Worth Green, Th. M., D. Min.
This is the second sermon in a series of sermons on Prayer.
Last week we saw that “Prayer is the great two-handed engine at our door. “ (P.T. Forsyth) When I read that I think of Albrecht Dürer’s “Praying Hands.” An engine supplies power. Prayer supplies power. Two hands are more powerful than one. This engine called prayer is “at our door.” It is not a closed door. It is an open door. We all have access to prayer. By prayer we enter heaven, and place ourselves and our concerns before God. By prayer we claim God’s promises, and lay hold of God’s provisions. “Prayer changes things,” said the late Dr. J.C. McPheeters, first President of Asbury Theological Seminary, “prayer changes the pray-er.” Prayer changes me. Prayer changes you. The ancient Rabbis had a saying: “No prayer is genuine unless the one who prays it is willing to be a part of the answer.” By prayer we move the earth. “More things are accomplished in prayer than we can imagine.”
My junior year at Carolina I lived with my friend Bill. One weekend he went home to Winston-Salem, and I remained in our apartment. He did not come back that Sunday evening. He did not get back until Monday morning. He had started back late on Sunday, but had ended up putting his VW bug into a cornfield. When I called home that week, I told my mother about Bill’s accident. She told me that late Sunday, she had given in to an irresistible urge to pray for Bill. My mother never makes claims like this. I have remembered this instance for almost forty years. What is the connection? Who knows. More things are accomplished in prayer than we can imagine.
Last week we began this series saying that we need not pray according to a formula. There are many formulas for praying, and all are no doubt useful. However, what works best for me, may not work for you. What works for you, may not work for me. The thing that makes you want to pray may be the very thing that keeps me away, and vice versa.
Last week we saw that there is variety in prayer. Some prayers are private. When we reach deepest into ourselves, we dredge up that which is unworthy to be spoken of. Some confessions we cannot or ought not share save with God.
Some prayers are public. We join together to accomplish together, “in agreement,” (Matthew 18:19) what we cannot accomplish alone.
Sometimes we pray alone, in the midst of a crowd. When I feel out of place in a crowd, I find it helps to pray for the crowd. Immediately, I feel more “in place,” and a part of things, meant to be there, as it were.
Likewise, we saw that some prayers are long. Before Jesus chose 12 from among his many disciples and named them to be apostles, he spent the night in prayer. (Luke 6:12) He wanted something from God. I believe he wanted guidance in his choice. I don’t know about you, but a great many of my longest, most heartfelt prayers are prayers for guidance. I sometimes pray for guidance “in series,” making guidance the subject of prayer for session after session of prayer.
We saw that some prayers are short. The tax collector “beat upon his breast and cried out, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’” Jesus said that he went on his way justified. His prayer consisted of 7 words, and some powerful body language, worth many thousands of words: “he could not even lift up his eyes to heaven,” “he beat his breast,” was enough. God heard him and answered his prayer. (Luke 18:13)
This week I wish to continue our theme of variety in prayer by addressing the posture of prayer. The Bible speaks of several postures for prayer.
Some people prostrate themselves before the God. According to Deuteronomy 9, when Moses received the Commandments from the LORD he lay prostrate before the LORD 40 days and 40 nights. In scripture prostration in prayer is sometimes associated with the application of “dust and ashes” as a sign of repentance.
Some people bow down. This bowing down can mean everything from a diplomatic dip, to the Muslim posture of kneeling and pressing the chest upon the thighs, and the hands and forehead upon the earth. It is akin to prostration.
In Psalm 138, the Psalmist says that he will bow down toward the Lord’s holy temple and give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love and faithfulness.
Interestingly, in the vast majority of instances within the Bible, people bow down not before the Lord, but before kings, and strongmen, and idols, and the work of their hands. Certainly it is appropriate to bow down before the LORD. However, today, Christians usually reserve this posture for private prayer.
Likewise, the Bible speaks of kneeling. IN Psalm 95:6 the worship leader calls out to the congregation, “O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our maker.”
Perhaps kneeling is a perfectly good substitute for the extremes of bowing down?
In Matthew 20 the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up and knelt down before Jesus to plead a favor for her sons. She wanted them to sit one at his right hand, and one at his left when he came into his kingdom.
In Acts 21:5 the author of Acts, or at least, Paul’s companion on a journey, records how when he and Paul departed Tyre all the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied them outside the city. Then, kneeling down on the beach, they all prayed and bade one another farewell.
I think there is something special about physically kneeling down to pray. Two of the Moravian Church I have served have kneeling benches to encourage kneeling, the Little Church on the Lane, and, of course, our own New Philadelphia Church. I have had countless visitors tell me how much kneeling down as a part of the service has added to their experience of worship.
The Bible also mentions the prayer posture of standing. In Genesis 24, Abraham’s servant was standing by the well of water when he asked the Lord to reveal to him, his choice of a bride for Isaac.. So, too, in Nehemiah 9:5 the Levites call out to the children of Israel saying, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting.”
Standing is sometimes accompanied by a lifting of the hands. In 1st Timothy 2:8, the apostle writes, “I desire that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.” In certain cultures, one lifts the hand to show it holds no weapon. Perhaps the apostle is pointing out that it is far better to lift one’s hands to God in prayer than to lift them against another in anger or quarreling.
Some people ask me about our ritual of lifting the hand during the benediction here at New Philadelphia I usually begin it saying, “We continue to custom of lifting the hand during the final benediction if you should have a prayer request for yourself, or for another.” They want to know where that custom came from. I don’t know where it started originally, perhaps in one of the New Testament congregations addressed by the 1st Epistle of Timothy. I got it from the biography of Daniel Poling, who pastored the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City long before Norman Vincent Peal. Dr. Poling was also a president of the World Council of Churches. He started the custom at Marble Collegiate so that people would have a way of responding to the preaching of the Word, hymns, etc. That seemed appropriate. I always cheat during the benediction. I open my eyes, and I watch as each of you lifts your hand. I am aware of why some of you do so. I wonder about the request that others make, and sometimes ask. I am amazed at the number of first time visitors who slide so easy into what has become our custom.
Some pray lying down, on their beds. In Psalm 77:6 we read, “I commune with my heart in the night; I meditate and search my spirit.” In Psalm 6:6 the Psalmist writes “I flood my bed with tears.” One assumes the Psalmist is lying down, as many of us often do, when we lie awake in an attitude of prayer.
Others prefer to pray, as we sometimes do in public worship, while sitting. On the night in which he was betrayed, when Jesus went to Gethsemane he told his disciples, Peter, James and John, to “sit” while he went to pray. Returning he found them asleep, and said, “Could you not watch one hour? Pray that you do not enter into temptation.” (Mark 14:32-42)
Is the posture of prayer really important? I suppose that people have prayed, sometimes in distress, in every possible posture. I once had a friend tell me that he made a bungee jump, and found himself praying all the way down, until the cord tied around his feet caught him, and stopped his fall.
Just this week I visited with my mother. She told me she heard I was preaching a series on prayer. I told her about last week’s sermon, then told her what I had planned for this week—a sermon on the postures of prayer in the Bible. She then told me of an instance that occurred in a Sunday school class she taught at Fairview Moravian. At the conclusion of the lesson she addressed the class saying, “Let us kneel for prayer.” After the class, a woman came to her and said, “We did not kneel, we sat to pray, just as we had been sitting.” My mother responded, “Well, we did not kneel physically, but we did kneel in our hearts. We made a spiritual submission to God.”
That is a good answer for any who say that prayer always involves a particular posture. The important thing is “the posture of the heart.”
Yet, it must also be said that all the posture’s of prayer teach us something.
We bow down or prostrate ourselves to pray. This reminds us that though we are dust and ashes in the sight of the Lord; yet the Lord lifts us up, and makes us his own.
We kneel tor payer. This is the posture of pleading, yet we remember that our heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask him.
Likewise we sit to pray. This reminds us that in prayer we also listen to what the God is saying to us, in scripture, through our conscience, ect. Like the disciples we are to “watch” with Jesus in prayer.
We lie upon our beds in prayer. This reminds us that the one who watches over Israel and the church neither slumbers nor sleeps. We can sleep at night because God is awake. We must learn to let the evil of each day be sufficient for that day. We need rest.
We stand to pray. Standing is a posture of readiness and waiting. This reminds us that we stand ready to perform the tasks that God assigns us. Remember the ancient proverb, “No prayer is genuine unless the one who prays it willing to be a part of the answer.”
Next week, I am going to talk about time for prayer. Some pray according to a schedule. Some prefer to “pray as they go.” For now, I would leave you with the thought that any form of prayer is superior to no prayer at all. Jesus said we ought always to pray and not to faint. (Luke 18:1)
I feel sorry for those who are without God and without hope in the world. How sad it would be to think that when we are alone, in the dark, we truly are, alone. How sad it would be to think that we live in a silent universe and unfeeling universe that does not care whether we suffer, or whether we rejoice, whether we live, or whether we die. As Christians we know better. Our universe is filled with God. In the darkness, we lie upon our couch, and we call out to God, and he hears us. In the morning we greet the new day, and the rising of the sun, in confidence that God watches over us throughout our day, and knows what we need even before we ask him. How wonderful it is to have the great two-engine at our door called prayer.
Finis