Traditionally, we have been taught that in prayer, we pray to God the Father, through God the Son, and by/in God the Holy Spirit (although this formula is not taught or used in Scripture). This raises two questions. Can we pray to Jesus? Can we pray to the Holy Spirit? My consistent response is simply this: it depends on whether you believe Jesus or the Holy Spirit is God or not. If you believe that Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God, then the answer is yes!

….since the Spirit is God, it cannot be wrong to invoke  and address him, if there is good reason to do so….and prayer to the Spirit  will equally be proper when what we seek  from him is closer communion with Jesus and fuller Jesuslikeness  in our lives.^[1] 

Three cogent reasons can be given to support the view that we can and should pray to the Holy Spirit. They are theological, practical, and ecclesiastical.

Theologically speaking, we should worship and pray to him because the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.^[2] Each person of the triune Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit co-exist, are co-eternal, and are co-equal while at the same time eternally distinct in one substance.

The doctrine of the Trinity arose from the settled conviction that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet at the same time, from the Hebrew Scriptures, there is only one God. The blending of these two convictions led the church, over its first one hundred years of theological development, to the conclusion that God exists as a unity in diversity: one essence eternally existing as three persons, all sharing the divine nature. “Trinity is the name we use to convey this understanding of God’s identity.”^[3]

Charles Lowry has also argued that there is sufficient warrant to pray to the Holy Spirit since the doctrine of the Trinity is true. In light of tradition in churches to invoke the Holy Spirit in ordination, so in devotion and prayer, we ought to learn to regularly and confidently invoke the Holy Spirit.^[4]

In the Old Testament, the living God and the Spirit of God are not clearly delineated till we come to the New Testament where we see the “Spirit of God in the Old Testament coming into his full rights as a persona of the Trinity.”^[5] What was generalized was now replaced by concreteness of action as found in the doctrine of the Trinity.

We therefore confess that the Father is God, that the Son is God, and that the Spirit is God. In so affirming such a Trinitarian doctrine, we affirm the deity of the Holy Spirit. We cannot—and dare not—settle for less.^[6]

Since the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity and, therefore divine, it is clearly appropriate to worship and adore Him, together with the Father and the Son and for prayer to be offered to Him.^[7]

The Holy Spirit is consistently thought of as a Person, and in some sense distinct^[8] from, though closely related to the Father and the Son. He is not another name or one aspect of the Father or the Son. He is a Person in his own right, with his own functions.^[9] Hence, the Holy Spirit is to be worshipped in his own right as God,^[10] in the same way that we pray to Jesus Christ because he is God.

Practically speaking, all persons of the Godhead are equal but they can be distinguished in terms of roles. The uniqueness of the three persons lies in their relationship and function. There is intra-cooperation and inter-communication between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Within the economy of the Trinity, there is unity and yet diversity, and division of labour when it comes to ministry. God the Father calls, God the Son saves, and God the Spirit convinces, convicts, and converts. The Father elects, the Son redeems, and the Holy Spirit regenerates.^[11] God’s plan of redemption involves the Trinity. Someone put it this way:

The Father Thought it

The Son Bought it

The Spirit Wrought it

But I’ve got it (Anonymous)

Hence, it is appropriate to pray to the Holy Spirit where his work is involved.^[12] For example, it is the work of the Holy to “convict, convince unbelievers of sin, of righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8–11). He also regenerates or gives new life (John 3:5–8). So if we want to pray for conversion, should not the prayer be addressed to him? When we pray for power to preach, does it not make more sense to invoke the Holy Spirit since he is the one who empowers? When we want to pray for holiness and cleansing, should we not ask the Holy Spirit who is the sanctifier?^[13]

In other words, “Why would we pray for the Father to do that which is properly the work of the Spirit?”^[14] Does it not make sense to observe proper prayer protocol? We inform the people that for God to answer our prayers we must be “prayer specific.” Conversely, when we pray, should not our prayers also be “God-specific” (i.e., going to the right department) instead of praying to “God” generally?^[15]

When it comes to worship, general prayer is to be directed to the Triune God instead of Father or Son or Holy Spirit. They are three in one. We believe in the Triune God not in three gods.

Ecclesiastically speaking, from Church history, we learn that the earliest reference of the Holy Spirit being worshipped was in the second century found in Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah (9:33–36).^[16] Later, the Eastern (Greek speaking) and Western (Latin speaking) churches confessed the Spirit along with the Father and the Son and worshipped together as found in the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed.^[17] “It appears that the growth of such practices was slow, but was stimulated by the presence of the Arian heresy.”^[18] Hence, “the origin and growth of worship of the Holy Spirit developed parallel and derived from the development of the doctrinal belief about deity.”^[19]

Prayers specifically addressed to the Holy Spirit can be found more easily after the tenth century.^[20] In The Book of Common Prayers (1662), we have a reference to the Holy Spirit addressed as God: “O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and Son: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.”^[21]

In hymns, we do acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s presence and petition him to fill us. Some examples include: “Doxology,” “Spirit of the Living God,” “Come Holy Spirit I Need You,” “Holy Spirit Thou Art Welcome in This Place,” and others.

In Scriptures, we have no specific scriptural reference where he is specifically worshipped or addressed in prayer.^[22] The closest is Phil. 3:3. Augustine, one of the early Church fathers, was of the view that this verse refers to the worship of the Spirit.

To say we should not worship the Holy Spirit because there is no mention of the phrase is a linguistic fallacy, faulty reasoning, and weak argument. Similarly, the Bible does not mention the word Trinity and the Fall, yet we accept them because the concept is there though the term may not be used. The text may be lacking but the concept is not.

The lack of textual reference may be explained and attributed to the fact that his primary work is that of agency, whereby the Holy Spirit identifies with us and serves us.^[23] Gordon Fee said, “We must acknowledge that the Spirit is most frequently spoken of in terms of agency—that is, the Spirit is the agent of God’s activity.”^[24] Instead of primarily being seen as a recipient, he is more of an instrument.^[25]