2 Corinthians 12:8
2 Corinthians 12:88Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
Watchtower prayer policy is unambiguous: prayer is offered to Jehovah alone, through Jesus as mediator. Praying to Jesus is treated as a breach of the first commandment — a form of creature-worship. When surfaces ("three times I entreated the Lord that it might depart from me"), the "Lord" in question is read as Jehovah, and the response in verse 9 ("my undeserved kindness is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness") is routed through Jesus as the Father's spokesman rather than as the direct speaker.
The context settles it. Read verses 8-9 together: Paul entreats "the Lord" three times, and the answer he records is explicit: "my power is made perfect in weakness" — and verse 9 continues, "so that the power of the Christ may remain over me like a tent." The Lord Paul prays to is the one whose power overshadows him — the power of Christ. This is not prayer routed through Jesus to the Father; it is prayer directly addressed to Jesus, answered directly by Jesus.
belongs alongside Stephen's dying prayer — "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (, NWT), echoing David's prayer to Jehovah in — and John's prayer in , "Come, Lord Jesus." Three authors, three contexts, one practice: direct prayer to Jesus, recorded in Scripture without correction. even describes the whole Christian church at Corinth as "those calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" — standard practice, not an exception. If Jesus is a creature, the New Testament records systemic idolatry. The only alternative is that Jesus is worthy of prayer — which means he is God.