Protocol For Prayer

Would you please address the proper order of prayer? I realize that there was a proper order (or to use the secular term “protocol”) that was observed in the Temple worship. Does a proper order also apply to our prayers?

Q. Would you please address the proper order of prayer? I realize that there was a proper order (or to use the secular term “protocol”) that was observed in the Temple worship. Does a proper order also apply to our prayers?

I was taught to pray to the Father, through the Son. Doing this, do we talk to God the Father, or to Jesus, His Son and our Living Saviour? Over the years, I have come to use a formal standard of “My God and my Father in Heaven, I come before You in the name of Your Son and my Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ and under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit”, then I would bring all of my thanksgiving, praise, worship, petitions and concerns before God the Father, ending “in Jesus’ name”. This more formal address is for my end of day prayers.

All during the day, I find myself, just talking with either God or Jesus without much formality, very much like I talk with my best friends here on earth. Is this being disrespectful to who God and Jesus are? They are too important to me to ever be disrespectful to who they are and what they have done for me.

A. The days when God kept His people at arms length ended at the cross. (Col. 1:19-20). According to John 1:12, when you believed in His Son, God gave you the authority to become His child. Romans 8:15-16 and Galatians 4:6-7 say that this enables us to call God by His most intimate name. And Ephesians 3:12 says we can now approach God with freedom and confidence.

Would you address your earthly father each day using some kind of formal protocol, or only by going through one of your siblings? Or would it likely be in a more personal way, giving honor and respect but with love and intimacy as well? Treat your Father in heaven the same way. And by the way, when you’re talking to one, you’re talking to all three.