The Catholic Church has replaced God with the Virgin Mary. The Protestant Church has replaced God with His Son (Messiah). The Church has replaced the promises of God to Israel and applied them to themselves.
We are told or commanded to pray to God Almighty through Christ, not to Christ! You do not pray to your priest, but through him. Most Catholics pray to Mary and most Protestants pray to Jesus. No wonder so few prayers are answered.
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who sees in secret and will reward you.
Matthew 6:6
Pray then like this: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. (God's name is Yahweh!)
Matthew 6:9
This does not mean, of course, that you cannot speak to Messiah. We speak to our Father or to Messiah via the Spirit of God. For the Spirit belongs to both; that is why He is called God's Spirit and Christ's Spirit. Remember, there is only one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4)!
Nevertheless, we are directed to pray only to our heavenly Father through Christ, who is the High Priest for the age of ages (Hebrews 5:6).
Many priests and clergy use Old Covenant scriptures pertaining only to the Jews not as allegory but as promises to the Christian Church. This is not only unscriptural but demonic. We should always ask: who is God speaking to, who is He speaking about, and how does it pertain to me? It really is important to try to understand the Bible. That is why I suggest using more than one translation (revision) and a Greek-Hebrew concordance. A Bible dictionary is a great tool as well.
There are so many children of God missing out on the beauty and amazing mysteries that God wants to share with us because they are hung up on salvation or the “salvation experience.” They seem to think that’s where it begins and ends. My dear friend, that is only pre-school. You don’t want to live on a milk diet all your life. Your desire should be to mature into an adult Christian.
That is why the author of the book of Hebrews tells us:
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrines of Christ and go on to maturity...
Hebrews 6:1-3
Paul tells us:
But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:1
The unspiritual Christian does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, for he is not able to understand them for they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14
How do you get spiritual discernment? Simple! Get baptized in the Spirit as the early church did. It's a gift, just like salvation—and Christ is the baptizer (Matthew 3:11).
Hey, just get it done! This will not give you maturity, but it will give you the person in your life that can! The Holy Spirit is sevenfold: truth, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, strength and power, counsel, and reverence (or fear of God)(Isaiah 11:1-3).
I personally prefer fear, for God is a formidable opponent, and the scripture states:
Fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.
Proverbs 9:10
You can get baptized in the Spirit all by yourself! Just raise your hands to God Almighty and ask Him for the baptism. The Messiah is the baptizer, and when you feel the power come upon you, yield your tongue to the Spirit of God (the vilest member of our body — James 3:6-9).
Let the Spirit form the words, but you must do the speaking!
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them words to utter.
Acts 2:4
The Holy Spirit can manipulate your lips and tongue, but He needs you to use your vocal cords to speak. You will probably begin with syllables that will sound like gibberish to you, but as you keep speaking it will turn to a fantastic language! I have spoken in ancient Hebrew as well as modern Hebrew, Aramaic, Persian, and many other languages to people from various countries and been told my language was letter perfect.
Speaking in the Spirit coupled with interpretation is self-edifying.
For he who speaks in a spiritual language, speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:13-14
He who speaks in a spiritual language edifies himself...
Therefore he who speaks in a spiritual language should pray for the power to interpret, that his mind may be fruitful as well as his spirit.
For over 40 years our ministry (my wife and I) has been to the household of faith—to get them Spirit-filled and taught, to move on towards spiritual maturity and integrity. The language that you receive at baptism is a gift from God for spiritual communication with Him (self-edification). The nine gifts of the Spirit are for ministry, primarily for the Church, but for the world as well.