Despite what some may think or say, the New Testament shows that prayers were made directly to Jesus (in addition to God the Father). This makes sense, since they are both Persons within the Godhead.

This list comes from Richard Bauckham’s The Worship of Jesus in Early Christianity, pp. 128-129:

  • “If you ask me [Jesus] anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14:14
  • “they prayed and said, ‘You, Lord [Jesus], who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen'” Acts 1:24
  • “he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'” Acts 7:59-60
  • “they were worshiping the Lord [Jesus] and fasting” Acts 13:2
  • “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Rom. 16:20
  • “Call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Cor. 1:2 (cf. Rom. 10:12-14; Acts 9:14, 21; 22:16; 2 Tim. 2:22)
  • “Our Lord [Jesus], come!” 1 Cor. 16:22 – this is in Aramaic (“Maranatha”), and it being preserved “in Aramaic in Greek-speaking churches indicates its very early origin” (Bauckham, p. 128)
  • “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.” 1 Cor. 16:23 (also Gal. 6:18; Phil. 4:23; 1 Thes. 5:28; 2 Thes. 3:18; Philemon 1:25)
  • “I pleaded with the Lord [Jesus]” 2 Cor. 12:8
  • “may the Lord [Jesus] make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all” 1 Thes. 3:11-13
  • “may our Lord Jesus Christ himself…comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” 2 Thes. 2:16-17
  • “May the Lord [Jesus] direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” 2 Thes. 3:5
  • “May the Lord [Jesus] grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains…may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!” 2 Tim. 1:16-18
  • “The Lord [Jesus] be with your spirit” 2 Tim. 4:22
  • “Come, Lord Jesus!” Rev. 22:20

The dominant practice was undoubtedly prayer to God [the Father], but since Jesus was understood as the active mediator of grace from God (as in the epistolary formula, ‘Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’: Rom 1:7 and elsewhere) and as the Lord for whose service Christians lived, prayer addressed to him was natural.
–Bauckham, The Worship of Jesus in Early Christianity, pp. 128-129