Prayer and It's Postures

Prayer and It's Postures

Does the way you pray effect how God answers your prayer? Is the act of prayer in the sitting posture a sin? If one states that it is a sin, then wouldn't one also say standing for prayer is a sin alike? These are just a few questions that many think about, specifically when many perspectives on prayer are passed around, yet not every perspective is supported by biblical contextual evidence. The topic that will be discussed can be a sensitive topic because many Christians pray multiple different ways and if the phrase "Your prayer posture is incorrect may ignite either anger or just send a chill feeling through one's blood. The reason I say this is because through past discussions I have had concerning the topic of prayer posture, I have had different responses. One response involved someone raising their voice and another one getting quite angry when their perspectives on prayer were questioned. The reason many may find this sensitive is because the way they pray is either passed down through generations, a simple experience, or even a simple opinion on the matter. I will try to be understanding of every side of the argument so that when a certain view is explained, another counter argues it giving each reader many perspectives of the discussion. To make sure I am not a hypocrite and that my views are not picked from the clouds I will provide as many Bible verses as possible to defend my view on the topic and eradicate false views which are not based on the Bible but more of just personal opinion.


Perspective One

     The first perspective on the postures of prayer believes it doesn't matter in which position you pray, it only depends on the person's intentions. The first verse that we can look at which in a way supports this view is in Matthew 26: 20-26, "Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve...And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body." In this verse, an event is about to take place, which later is called the Lord's Supper, but what we want to focus on in this verse is the beginning part, "he sat down with the twelve". This specific perspective argues that when Jesus blessed the bread it is not clear if He blessed the bread while He was seated with the twelve and that it is not written that Jesus kneeled or stood up with the disciples; therefore, giving the leeway to believe that Jesus prayed seated with the twelve. This is not the only verse that this perspective is backed up with, the second verse we can look at is in 1-Kings 8:22, "And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven:". If one continues to read in this section he will see that Solomon is actually praying to God and not in his room but in front of all the congregation. If he was sinning the congregation would have put him on the spot like many Christians would today specifically if they see a sin being committed. Not only that but I do believe God would have struck him dead. If we look at other verses we see Daniel praying on his knees in his room and we see Jesus himself praying on his knees in Gethsemane. This perspective has biblical evidence concerning praying standing and kneeling, yet the only problem is that we don't know for sure if Jesus prayed seated or not. We can only assume in this case but it's not written in the Bible. What we can conclude is for a fact praying standing or kneeling is recorded in the Bible and God listens to both prayers.


Perspective Two

     The second perspective that exists for the posture of prayer believes kneeling and standing are the only ways to pray excluding the exceptional circumstances. If we are driving to work and we really need to pray then we can and God will answer our prayer. The verse related to standing was mentioned earlier, located in 1-Kings but we can look at another verse that talks specifically about the prayer on our knees. We can now look more of how Daniel prayed and in what posture he was praying in, let's look at Daniel 6:10 , "Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. Daniel in the Bible is considered an honorary man because of his persecution and despite the law of not being allowed to pray to God he didn't care, and he kept on praying with his windows open to his room. I think we can see where this perspective comes from and there are so far no objections of this perspective and its postures.


Perspective Three

     The third perspective believes that prayer should be done on the knees. Where does this perspective come from? If we look at the most honorary people in the Bible we see them kneeling and not standing or sitting.  Firstly, let's open Psalm 95:6, "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand..." Verse 6 has two interesting and very important phrases. The first phrase is "bow down" and why this specific part is important is because this is a clear statement of an action done before in the Bible as a sign of submitting. When one kneels he is showing his nothing-ness and God's everything-ness. If the verse omitted the bowing section it wouldn't show emphasize on the act of submission but rather just simple prayer. The second phrase "kneel before the Lord"  expresses authority of God but maybe in a different way, unlike the first phrase. If we were to replace Lord with King Herod or King James we would automatically see the necessity of kneeling and bowing. We as Christians know that God is the king of kings, as it is stated in 1-Timothy 6:15. If God is a king can we stand, lay, or stay seated? If we look at Ephesians 3:12-14, "Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", here Paul is stating his worry for the weakness of the fellow Christians and that he will kneel before God and pray for them. As we look at Isaiah 45:23 "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.", we can read Gods prophetic words where he clearly once again mentions our submission and of God's authority and power. Some just say the posture doesn't matter it's about the heart. Yes! They are completely right but if a Christian has a relationship with God and has an emotional connection with him, he or she will realize that God is everything! God isn't just some being that's out there somewhere in the universe but he is actually everything. If the actual value of this is realized and that the level of authority he has over us is understood I think everybody would at the least bow and kneel before him. He is the King of kings, isn't he? He is worthy of our praise and he is worthy of our submission...am I not right? Something else to think about is the form of prayer and not kneeling is in some point retaining some level of pride. Lets for a second imagine God as an earthly king like King Herod. King Herod is on his throne and somebody comes in to talk to him. He comes in and just starts talking to God, "Hey God, I kinda need your help here, my life is a mess and I have a struggle of carrying my burden." If that was King Herod and the individual didn't kneel I think that King Herod would see this individual as a selfish and prideful man, and this man's head would be on a platter or he would just be thrown into the lion's den. If our King isn't King Herod but King of all kings then why are we allowing ourselves to lay down on a couch and pray to him asking for help? Shouldn't we be on our knee's with tears and opening our worries to him? Shouldn't we kneel before our king? Why can we allow ourselves to put the level of God at the same place as us?
     Let's look at one last aspect of prayer posture. When we kneel we are in some form spreading Gods glory, we are supporting him and not denying. In Matthew 10:33, "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." God clearly explains he will deny us if we deny Him. For the conclusion of this topic lets all look at our relationship with God. Is he really our King or just a typical friend we can be at the same level with? Writing this blog has made myself change my views on the postures of prayer and has challenged me specifically of how I pray and if I feel uncomfortable praying in public or praying on my knees in church. Let's challenge ourselves in doing that which is uncomfortable for us and kneel before our Lord, King of Kings!


Bloggers Note: Hey everybody who came to my blog post and took time to read my blog. I really appreciate you taking time to do that, and I would really appreciate your feedback on my research. I am 100% willing to change my views if you have something to oppose anything I have written using the scripture. If you see any grammar or spelling errors in this post let me know in the comments, and if I have written some kind of heresy let me know and I will repent of my sin. I have done some praying on this work of mine and I hope that it not only helps me in my life as a Christian but also helps you as you follow Him. God Bless your journey!