What is the biblical basis for switching between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as recipients during prayer? I've noticed that some Christians seem to switch the recipient of their prayer as they pray. For example, they may begin their prayer by addressing the Father, but at some point they suddenly switch focus to the &quot;Lord&quot; and start praying to Jesus, then as the prayer continues they directly address the Holy Spirt, then they switch back to either the Father or the Son but you can't really tell which one, and sometimes they switch recipients so quickly that to me the whole prayer looks like a &quot;multiplexing&quot; kind of prayer where the 3 persons of the trinity are addressed in a confusing manner and you can't really tell which sentence is aimed at which person.
Have you ever come across someone who prays like this? What in the Bible supports this pattern of prayer?
No, but perhaps we need to define prayer in this context. In the OT all prayer was to God - they knew of one God, Yahweh, who is also referred to as Father. In the NT, Jesus came to reveal the Father, his Father, God.
We pray to the Father as Jesus modelled in his prayers. There is every great reason to give praise to Jesus and thanks for his wonderful life and sacrifice. Is this not prayer?
Prayer is no more than appealing to a heavenly power in praise and recognition. In that recognition, we ask for our needs and for God's provision - as Jesus said to do, in Jesus' name.
Praying to the Holy Spirit is really praying to the Father. Clearly shown to be the Spirit of the Father in the gospels.

for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.&quot; Luke 12:12


For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Matthew 10:20

Is there a basis for praying to 3 separate identities? No, not according to Jesus, the son of God - through whom are all things. 1 Cor 11:12, Rom 11:36. We also read that Jesus' very life comes from the Father (John 6:57) and the Father is above all - Jesus included, as the 'way' to the Father. So when we pray to God, it is through Jesus we may come before the Father and not by any other way.