Prayer Part 3— Posture & Purpose

This is the last of the three-part series on Prayer.  In the last two blogs on prayer, we looked in part at the “to whom” of prayer. In this blog we are going to look at the Posture and Purpose of prayer.

What are the postures of prayer? Scripture records a variety of postures during prayer: standing, kneeling, sitting, prostrate, hands spread, beating the chest—and other instances where we have no idea at all what the posture was.

Although hands held together are traditional it’s not recorded in Scripture. It’s ironic that this has become the norm in so many churches, and that the scriptural forms are often shunned.

More commonly in Scripture, hands are lifted in what is often called the “Orans” position. Orans is Latin for “praying”.

Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands              toward Your holy sanctuary.  Psalm 28:2 NKJV
I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.  1Timothy 2:8 NKJV

Of course, the efficacy of our prayer doesn’t depend on whether our hands are raised or folded, or whether we stand, sit or lie prostrate, face to the ground. Prayer is about the conversation of one’s heart with the heart of God, and thus all of these postures are acceptable to God. But it’s the posture of the heart that really matters.

The same is true with God. He doesn’t require certain postures of us when we pray, but there are things about prayer and posture that are tied to the attitude of our heart and our approach to the throne of grace. Posture affects how I experience my relationship with Him, and that matters.

When I fold my hands and bow my head, in that posture is a sense of humility and submission. When I raise my hands there is a sense of surrender or thanksgiving. When I kneel, there is submission and honor. When I lie prostrate, there is awe and utter surrender in His presence. The posture itself can signify (and become integral to the experience of) the attitude of the heart toward the Creator. In a sense, posture is heart-talk, avoiding the word-generator of the brain that often interferes with or masks our deepest feelings.

Posture communicates, and can be an integral part of, how we pray. We should neither be afraid of it, nor rob ourselves of the gift of any of its forms. We should also not be dismissive of others who pray differently than we do.

Why do we pray? What is the purpose of prayer? If God already knows everything that’s going to happen anyway, why bother to pray? Assuming that “what will be, will be”—that the future is predetermined anyway and God knows it and wills it, and therefore I can’t change it—is unbiblical.

When we say, “God, Your will be done on Earth,” we’re not saying, “I’ll just sit here and wait until You’re finished.” No, it means, “I’m a willing participant. Shape me as You need to, use me as You need to, that Your will might be done on Earth.”

We are also commanded to pray. Jesus very clearly says to pray for our enemies. He didn’t say, “If you don’t have anything better to do…” He commanded us to pray for our enemies. This kind of prayer is very hard. For one thing, “enemies” doesn’t just refer to people with guns who might rob us on the street, or to enemy combatants, or to countries or organizations that aim to hurt or destroy us. Enemies include those people who just get under your skin—sisters and brothers and neighbors and people in church. When I find myself irritated with somebody else, that person has become my enemy. Jesus says to pray for that person. We’re commanded to do that. It is hard to do, but it is what He commanded.

The number-one purpose of prayer is to deepen our relationship, our communion with God. It is both to know Him more fully, and also to serve Him more willingly.

Another purpose of prayer is to express our needs, whether for guidance, healing, hope, comfort, counsel, courage or even perseverance. We should tell God plainly what we need. He will hear.

So as to purposes, I’ve mentioned here only a very few. Scripture is replete with purposes for prayer—prayer for enemies, prayer for nonbelievers, prayer for a favorable old age, prayer for children. It goes on and on and on and on. In the end, in each case, the purpose of prayer is conversation and communion with God. Talk with and abide in Him—and He will live in and through us.

In Christ,

Pastor George