Prayer is such an important topic that almost every time a disaster happens, you will often hear people say, our prayer is with them, I’ll pray for you or for them, etc. Most often, an appeal is made to  simply pray. But, what is prayer and can we just pray to anything, anyone or through anybody? These are important questions that the Christian must be concerned with. In other words, it is not enough to say I pray or I want to pray. The question is: Who do you pray to?

To begin with, prayer is simply communicating with the living God [aka the LORD or Jehovah in King James Version of the Bible]. God communicates to us through His Word (the Bible) and many other ways such as through vision, dreams, etc.  We communicate back to Him through prayer. The Word of God is the foundation of prayer. You need to stand on something to pray and that something is the Word of God. The Word of God is very important because it is the Will of God. And prayer is only answered if it is in accordance with God’s will, (1 John 5:14, ).

Now, the Christian is advised to “pray without ceasing“, (1 Thessalonians 5:17, KJV). Jesus Himself said we should pray so that we don’t enter into temptation, (Matthew 26:41, KJV). So, prayer is very important. But there is a right way to approach God, just as there is a right way to approach a king or a president of a country.

“Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me“, (John 14:5-6 KJV, Emphasis mine).

Notice the words of Jesus. He categorically said that no one comes to the Father (the LORD) except through Him. Jesus went on to say, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it“, (John 14:13-14, KJV).  So prayer must be rendered to the Living God through Jesus Christ. That’s the only sure way to get your prayers answered. In other words, if you are not praying to the LORD through Jesus, you’re off target. Better put, you are scoring an offside goal. In a football match, you can score the best goal, but if it’s offside, it is ruled out. It is the same thing with prayer. You can pray all the prayers in this world, but if you are not praying through our Lord Jesus Christ, you’re scoring an offside goal. It is for this reason we start or conclude our prayers with: “In the name of Jesus” or “In Jesus’ name“. Some people do both and others simply say, “I ask these through our Lord Jesus Christ” – these expressions are not exclusive. The main point here is that you need to approach God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the One who died for you and I. He is the one who was crucified on the cross for our sins. If He says you can only reach the Father through Him, then why would you do otherwise? If you are currently praying to God through any other person or deity apart from Jesus Christ, I would advise you to repent now.