If Jesus was God, then why did he pray to God?

Brethren, because Jesus prayed whiles on earth, many people have used that as an occasion to deny his Deity. Their reasoning is that if Jesus is God, then there was no point for him to pray. If Jesus prayed to his father whiles on earth, that does not in anyway make him less God. The answer to their cavil lies in a proper understanding of the two natures of Christ, his human and divine nature. It is important to know, that before the incarnation of Christ, he was already in existence with the father and the Spirit. The members of the Trinity was in being before time began, and they enjoyed each others company and loved one another. Jesus the Son of God was in being with the father, even before he took on flesh.

 Let us look at some passages which supports Jesus Christ preexistence with the father before he dwelt among us, Jesus said: No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:13-16) Jesus prayed and said: I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (John 17; 5). In the verse twenty four of the same chapter Jesus prayed thus: Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (John 17: 24).

 Paul also wrote in his epistle to the Romans: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3). And in his letter to the Church of Ephesus he wrote: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love (Ephesians 1: 3-4). These passages makes it clear that Jesus Christ was with God the father before his incarnation. The father is God: Paul, an apostle not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead (Galatians 1; 1). The Son is also God: And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1John 5; 20). 

The Holy Spirit is also God: But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God" (Acts 5; 3-4). These are not three separate Gods, but one God who eternally exist as three persons. They possess equal divine nature and are co-equal. But in the fullness of time, God the Son took on an additional nature, a human nature and was made in the likeness of Men (Philippians 2; 6-8). Jesus as the God-Man needed to pray. His fellowship with the father did not cease because of his incarnation. 

Prior to his taking on flesh, he conversed and communed with the father, and on earth he did the same thing. Because Jesus prayed and talked to God the father doesn't make him less God. Jesus as a Man did not come to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him (John 6; 38). As a Man, he needed to completely rely on God, and to submit himself to the father, so he could receive strength and power to go through the course of life. As a Man it was imperative for him to cast himself wholly on God the father to fulfill the primary reason for his coming, and that is to provide eternal redemption for his people; But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9; 12). The prayer life of Jesus Christ serves as a model for every Christian. Jesus Christ is our great exemplar of how we can live out our Christian faith. If our Lord Jesus prayed whiles on earth, then it behooves us to also pray to our father as we sojourn here on earth. As prayer played a vital role in the life of Jesus, so we must let prayer also play a pivotal role in our lives. Jesus in his human nature prayed and fellowshipped with God the Father, and yet was equal to him in his divine nature. The fact that Jesus prayed to the father doesn't mean he is not God, he was and still is God, but he pitched his tent and tabernacled among us as Man, so he could carry out the will of him that sent him. Jesus prayed to God as a Man, whiles still retaining his nature as God. God bless you

      A thought to ponder

If Jesus prayed to his father whiles on earth, that does not in anyway make him less God

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