Hi Peacebewithyou,
And when they ask you to pray for them do you say, "HEY - there's only ONE mediator - Jesus Christ.. don't be asking ME to pray for you!!! What's YOUR problem that you think you can't ask Him yourself!" Of course not. That would be ridicuous would actually be in violation of the scriptures that tell us to pray for one another.
I appreciate you sharing why you believe what you are practising as not a sin to God, but that is not an accurate analogy because when you go to others to ask them to pray for you, you are not "praying" to them to do so. You are talking with them and sharing a prayer request to "pray" to Jesus. So why the round about way? Prayers are to be offered up unto God. Why would God "broaden" the Way to include Mary, other saints, angels, or even the indwelling Holy Spirit as the Person to pray to because the Holy Spirit is in you? Just pray to Jesus. Jesus is the One that has acsended. He is the ONLY Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. It is by Him we can access the Father and pray to Him also. All invitations points to Jesus to get to God. Jesus is the door. All those that come before Him as in.. between you and Him are thieves and robbers. That is like committing spiritual adultery as you relate to someone else beside the Bridegroom as you are the Bride. What does He say to His Church if they are not abiding in Him by heeding His sayings? He would say, "I know ye not, depart from me, ye that work iniquity." So tell me how He wouldn't say that to you if you ignore His sayings and climb up another "way" in prayer? Did He not divert "attention" from His mother twice for those that would listen to hearing the Word of God and keeping it and doing the will of the Father? Did He not say that judgment is going to fall on those that honor not the Son, but someone else and thus are no longer honoring the Father? Why was it written in that way unless to warn us in how He will judge?All invitations given by Jesus points to Himself. Do you honor those invitations from the Bridegroom since you are engaged as the wise virgin, the Bride of Christ, the Church, or are you going to have "relations" with someone else in pertaining to that which should be towards Jesus for it is by Jesus ONLY do we have access to the Father?Seriously, take this issue to the Lord Jesus in prayer, and expect an answer. Don't pray to Mary, or any other sant, or an angel, or even the Holy Spirit, because He is in you leading you to look up to the One that has ascended to offer prayers unto God.Alot of people are using errant bible versions to justify parying to the Holy Spirit, but the NIV is wrong as the KJV gives the actual meaning of the scriptures.Romans 8: 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. NIVNote verse 27 as they translated it wrong by the grammar itself. How can the "he", a Third Person, that knows our hearts AND knows the mind of the Spirit, be the same "he" of "the Spirit" that intercedes for the saints according to the will of God? That is a grammarical error transcribed from documents of the Alexandrian files where gnostics writings came from that proves there is no fear of God in translating those words as they take poetic license and liberty in creating gnostics writings even. Look at the KJV.Romans 8: 26Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Note the first verse in how it is different from the NIV? People that say they have a prayer language to justify using tongues without an intepretor are the only ones that can have "peace" in the NIV. But we have more peace offered in the KJV. Here's how.The difference in the KJV is that the Holy Spirit maketh intercessions with groans not uttered as in "no sound" at all. This would lead the reader to ask the question, "Then how can the Holy Spirit intercede?" It goes to the "how" in the next verse as the "he" that searcheth the hearts AND knoweth the mind of the Spirit is the same "he" that maketh intercessions for the saints according to the will of God, thus the "he" is Jesus as He is the ONLY Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.Because of errant bible versions whereas the King James Version were transcribed from the Received Text and not the Alexandrian files nor anywhere near them... but kept far from those transcribers that took poetic license with God's Words, I would advise strongly in using the KJV to determine the Truth in His sayings with Jesus' help, Your Good Shepherd.So even there, we are not to pray to the Holy Spirit since He is in us as He fulfills the role of the Comforter by abiding in us always so that Jesus, the ONLY Mediator between God and man can be Our Good Shepherd in watching over us. See how much peace the KJV brings from Romans 8:26,27? Even when you do not know what to pray or even have time to pray, we can rest in that Jesus knows for He is with us always as well as the Holy Spirit dwells in us so Jesus can mediate for us.Anyway... take this to Jesus in prayer and expect an answer. He will show you by scriptures, the errors of the practises of the Roman Church so that you may be led by Him to leave in having that relationship with the Lord.I did. And it was a Presbyterian Church I walked away from. They were binding themselves with bondages that only God can finish. I tried to warn them by the grace of God, but I was told to drop it, so I dropped them and left. Jesus is My Refuge now. I know Him as He leads me and guides me in the way I ought to go; hence a relationship in progress based on trusting Him at His words... thanks to Jesus. Amen.