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What We Believe and Why - Vol. II
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Copyright - Lester Hutson - 1982
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.

Chapter Thirty Six
Prayer Posture

INTRODUCTION: TEXT: Psalm 95:6

Today, I'm going to talk to you about prayer posture. You may think it is an unimportant subject, but it is not. The Bible has much to say about it, and your posture in prayer is going to have a great influence on your spirit and attitude of prayer. You may also think that it doesn't matter what posture you are in when you are praying, but it does.

Every time you pray, you should be in the most humble, submitted posture possible. And the posture most conducive and indicative of humility and submission is that of kneeling. It is true that you can pray to God from any posture. You can pray while standing, lying, walking, sitting, running or standing on your head, but if a posture other than kneeling is used, it should be the most humble one that is practical for you to form in view of the circumstances. For you to assume a less than humble, submitted posture in prayer is wrong and accounts for the fact that the prayers of many Christians never reach the throne of grace. So much prayer is so ineffective these days, and this is one of the main reasons why. The very posture of the average person in prayer is indicative of the shallowness, unconcern and lack of real fervency in the praying being done. Few anymore have the true humility and submission in prayer that enables a person to really get hold of the throne of grace and their very posture in prayer shows it.

Whenever possible, people should kneel in prayer before the Lord. Kneeling is the best prayer posture of all. Most of the God-honored prayers of the Bible were offered from the kneeling posture, and you can't improve on the God-honored examples set forth in the Bible. That is the reason I call Psalm 95:6 to your attention as a text. It says, "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our maker."

I. WHEN YOU PRAY, YOU ARE TALKING TO THE SUPREME POTENTATE OF ALL THE UNIVERSE.

A. A realization of that tremendous fact seems to rarely ever occur to the average one of us as we pray.

1. We talk to God with the familiarity and casual spirit with which we would talk to any ordinary man.

2. In fact, we often do not give God the respect we would give a good friend, and especially do we deny Him the respect that we would give a high government official or a celebrity person. Like the Pharisees of Matthew 6:7, we speak to God with the trite and old vain repetitions, without even thinking of what we're saying, and often times try to talk to Him while our minds wander to other subjects. We wouldn't dare be as inattentive and incoherent in our conversation with other men as we are in our prayers unto the God of heaven.

B. Fellow saints, the majesty and greatness of our God is beyond our full comprehension.

1. Imagine the greatness of the One who designed and engineered every facet of the entire universe. We think Benjamin Franklin was great because he discovered electricity. My friend, God made electricity. We think doctors like DeBakey and Cooley are great because they have learned certain things about blood, the heart and the circulatory system. I tell you that the God of heaven made blood and created the heart. We think the astronauts are great heroes because they made a trip to the moon. God made the moon. And, He made the sun, the whole earth, fishes of all kinds, animals and fowls of all kinds, and the entire human body. God is the one who thought up and brought into being your visual system, your nervous system, your muscles, and your respiratory system. God is the one who brought into being from nothing such things as atoms, molecules, neutrons, protons, amino acids and every basic element that makes up matter in the entire universe. And, when you pray, He is the One with Whom you are speaking.

2. Has it ever dawned on you how much greater He is than you are? Scientists say that if you were on any other planet in our solar system, you would not be able to see the earth with your naked eye. The earth is just one little speck in the universe that God rules, and if you'll take a world globe and consider it for a few minutes you will realize that you are so small that you do not even merit one speck on a globe to denote your presence. Even whole cities the size of Houston are barely large enough to make one small speck on the globe of the earth. You are just one of over four billion people living on the earth, not to mention the animals, fishes, fowls, insects, reptiles and all plant life. Mister, you'll have to admit that in comparison with the entire universe and the greatness of our God who rules it, you are really a very insignificant being. The next time you decide to offer a prayer to God, you ought to think a minute about who He is and who you are. It is a very sobering, humbling thought.

3. God says in Revelation 1:8, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." To our God, every being in heaven bows in humble adoration and worship. Of Him the heavenly host proclaims in Revelation 5:12, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

4. Isaiah the prophet wrote in Isaiah 40:12-15, "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing." In showing His majesty, greatness and supremacy in comparison with our insignificance, God Himself wrote, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)

5. It is no wonder then that the Bible makes such superlative statements about Him. "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High." (Psalm 92:1) "For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered." (Psalm 92:9) "Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations." (Psalm 100:1-5) "They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." (Psalm 102:26-27) "Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." (Psalm 103:1-2) "For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." (Psalm 84:11) "I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable." (Psalm 145:1-3) Oh, how truly great and majestic and supreme the LORD God of heaven is.

C. Our great God wants people to recognize Him as the LORD He really is.

1. I say "LORD that He really is" because He is LORD whether or not folks recognize it. You don't have to recognize gravity as gravity for it to be gravity. Whether or not you recognize it, gravity is all that it was intended to be and functions exactly as it was designed. Likewise, our God is absolute and supreme, whether or not you know or believe it. That is the reason that Acts 2:36 says, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both LORD and Christ."

2. You may not now have recognized Him to be the sovereign and great one that He really is, but the day is coming when you will. Philippians 2:9-11 says, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Lots of people today don't have enough respect to bow to God. When they pray, they assume no posture of humility and submission. But the day is coming when everyone will bow in absolute humility before Him. God's holy, true, and undeniable word declares, "For it is written, as I live saith the LORD, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." (Romans 14:11) We Christians are real good about applying this and similar passages to lost, stubborn sinners. But this passage applies to every child of God also. Every child of God who has been too disrespectful and stubborn to humble himself before God in prayer will one of these days humble himself when he faces his LORD.

3. But our God does not want us to wait until we face Him at the judgment bar to acknowledge Him as the LORD, Almighty, supreme Potentate that He is. Over and again He makes statements such as this one found in Luke 9:23, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Galatians 2:20 will show you that He wants you to crucify your self-will and let Him have the control and dominion over your life. He says in Romans 12:1 for you to be a living sacrifice unto Him.

II. YOUR KNEELING IN PRAYER IS A SYMBOL OF YOUR RECOGNITION THAT HE IS YOUR LORD.

A. Kneeling is symbolic of submission.

1. Kneeling or bowing, as an indication of submission, has been recognized in almost every culture of this world for as long as there are historical records to record. Even dogs and wolves bow their heads and lower their ears as a symbol of their submission.

2. This fact is well illustrated in the Bible.

a. Genesis 37 tells about a dream that Joseph had. In the dream, the sheaf that he was binding in the field stood upright while the sheaves of his older brothers and parents bowed down to it. His parents and older brothers immediately recognized the implication that the sheaves that bowed thereby indicated their submission. Thus Jacob said to his son Joseph, "Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" (Genesis 37:10) Years passed, and you know that Jacob and his brothers did go down to Egypt and bow down before Joseph. Genesis 41:43 and Genesis 43:26 both record this fact. By this time, Joseph had come to extreme power in Egypt, and their bowing before him was an acknowledgment of his supremacy over them and their submission to his authority.

b. Another testimonial that bowing is an indication of submission is found in Esther 3:2-5. The story is that of wicked Haman the Persian and Mordecai the Jew. Verse 2 says, "Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence." Verse 5 will quickly show you that Haman realized Mordecai's refusal to bow to him was an indication of Mordecai's disrespect and refusal to submit to Haman's authority.

c. Daniel 3 is another illustration of the fact that bowing or kneeling is an indication of submission. Nebuchadnezzar commanded all the people in his kingdom to bow down before an image which he had made as an open indication of their subjection to him. The three Hebrew children refused to do so and the King immediately interpreted their refusal as insubordination and unsubmissive, and he had them cast into a furnace seven times hotter than normal.

3. A realization of the symbolism of bowing or kneeling will help you to understand why you should not bow yourself before any other gods except the Jehovah God of heaven. To do so is an indication that you are submitted to the will of that false god. It is an indication that you are brought under the domination of that false god. Thus, Exodus 20:5 says of false, graven gods. "Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them, nor serve them." That same warning is stated again on several occasions such as Deuteronomy 5:9, Exodus 3:24 and Leviticus 26:1. God warned Israel in Joshua 23:7, "That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them." But in spite of God's warnings, Judges 2:12 says of Israel, "And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger." The result was bondage and poverty for the people.

B. Kneeling before God in prayer is outward proof of your submission to His Lordship.

1. I realize that kneeling can be fake and done only for the praise and glory of men. But I will leave the judging of who is fake and who is genuine up to God. I also know that giving, singing, preaching and the Lord's Supper can also be put on and artificial but that doesn't in any way indicate there is something wrong with these means of worshipping God. If there is a problem, the problem is with the worshipper not with the means of worship. Likewise, the person kneeling in prayer may by putting on a show, but that in no way indicates that there is something wrong with kneeling to pray. And, in spite of a few counterfeits and fakes, men still ought to make it a practice to kneel before their God in prayer. Daniel did, Ezra did, Solomon did, and plenty of others did in spite of the fact they may have been thought of by many to be put-ons and showoffs. In spite of the fact that it may be misunderstood by many, kneeling is still one of the finest testimonials of humility and submission before God that a man can establish.

2. Please don't misunderstand. Kneeling doesn't prove anything to God. He already knows the heart according to Psalm 139:1-13. The best thing that kneeling does is prove your submission to God to you. Some of you have not convinced yourselves, let alone anyone else, that you are submitted to God. And, I can assure you that until you have proven it to yourself, you will never prove it to anybody else. II Corinthians 13:5 says, "Prove your own selves." If you cannot even get your body into the most humble position possible when talking to God, you prove against yourself that you are not willing to humble your spirit when you go to Him in prayer.

C. This is why there is a great danger in standing prayer.

1. Standing can be a symbol of pride and insubordination and lack of submission. That certainly may not always be the case, but it does create doubts when you see a fellow stand to approach his Maker in prayer, when he could have humbled himself more by kneeling. I realize that factors like age, disease, stiff joints and even adverse circumstances can prevent kneeling. When that is the case, God will still hear and honor the prayer, but you can be sure of the fact that God will not honor the prayer of one who goes to Him with pride harbored in his heart, regardless of the posture of the person praying. James 4:6 clearly says, "God resisteth the proud." If standing is the most humble posture you can form under the circumstances then fine, but if it is not, then pity on your self-deluded praying.

2. Do you realize that out of all the occasions in the Bible which picture people praying prayers that God honors where prayer posture is stated, only two picture the praying person standing. Luke 18:13 pictures the publican standing afar off and praying to God, and Jesus made the statement in Mark 11:25, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that you Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." The scriptures normally associate standing prayer with the Pharisees who received scorn of God upon their prayers. You can see that in Luke 18:11. Listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 6:5, "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men..."

3. It humbles you to kneel. Most people have trouble humbling themselves. Kneeling is good therapy for such people. It helps break down the pride and causes you to see how really insignificant you are in comparison with the One to Whom you address your prayer. To yourself as well as to those who see you pray, kneeling is an acknowledgment of the supremacy and Lordship of God over you. It is an acknowledgment that you are not self-ruled, but that you are ruled by God. It is an open acknowledgment to yourself and everybody of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Paul said, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 3:14) That is why your best posture in prayer, be it private or public, is kneeling.

III. THE MOST AND BEST EXAMPLES WE HAVE OF TRUE GOD HONORED PRAYER COME FROM KNEELING SAINTS.

A. Just look at some of these wonderful Bible examples.

1. The 9th chapter of Ezra tells how Ezra the priest in the presence of the God-fearing remnant of Israel fell on his knees and prayed publicly to the LORD God of heaven. He wrote in verses 5-6, "And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens."

2. Even our little kindergarten children can tell you about the fact that Daniel regularly kneeled in public prayer three times every day. Daniel 6:10 says, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."

3. When the mighty temple of splendor was finished by King Solomon and his men, II Chronicles 6:13 records these words, "For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven." The following verses record the prayer of dedication that Solomon prayed publicly as he kneeled on that platform before God.

4. When Paul was leaving Ephesus, he gathered many of the saints together and exhorted them with words of divine truth, "And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all." (Acts 20:36) He then boarded a ship and sailed to Tyre. As soon as he got off the ship, he located fellow Christians, and Acts 21:5 records these words ,"And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed."

5. There are lots of Christians today who don't think it is important to kneel down and pray. But, these mightiest heroes of the Bible thought it was important. If you believe in following the examples left in the Bible, you cannot ignore these testimonials.

6. The best illustration of all is that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If there ever was one in all of time who could qualify as being great enough to not need to humble Himself in prayer, it would surely be the Son of God. But He did humble Himself according to Philippians 2:8. He humbled Himself enough to go to the cross. And, when He prayed, do you suppose He just stood around somewhere, or sat in a chair and sort of ducked His head over? The Bible says in Luke 22:41, "And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed." Here you have the Bible describing the posture of the Lord Himself in prayer, and it was kneeling. Here was the perfect example of total submission to the will of the Father.

B. These are not Bible examples of people who were showing off or trying to impress others. These are examples of men who were totally committed to the will of God in their lives, and they were not ashamed to let the world know where they stood. Even their posture in prayer was a public testimonial. When someone just stands up and prays, or sits and silently prays, very few will even notice or know that prayer is being offered. But when a man or woman gets on his or her knees, people can tell exactly what he or she is doing from as far as they can see. And it is a posture that is recognized around the world as one of submission and subordination to another.

There was a day when a kneeling person was a major symbol of Christianity. Just as a standing cross is recognized as a symbol of Jesus, a kneeling person was a symbol of Christian humility and submission. But you don't see Christians kneeling in prayer anymore. They always sit or stand or silently close their eyes. How long has it been since you've seen a Christian kneel to address his God in prayer? As Christians have gotten farther and farther away from submission to their God, and recognition of His greatness and supremacy, their prayer posture has more and more abandoned kneeling. Thus the very posture of prayer has become a tell-tale sign of the insubordinate, unsubmissive condition of the average Christian heart. Oh, how we Christians need to get back on our knees before God. How we need to practice the prayer posture that is so prevalent and taught in the Bible. How we need to quit writing it off as unimportant. It is my prayer that every Christian that hears these words will bend his head, knees and heart before God in earnest, fervent prayer. That is the best, most conducive of all postures for prayer unto God.

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"