The Importance of Prayer Posture: A Biblical Perspective

Join Reagan as he explores the significance of physical posture in prayer, drawing from biblical examples and the teachings of Jesus. In this sermon, Reagan starts by discussing physical posture and its communication through body language. He delves into various prayer postures mentioned in the Bible, focusing on examples from both the Old and New Testaments, including standing, kneeling, bowing down, and lifting hands. Reagan also highlights Jesus' prayer postures, discussing their implications for us today. Finally, he provides practical advice on how we might experiment with different prayer postures to enhance our prayer life. This insightful discussion connects to the congregational focus on finding quiet places for prayer and fasting.

00:00 Introduction and Opening Prayer
00:22 The Importance of Posture
04:49 Biblical Postures of Prayer
19:30 Jesus' Postures in Prayer
27:49 Practical Applications for Prayer Postures
34:10 Conclusion and Invitation

Transcript

Good afternoon, would you take out your Bible with me please? And turn to Luke chapter 18, the 18th chapter of Luke's Gospel, and we'll begin reading in verse 10 here in just a moment. Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse 10. How's your posture? I'll admit for me I'm a little slouchy sometimes. Need to stand up straight, do a little better about that.

But also I think probably I communicate a lot with my posture and my face. You know, somebody speaking and I make this face a lot like what? What are you talking about? And I'll be honest, some of you make that same face with me, but I, I would prefer that, right? I prefer that than just the stone. No posture at all.

Just sitting there like a bump on the log. I, I like that kind of feedback and it's amazing how much we can communicate with body language, communicate with our posture, and we are physical. Embodied creatures. And while our spirit is the most important and permanent part of us, God created us with physical bodies in a physical world.

That was his choice. Now, God could have created us in all sorts of ways that we can't even imagine with different dimensions and all those sorts of things, but he chose to create us as physical creatures in a physical world with physical bodies that we use in various ways. And when we do something. The way we position our body, both communicate something and impacts us, our mind, our thinking toward that thing that we're doing.

So for example, again, let's think about that idea of listening. I'm gonna give you three postures for listening from this chair. And I want you to see if you can guess what is being communicated by my posture when I'm listening in this way. Okay? So let me.

This is the most anybody's ever paid attention in a sermon, I think. All right, posture number one.

Has anybody listened to a sermon like this? No names. No names, please. Okay. What about this one? Sorry, Nathan.

I know for sure people have listened to a sermon like this. I've seen that. Right? What about this one,

or as Mike does it?

Well, that communicates things, doesn't it? Communicates apathy. It communicates maybe anger or certainly disagreement. It communicates attention that I'm listening, that I'm really trying to understand what's happening there. And it's interesting too, isn't it? We position our body like this. We're not just communicating that we are apathetic.

I already feel more apathetic just being this way, right? So our bodies impact our minds, and that's true in all sorts of ways. But I wanna make a specific application. I promise to put that back in the right place later on. A specific application tonight, our bodies impact our mind and spirits and the way we use or abuse our bodies makes a difference in all kinds of ways.

But I want us to think for a few minutes about how our posture impacts our prayers as we think about practicing our prayer posture now, while our attitude and holiness and, and. And the, the station of our heart is most important. Our posture can be helpful for our mind and heart and attitude and focus.

It's not as though that our bodies don't matter. That was gnostic teaching in the New Testament, right? That your spirit, your inner man, your mind, that's all that matters. And what you do with your body doesn't matter at all. And so you can use your body for pleasure, you can abuse your body, you can punish your body.

You can do all these things with your body, but it doesn't really matter in regard to your spirit. But that's not. Really what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that both our spirit and our bodies belong to God and that we are supposed to be glorifying God with our spirit, our soul, and our bodies, that all three of those things are supposed to be sanctified, given over to God.

So we're gonna do three things this evening as we think about this idea of practicing our prayer posture, number one. We're gonna look at the recorded biblical postures of prayer in the whole Bible with an emphasis on the New Testament, but you've got references from the Old Testament as well. Now, I'm not saying that I didn't miss something in making this list, but it's a pretty thorough, almost exhaustive list of all of the postures that are specifically mentioned.

Old and New Testament. Number two. We're going to look at the recorded postures of Jesus in prayer, which is a much shorter list, but I think there's some interesting applications to be made as we look at the ways that the gospel say Jesus positioned his body when he was praying. And then number three, hopefully give some applications on how we might practice different postures to help us in prayer.

And obviously all of this goes with our congregational focus for this quarter as we think about finding the quiet places. To go to God in prayer as we're falling at his feet in prayer and fasting and those sorts of things. So let's look at those three things together. First, here are the recorded biblical postures for prayer and from the onset.

Before I even put any up on the board, let me make this crystal clear, and I might even say it again later on just so there's no confusion. The scriptures do not specify a certain posture from which we must pray. Gimme a thumbs up if you heard that and understood that absolutely there isn't a required proper posture and one may pray to God in all sorts of different ways.

So one may pray to God while standing. For example if you turn there to Luke chapter 18, begin reading in verse 10 with me please. Luke, chapter 18, beginning in verse 10. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other, a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.

God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this tax collector, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I possess, and the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven. Beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.

Jesus says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. So we see this example of somebody standing while praying. And if you read between the lines in both the New Testament and extra biblical literature, it seems as though for Jews in the first century, the most common posture for prayer was standing up while lifting your eyes to heaven.

So that's most common among Jews in the first century. Now we're gonna get a little later on and see. Maybe it's a little different for Christians. We see examples of people sitting while praying all in the New Testament, but we also see examples of people kneeling while praying. Now, this among Christians, at least in the Book of Acts, is the most common posture for prayer.

Turn to Acts chapter nine, if you would. Acts chapter nine. Acts chapter nine in verse 40. We're gonna go these quickly, so stick with me if you would. Acts chapter nine in verse 40.

Peter put them all out and knelt down and prayed so that Dorcas might be restored to life. Okay, go to Acts chapter 20 in verse 36, acts chapter 20 and verse 36. A few pages over in your Bible.

And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Chapter 21, 1 chapter over in verses three through six. And when we had cited Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria and landed at tire for, there was a ship for there, there was a ship to unload her cargo, excuse me, for there, the ship was to unload her cargo.

And finding disciples. We stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way, and they all accompanied us with wives and children till we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed.

And then finally if you turn to Ephesians chapter three, Ephesians chapter three and verse 14.

Ephesians chapter three and verse 14. For this reason, Paul says, I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, so on and so forth, and says this prayer on behalf of the Ephesian brethren. Now, it could be that this was just Paul's preferred posture for prayer. All of these examples at least involve Paul and and many of them.

He is the only one prey on these occasions. But certainly kneeling is clearly something we see. One Corinthians first century Christians doing number four. We see people bowing down. We see people lying down and we see people falling on one's face. And I guess you could say probably in many ways these might all be the same posture, although there is a distinction in the exact terms that are used.

If you turn to Matthew chapter 26, Matthew chapter 26.

We'll use this example and then circle back to it here in just a little while. Matthew chapter 26

and verse 39. Matthew chapter 26 and verse 39. He, Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane went a little farther and fell in his face and prayed, saying, oh, my father. If it is possible that this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will. But as you will, so bowing down, lying down, falling on one's face, we see examples of this kind of prostrate posture before God.

And then maybe in some ways, just the opposite. We see number seven with hands spread upwards. And again, perhaps it's the same thing, but similar, certainly this idea of lifting hands in prayer. Turn to one Timothy chapter two, if you would, one Timothy chapter two. We're gonna run through these obviously, as you see, we're not looking at every passage that's on the screen or the handout.

We are looking at a few of these to give the examples and then we'll make some applications from there. Again, Paul is writing this time to Timothy and he says to Timothy, I desire therefore, that the men pray everywhere. Lifting up holy hands. Wrath or doubting. So lifting up these holy hands. Turn to James four.

Hebrews James four.

Now, this doesn't explicitly talk about prayer, but it is interesting. A connection is made here. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. You double minded. Here's a question I have for you. What does lifting hands look like? May I ask you if you're comfortable to give me an example?

What does lifting hands look like? Okay. Okay. Oh, I like that. Like, call on me. I'm lifting my hand. Right? So we've got this, like this. Make prayer hands. What do prayer hands look like? You know what this is? This is lifting hands. In fact, your fingers are pointing up, right. This is lifting hands as well.

This would be lifting hands. That's probably with hands spread upward that we see. Number seven on the list would be a type of lifting hands. You can lift hands. Low down here where nobody can see. You can lift hands mid. You can lift hands high. Okay, so all of this would be forms of lifting, hands pointing, pointing toward heaven.

Now, where is the biblical emphasis? Is it on the raising of the hands or is it the kind of hands that are being raised? We read there from one Timothy lifting up holy hands. And here it says, cleanse your hands and purify your what your hearts, the emphasis is on those hands being holy. Maybe another example from our culture would be beating the breast.

That's our next example. We won't turn to Luke chapter 18 and verse 13. 'cause we read that earlier. That's what the tax collector did. He beat his breast right. Well, is that a biblical posture for prayer? That's not a trick question. Is that a biblical posture? I, I think it is. Maybe you'd say, well, it's an action more than a posture.

I'm not gonna argue with you on that. Do people do that today? Do people do that? Let me give you a hint on television. Do people do that? A lot of you raised your hands, you liked sports better than music this morning. Do people do that while playing sports? How about this?

That's, that's supposed to be what? That's supposed to be a prayer. You know, God gets the honor for the home run or the touchdown or whatever it is, and I can't read anybody's heart. Certainly some people could be sincere in doing that, but taking the rest of the Bible into account and the way we're supposed to pray not to be seen by others is the posture.

The issue or the heart perhaps, of some who would rather be seen by men than be seen by God. Same thing with hands, right? Where is our heart? Are the hands holy that we are seeking to lift up to God? The action is biblical, but where is the heart now? We can't judge the heart on any of those things. But we need to be careful about where our heart is on that.

Let me give you another example. I've had some here in recent years. Try and press me a little bit on this idea of lifting hands, being the thing we need to do while praying. And again, I, I don't want to come across the wrong way, that we can't or that we shouldn't lift hands. But I do think that there maybe needs to be a little bit of pushback in the terms of, Hey, this is something that you should do.

This is really important that you do as an example of another cultural thing that people did consider the command. Two Corinthians 13 and verse 12. Also, Romans 16 16, 1 Corinthians 1620 and one Thessalonians 5 26. This is a command greet one another with a holy kiss. Treat one another with a holy kiss.

Where is the emphasis? Is it on the kiss or is it on the holiness of the greeting? And so the same thing applies with these postures that we have, whether it's lifting our hands or falling on our face, or beating our breast, and all of those things, our heart needs to be in the right place. Hopefully these things are intended by God and intended by example to help us get our heart into the right place when we're doing those things.

Another example is with downcast eyes in Luke chapter 18 and verse 13, remember, he would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven this is another example of perhaps. That's what was common because Luke makes the point of saying he wouldn't do what people normally did. And then just the opposite of that, we find this idea of looking toward heaven.

We'll come back to that in John chapter 17 in verse one here in just a second. The last one on our first list is no noticeable posture. Obviously there are lots and lots of occasions where someone is praying in the Bible and the text doesn't mention their posture, but that's not really what I'm talking about here.

Instead, there are a number of examples. I've given you two up on the screen where people are praying and the others around them don't know that they're praying just by their posture. I. Was an obvious, there was no obvious posture to show that they were praying just based on the way their body looked.

So we see Hannah in one, Samuel one and Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter two. In fact, this is probably the shortest prayer in the Bible. The king ask him a question, he says a little prayer and then answers that the king has no way of knowing that he was praying just by his posture. What does that tell us? Well, it tells us that there is no.

Prescribed posture and really no posture that is required at all. If there was some required posture that we had to have. And obviously in some religions, in some cultures, you get out a little mat and you have to face the certain direction you have to do the certain prayers. If that kind of posture was required, it'd be difficult certainly to fulfill the command to pray without ceasing.

And I would suggest there is a sense. Which we should have an ongoing dialogue with God all the time. In that way. I think text messaging is actually a little bit helpful to us. When you're texting with someone, do you say, let's say I'm texting with Daniel every time do I that I text him, do I say, hello Daniel, this is what I have to say, and then when I'm done, say goodbye, Daniel.

I'll talk to you later. No, what do we have? We have a text chain and somebody says something, somebody says something back, and maybe occasionally if somebody's going somewhere, we might say, bye. I'll see you later. I'll see you at church. Those sorts of things. But usually it's just an ongoing dialogue and maybe that illustration is helpful to us as we think about our prayers to God.

Yes, certainly formal prayers are helpful, needed, and often necessary. Also this idea of just having an ongoing dialogue with God, where we're talking to him throughout the day and hopefully listening to him as well as he replies through his word. So in all kinds of different postures when I'm driving or working out or getting ready in the morning or lying in my bed or whatever, I can and should be taking those opportunities to pray to God.

So that's a very wide look at that. Let's zoom in. Let's think about Jesus and the recorded postures of Jesus while in prayer. What postures did Jesus use and what does each one communicate to us or encourage us to do? Number one, Jesus prayed standing. Maybe in some ways this is the biggest reach of the three.

It's not the most explicit, but turn to Mark, chapter 11 in verse 25.

I use this because this is a positive example. Jesus uses this same terminology in the negative to talk about hypocritical prayer, but in Mark chapter 11, in verse 25, he says, and whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

Now Jesus is commanding this, but it seems as though he assumes that people are going to be standing while they pray. And certainly it would seem that Jesus himself stood while he prayed. So here's my question and I want to ask this question for all four examples of Jesus's posture. What does that communicate?

What does that encourage if we stand up to pray to God? If we do that, don't we? We do that as a congregation usually for the closing prayer. Occasionally for the opening prayer or the first prayer, we will all stand up to pray. What does, what does that communicate? Maybe it's a little less common in our culture today than it once was, but in West Texas, it's still very common.

If a lady enters a room, what do people do? They stand up. Or if somebody enters that you hadn't seen in a while and you're gonna shake their hand, what do you do? You stand up and you shake their hand. Why? Why am I standing up? What does that communicate, communicates respect. Respect for that person that I'm standing to show my respect for them.

And the joke that I always make when people say, well, keep your seat. Keep your seat. I said, if my 95-year-old grandfather's still standing up to shake somebody's hand, I better do it too, because it's respectful. It was respectful in that culture. It's respectful in ours, but there's also some benefits from for standing also, I think in the idea of when I'm standing.

For me, maybe not for you, but for me. My mind has a lot harder time wandering when I'm standing than when I'm sitting. Now, I don't know if that's true of you, but that's often true of me. So perhaps there's this idea of respect, certainly, and also an idea of our focus that we might be focusing better as we're standing next, we have this idea of kneeling Luke chapter 22 in verse 41.

If you'll turn over there with me please. Luke chapter 22.

In verse 41,

again, this is in Gethsemane. It could be, this is the same thing as falling on his face. I think it shows a progression personally. So in Luke chapter 22 in verse 41. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and prayed. Again, not as common in our culture, but if you kneel before someone, what does that communicate?

Submission to that person? Submission, respect. Penitent before that person kneeling before God. If you've seen Indiana Jones in the last crusade, the penitent man shall pass the penitent man kneels before God. That's the idea. So again, we're, we're communicating our submission to God, that he is our king.

We're communicating our respect for God, that he has all authority as we kneel before him. And then as we read a moment ago, falling on his face in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 39. What does that show falling on your face before someone? Well, usually when this happens in the Bible, it is when someone comes into the presence of God and there is no reaction.

Other reaction possible when someone comes into the presence of God than to fall on one's face. Again, respect again. Submission, again, showing that God is the one with the power, but I think also it could probably communicate emotion that you're emptying yourself before God. I didn't ask permission to use this example, so I'm not gonna look at Stephanie.

I remember when Stephanie was a first year teacher and we were ships passing in the night she was teaching and coaching. I was going to grad school and preaching and doing some teaching myself and we hardly saw one another. And I remember I came in on a Friday maybe 4 30, 5 o'clock and I came in and she is face down on the floor because she was beat.

She was overwhelmed and she fell on her face, right? Well, she didn't literally fall on her face, thankfully, but that idea of I'm coming before God and this is all I have to give, coming before God with total submission, total respect. And so I think in some ways that's a progression. We're standing before God.

We're kneeling before God, and then falling on our face before God. Certainly that emotional aspect of it is found in Hebrews chapter five. The Hebrew writer speaks to Jesus's prayer in the garden, at least in my judgment. That is the thing to which he is referring when he speaks of Christ in verse seven.

Chapter five, who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with them, cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear. Jesus himself showed great emotion and he fell on his face to do so. And then finally turn to John chapter 17 in verse one.

And we see Jesus looking toward heaven. John chapter 17 and verse one,

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hour has come Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. And he goes on to pray a very beautiful prayer in the next 26 verses for himself. For his disciples and for all who had come to believe through their word, and Jesus praised this prayer looking up into heaven.

That's kind of implied as well in the raising of Lazarus, that Jesus is looking up into heaven. When he is saying these things, what does that communicate and encourage? Well, if I'm looking up to heaven, I'm looking up at the ceiling. I'm looking up at the sky. Is God there? Yes, but is God just there? No.

What does that do? What does that posture help me with? Well, in my judgment, I think it's a matter of focus that I'm speaking to the God who created all things. I am looking up to him in that way because again, we are physical beings and looking up is our way of thinking about heaven, looking up as our way of thinking about God.

And so I think again, it is a matter of our focus and for me personally. I do a lot better focusing if I'm looking up than if I'm looking down. Especially because of Speckly carpet. I kid you not, sometimes I look down and I see things in the carpet and I'm, I'm distracted and I'm like, man, I gotta focus on what I'm doing here.

That was weird, wasn't it? That was too much. I'm sorry. So what are we trying to do? What was Jesus doing? Respect, submission, focus, and emotion. I think that informs us about the purpose of our posture to emphasize respect and submission and focus and emotion. So the point of this lesson and the title of this lesson is practicing our prayer postures.

Here are three things that I want to encourage you to do, suggest for you to do. Number one, you've got this list of different postures. Try each of these different postures in private. I want you to turn to one more passage. That's Matthew chapter six. This will be our last scripture this afternoon.

Matthew chapter six. Look there beginning in verse five.

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrite for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets. They may be seen by men. Surely I say to you, they have their reward, but you, when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut the door. Kneel down, stand up. No, it doesn't say any of those things.

When you have shut the door, pray to your father who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. I have tried pretty much all of these postures in private for different reasons at different times. To focus my mind and express my heart before God, and that is a great testing ground to make sure you're not doing it for impure motives to be seen by men or because you just want to be different, those sorts of things.

And so try each of these different postures in private. I would encourage you to do that on your own time. Number two, examine which postures aid you. These things we've talked about respect and focus, submission and proper emotion, and the ones that help you most in achieving those goals. You found the posture that you need, the posture that is most helpful to you, and that might change as things go on in your life, as you change in your life.

Sometimes even we get used to something and we need to change to something new, even just to trick our mind into doing what we know we should. Let's not, let's not lose the forest for the trees here. Where should the focus of our prayers be placed? On God? Right? On God and and on Him. And as soon as we start doing it for other reasons, to be seen by men, to make a point to show how spiritual or progressive or non-traditional we are, or whatever it ceases to be for and about God and can become for or about us.

Obviously I'm not making any accusations with that. Just emphasizing the point that Jesus is making in Matthew chapter six. We use these postures not for anybody else. We use these postures so that we might grow closer to God, but on the other side, we need to make sure that we're not gonna judge another based on their posture either if they take a different posture than me.

That's okay. I'm just not gonna get that worked up about it because that's what they're doing to try and get to the right frame of mind and heart, to pray to their God. At the same time, none of us should feel pressured into doing something because others are or aren't doing a certain posture. I don't want anyone distracted as they worship, and if I have to change or restrict my public posture to achieve that, so be it because posture is important.

The heart. That's what matters most to God, and that's what should matter most to us as well. So you've got a list of a bunch of postures. Are those the only postures we can use in prayer? I don't think so. And so my third and final application admonition to you is this, just experiment. Consider other postures that are helpful to you.

And I'll give you some examples. Walking. Walking while praying. Is incredibly helpful to me personally. And I know that that's helpful to other people because they've talked about that idea of walking, you know, out behind on the back 40 or whatever the case might be, walking down the road. And as they're exercising, they're praying to God.

So walking might be one. We don't see that in the Bible, but there's nothing wrong with taking that kind of posture while praying. This is pretty personal to me, I guess. You know, through the years I've told you I have kind of a bad attitude about mowing. So I've turned mowing into a posture for prayer.

I do pretty well when my mind is distracted just a little bit with something else, being able to focus. And so mowing has become a posture for prayer, and I spend a lot of time while I'm on the mower or with the weed eater praying to God. And now that time has become something. Maybe I don't look forward to it yet, but I don't dread it like I once did because now it's something that I do to God.

I think driving is another great way now, not driving where you, you know, are gonna crash. I hate these signs, don't you, on the side of the road that says, don't text and drive, don't drive distracted. And I'm like, you're literally putting a billboard up here to distract me. Right. We all can probably allow our mind to go to a slightly different place while we're driving.

And for me, that's become a great time for me to pray to my father in heaven, walking, mowing, driving, not found in the Bible, but things that I've experimented with that have been helpful to me in finding a posture of prayer. Whatever posture you choose, number one, pray with your heart to God with respect.

Submission focus and proper emotion. Number two, don't distract others with your posture. This is something that is supposed to be between you and God, and so make it between you and God. And then number three, don't judge others based on their posture. Certainly we see the acts of people and maybe like these who are hypocritical in Matthew chapter six.

We can see those acts and draw conclusions. But let us be very slow and careful to judge someone else based on their posture, as we're all striving to do the best we can to pray to our Lord in a way that is most effective and fervent in our own lives. Well, the lesson tonight is not really designed to to be speaking to non-Christians.

It's for Christians, but I will say this, if you're not yet a Christian, all the posture in the world is not gonna help you get to God in prayer. I. Instead, what you need is a relationship with Jesus Christ that allows you this avenue of prayer where you are promised that God will hear and answer your prayers because his only son brings those prayers to his throne.

And so if we can help you in coming to Christ in humble submission to put Christ on in baptism, that you might rise to walk and newness of life, we would love nothing more than than to help you with that. If you're already a Christian and thinking about prayer, you realize there's prayer that you need.

Know that the effective fervent prayer of a righteous person, man or woman, avails much how much more when all of us are praying for you. And so if we can do that, even tonight, come while together, we stand and while we sing.