although they are one. They are in perfect agreement, yet they fulfil different roles and have different realms.

I believe the Spirit helps us to pray, he comforts us, He bears witness of our childhood towards God. He works miracles through the believers. He reveals Gods prophetic word to his prophets. He reveals Gods mysteries to us and He can be grieved. We can rejoice in Him. We can be troubled and angry and sad in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit distributes gifts and works fruit. This is not an exhaustive listing.

I believe the Spirit takes a servant role to the Son and the Father. Jesus was filled with the Spirit and not vice versa. Jesus asked the Father to send the Spirit. The Son submits to the Father, the Spirit reveals and glorifies the Father and the Son.

In many churches nowadays people pray TO the Spirit and worship the Holy Spirit as you can find in many contemporary choruses. They invite the Holy Spirit and sometimes even presume to invoke the Spirits presence or manifestation. Although the Spirit is God, I am not aware that it is recommended anywhere in the bible to pray TO the Spirit or worship Him explicitly. I am concerned that this can lead to a wrong perception of God and I feel uncomfortable about it. It appears to me that especially in charismatic churches the practice of worshipping THE Spirit often has the intention to facilitate manifestations or the supernatural that borders on voyeurism, hence the occurrence of phenomenon like the Toronto Blessing. I am afraid it can distract us away from the cross which is the dominion of both the Father and the Son. God had sacrificed his Son, Jesus obeyed in all and subjected himself to be crushed for our sins to bring salvation to all those who believe. The Spirit never sacrificed nor was sacrificed, but He lives now in us and always point to the Father and Son.

The word of God recommends Worship and prayer IN the Spirit in IN truth addressed to the Father and the Son. Much more can be said about the trinity and it is one of the great mysteries that will take forever to fully understand.

By no means do I want to downplay the position and deity of the Holy Spirit. Without Him I would not be able to know God at all. I just try to understand his due role and position in relation to the son and the father as well as the believers .

However, my intention with this post is to try to discuss the implications and legality of worship and prayer to the Holy Spirit. David Wilkerson warned against such practise in his some of his sermons Christless Pentecost 1+2
and Christ A Stranger
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=3858
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=332
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=333

Your comments are welcome.

narrowpath

However, my intention with this post is to try to discuss the implications and legality of worship and prayer to the Holy Spirit. David Wilkerson warned against such practise in his some of his sermons Christless Pentecost 1+2
and Christ A Stranger
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=3858
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=332
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=333

Hi brother Philip, this is very good sermon!
Just to make a note that this is one sermon, not two. The second and the third are just splitted, but I think are with better quality.

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=3858]A Christless Pentecost! - Is Christ Becoming A Stranger In Our Midst?[/url]
(one file)

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=332]Christless Pentecost! - Is Christ Becoming A Stranger In Our Midst?[/url] - Part 1
[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=333]Christless Pentecost! - Is Christ Becoming A Stranger In Our Midst?[/url] - Part 2
(the same file but splitted and with better quality)

[url=http://www.tscpulpitseries.org/english/1980s/ts820001.html]Text Version[/url]

Hello Kire,

I believe it was you who pointed me to these sermons and this issue has been on my ever mind since.

Philip

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Jesus sent the Spirit (Comforter) to us and isn't that who we come to now?

The Holy Spirit was the one who revealed to Stephen, Jesus standing at the right hand of God. (Acts 7:55-56)

God gives us the Holy Spirit as a gift, so doesn't that mean we are to communicate with Him? (Luke 11:13)

And in Acts 1, the Holy Spirit gave commandments to the apostles. It seems that He is the one who we now communicate with.

Jordan

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Joh 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

The Holy Spirit is prophetic in nature and points to Jesus Christ. That's just a basic plain understanding for you guys.
Jesus points to the Father, the Father honors the Son, the Holy Spirit points to Jesus. We reconize Jesus Christ as God and Lord, as such He (Jesus) brings us into a relationship with the Father but it takes the Holy Spirits help in us and toward us to accomplish this. So our great need in order to be true worshippers of God is the Holy Spirit, however we don't directly worship this third person of the trinity in the way we do the Son and the Father.

Just like the tongues issue I just know my response here has opened up a can of worms.

Dear Sam,

I do not quite understand your comment.

ok, i have deleted what i said previously in the thought that it might not be edifying. but i will tell you, i am kind of offended by the Original posters' comment about Him, i.e, the holy spirit. i would tell you from teaching i read, and a couple of incidents i have seen with my eyes, that the spiritual world is nothing of what we perceive it to be save we have eyes to see and ears to hear in due obedience to the Holy Ghost. i feel almost this whole issue is the very reason, i myself don't see the desperate need to cry and weep everyday

thank you guys for your posts.. this is a tough issue because of how much we really do not understand the Trinity..at best we see as though looking through a cloudy glass..

it's funny because on one hand, they seem to have different roles, and yet at the same time all were mentioned in scripture to have

* created the world
*resurrected Christ
*brought individuals to salvation
*given gifts to believers

so with this thread, i am torn like many of you. i believe in praying to God, which is the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, but do you have to say one particular name??? i have a friend who was catholic and he asked me "phil, is it wrong to be praying to Jesus and not the Father? "i've been saying Jesus name, but i haven't been saying the Father's name..is He hearing me?? I went on to explain the Trinity to him the best i could..the point of the story is, if you are praying to God,and your heart is to glorify Him, does a believer always have to say Father at times and Son at times and Holy Spirit at other times?? i guess that's my take on this..

thanks for the post, i will be pondering this a lot today..love you guys.

Hi sb1175 and others,

I am glad that this posting has made you ponder.
I never said that the Holy Spirit is not God, He is a person and He is God. The Trinity is one of the great mysteries of God that man is not fit to explain to the full.

I would like to look more into the interaction of the 3 persons of the Godhead and their different roles and realms.

In many Charismatic circles the Holy Spirit is reduced to a power or force that is at our disposal and can be accessed to work healing, signs, wonders and manifestations at will. Then these people secretely take glory for themselves because they attribute it to their ability to "handle" this power. Most of them would not admit it openly, but this is widely practised. They pray TO the Spirit who they mistake for the power they are eager to see displayed. I would go so far and say that it can be done in a way where this power becomes and idol and dark forces are becoming active because it is not propperly aimed at glorifying God but rather feeding peoples lust for sensational experiences and soulish encounters.

This is a conterfeit of the real work of the Holy Spirit, who I believe still heals,works miracles, drives out demons, convicts. However, God receives the honor and their will be righteous fruit.

You may say that the women with the issue of blood accesssed God's power. Absolutely! However she threw herself at the feet of Jesus and trembled with fear. The Jesus released her and praised her faith.

In the Toronto Blessing inpired meetings people laugh and cookoo or bark. They fall backwards. They shake and shiver but not in awe of God. They are drunk, but in Acts 2 Peter said they were NOT drunk.

There will never be real conviction in the counterfeit displays of the "Spirit" work. Nor will there be an thorough expositon of the cross and the blood.

The Holy Spirit reveals the Son and the Father to us. He helps us to pray to the Father or Son with groanings and moanings that we cannot express ourselves.

There are a lot of references for people praying IN the Spirit or with the Spirit's behalf, but nowhere TO the Spirit.
I am not saying that you inevitably end up with the demonic if you do pray to the Holy Spirit. Most people have probably never really given it enough though.

The father received worship from the Son, the father spoke. It says in
2 Peter 1:17
For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

This reference is never made to the Spirit and there is a reason for that.

In John 17:13 it says:
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

So when the Spirit does not speak of His own but delivers what he has heard and bring glory to the Son we should do the same. We who are filled with the Spirit should glorify the Fahther and the Son.

Here is an analogy. Suppose you eat an absolutely delicous meal in a 5 star restaurant. You are served by a very attentive waiter. You praise the food for its delicacy, but it is the cook who deserves the praise. The waiter serves what the cook has prepared and will perhaps pass on the praise to the cook who you do not see. Without the waiter, the food would still be in the kitchen where your cannot go. The waiter would be a bit embarressed if your praise him for cooking the meal and would try to divert the praise to the cook.

The Holy Spirit has a servant role, not of lesser importance, because servanthood is a very honourable attribute in the kingdom of God.
Without cook there wood be no food, without the servant there would be no enjoyment of the same, since you are not permitted into the kitchen. The Kitchen represents heaven where mortals cannot go.

The waiter also serves the cutlery which helps you to cut up or scoop up the food. Eating you have to do by yourself.

Hope this illustration helps.

narrowpath

john the revelator went into the "kitchen" and i have been there too. This is why we need revival. In revival so many myyths are disposed.I have been in 3 major revivals and have seen people get mad when the Holy Ghost would manifest in the meetings . Revival brings the Holy Spirit. And when he comes people with awful spirits manifest weird. I have seen this first hand.those spirits cannot stand the awsome presence of the Holy Ghost.If you will read smith wigglesworth you can get a different picture of the work of the Holy Ghost.
Revival will break out again, and when it does i hope to be in it.Its just too awesome to pass up. And the attackers will also be there.I wonder if the attackers could be a sign of a true revival? In anycase the attackers will think they are "helping God" and thee people in revival are the ones in deception.I have seen this first hand also. hope this helps....David

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