Prayer

There have been a lot of people in the past and especially in the Bible who have been recorded giving or saying their prayers to our Lord Almighty God. These have been in different circumstances and for different reasons. It is for our benefit to look at these examples and to learn from them.

The prophets were humble, and talked in their prayers to God about what they had done. We may find it very hard to copy them and to be as humble. When times are very hard and possibly dangerous, men try hard to pray, but we must pray all the time and in all circumstances. And the manner of the prophets’ prayers may help us.

Standing

The children of Moab and Ammon came against Judah, and their army was too large for Judah to defeat them, and to save their wives and children. But Judah gathered together from all their cities to seek the Lord. Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of God, before the new court (2 Chronicles 20:4,5). The prayer is recorded in verses 6-12, then (v13) “All Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children”. Here Jehoshaphat “stood” and all Israel “stood”, to request help from the Lord God in defeating the Moabites and the Ammonites. So, in our prayers, we can stand.

Kneeling

“Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, of five cubits long and five cubits broad and five 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 his hands toward heaven” (2 Chronicles 6:13). Here Solomon did three things – stood, kneeled and spread his hands towards heaven. King Solomon’s wonderful prayer is given in vv 14-42. He was one of the great kings of Israel, but he humbled himself publicly and kneeled to pray.

Bowing down face to the ground

Bowing down face to the ground (2 Chronicles 20:18) as Jehoshaphat and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem did, is a further example of humility in prayer.

These different ways of praying are available to us and various examples of each are given in the scriptures. The Levites, the children of the Kohathites and the children of the Korhites, wanted to praise the Lord God. They stood and made a loud noise to God (2 Chronicles 20:19).

When Daniel and his three friends wanted a secret revealed, in prayer they blessed God and entreated his mercy (Daniel 2:17-23). Even Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel (v 46). Later Daniel himself fell face toward the ground (Daniel 10:9,15).

“Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they lowered their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground” (Nehemiah 8:6).

“The four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces and worshipped God” (Revelation 11:16).

“And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling on his face he will worship God, and report that of a truth God is in you” (1 Corinthians 14:25).

There was humility in these people, and it is a thing worth learning and acting upon. When we pray, we should know what sort of prayer it is to be. Are we asking for help? Or are we blessing the Lord for what He has done for us?. Or are we worshipping Him as our Creator? So for every prayer, there should be a heading in our mind and we should know what we actually want.

“And when he (Paul) had spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all” (Acts 20:36).

“And when he (Paul) had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way with wives and children, till we were out of the city. And we kneeled down on the shore and prayed“ (Acts 21:5).

Our Lord Jesus is described as lifting up his eyes and raising his head to look toward heaven, acknowledging the authority of God. But, of course, Jesus is the one and only Son of God. “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath or doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8).

The wonderful thing about our Lord God is that He sees what is in everybody’s heart. He sees what we do and knows what we think. At the same time he knows what we need and why. We are not on our own. So let us pray with proper reasoning. May the Lord God hear and answer our prayers. Amen.

Bro A D Liwawa (Neno, Malawi)