Do I Pray To The Father, Son, or Holy Spirit?
In the Lewis household, we have an unspoken policy that any of the adults in our house can open mail, regardless of whom it is directed to. So when a bill comes in addressed to my wife, she has no problem with me opening it. When a card arrives for Pastor Kyle, I have no problem with her opening it. As long as it makes it to the house, either of us will get it.
In a way, this illustrates the answer to your question. When you pray, as long as you direct it to the right location – regardless of which person you address it to in the house – it will get to where it needs to go! So in its simplest form, the answer to your question is that you can pray to God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit. Or you can pray to the triune God (all three at one time). Any of those options will get your prayers to the right “address”.
Throughout the New Testament, we actually see a variety of addresses. For example, in Matthew 6:9, Jesus tells us to pray to, “Our Father in heaven…” However, when the deacon Stephen was about to be stoned to death, he prayed, “Lord Jesus…” (Acts 7:59). Whether you address your prayer to the Father or to Jesus, you will get your prayers to the right place.
I did not find any examples of praying to the Holy Spirit. But since the Holy Spirit is fully God, I don’t think you are necessarily wrong praying in that direction either. However, we normally see the Holy Spirit work behind the scenes. He helps us pray, empowers our prayers, and gives us wisdom, but I don’t see any examples of directly addressing him (John 16:7, 13-15).
Having said all that, we are best to stick with the directions given by Jesus. In the model prayer, Jesus addresses the prayer to the Father. If we do that every time, we won’t go wrong.
Bear in mind, though, that the only reason we can pray to God the Father is because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. We only have access to God the Father because of, and through, Jesus Christ. So even though our prayers are directed to the father, they make it there because of Jesus. This is one of the reasons why Jesus tells us to pray in his name (John 14:13-14). When we pray in the name of Jesus, we are implying that we are praying in and through his authority and will.
Let me close with this illustration: Think of your prayer like an envelope being mailed. The letter in the envelope is the actual prayer. Those words are written on paper, which is the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit empowers and guides our prayers. The letter is addressed to God the Father because he is the one we are praying to. Jesus Christ is the stamp, because the prayer would not make it to the Father if it were not because of what Jesus did.
One last note: Keep in mind that these three (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) should be the only three recipients of our prayers. We do not pray to or through Mary, the pope, any saints, or any other person. We pray to the Father, through Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit.