Come
let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God, our Maker.
For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture…
Through
out the Word of God we find postures in which the people of God pray.
In Genesis 17 Abraham prays visually connecting with God. He falls on his face before God in reverence to Him in the same way one would appear to a king of an earthly kingdom if one had not been invited to stand. It shows God we understand our ‘place’ in His presence when we give Him the respect by lowering our bodies in prayer submission positions.
In Genesis 17 Abraham prays visually connecting with God. He falls on his face before God in reverence to Him in the same way one would appear to a king of an earthly kingdom if one had not been invited to stand. It shows God we understand our ‘place’ in His presence when we give Him the respect by lowering our bodies in prayer submission positions.
When Abram was
ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and
said to him, “I am Almighty
God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and
you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his
face, and God talked with him… Genesis 17:1-2
Genesis
24:52 He bows down before the Lord without looking toward God it shows
an act of submission and honor giving.
Again this is a position that we would give an earthly king to show
respect and honor and even reverence that shows we know we can be refused. Our
God does not refuse a humble heart! We exalt Him when we humble ourselves to
Him in prayer.
Think
about this for a moment; taking the time and effort to get into a prayer
posture shows Him you are giving Him this time of communication. It also helps
you to focus on why you are there.
For
instance, even when it is not easy if we make the effort to bend our knees in
prayer showing submission and obedience as the Word tells in the following
scripture that every knee shall bow in both heaven and earth; we will be
humbling ourselves before our God and have put ourselves in an ‘attitude of
prayer’ as they say. I believe God will honor our hearts desires when we humble
our selves in prayer like this, over sometimes when we just toss out the drive
by prayers as you get ready to go rush around in life. I mean I would listen to someone who stopped
and sat down with me way more intently than if they talked while they were
doing something else. More than that when we kneel to pray it again reminds us
why we are there.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and
given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of
those under the earth, 11 and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11
Many
times in the scriptures we find Jesus just looked up toward the heavens and
spoke out his needs and they were fulfilled. So sometimes it is not necessary
to bow our heads or bend our knees just to sincerely look towards heaven.
And
when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven,
blessed and broke the loaves, Mark
6: 41
And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father,
I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I
know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I
said this, that
they may believe that You sent Me.” John 11: 41-42
David and Elijah often were lifting their hands
before the heavens in a sign of desperation. Reaching out to God for help also
shows a humbleness of heart.
No matter how you pray today and I think it
matters how you pray, what matters most is the attitude in your heart as you
pray. There have been times in my life that I could not stand, I could know
even bow down but my body crumbled before the Lord in a heap on the ground
crying out to my God out of desperation, and there have been times when I stood
ready for battle in prayer; full suit of armor and sword in hand! (Ephesians
6:10-18)
What God really wants is a gentle and
contrite heart humbled and sanctified before Him and a desire to be in His
presence when we pray.
So come, let us worship and bow down and
let us humble ourselves before the Lord and pray today. Let us humble our
hearts and minds and bow them in attitude of honor.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the
opportunity to humble ourselves before you. Thank you for calling to us to lift
our heads and look to You for our needs to be met, and our desires to be sought.
We lift them up to you and give you honor and glory and thanks. In Jesus name
we pray, amen.
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