Our Footsteps: Prayer Posture

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Prayer Posture

Although King Solomon's heart turned from the Lord in 1 Kings 11, his great prayer of dedication a few chapters earlier in 1 Kings 8 taught me a couple of things. This prayer was Solomon's response to the Lord after the completion of the temple. The building of the temple was a fulfillment of a promise that God had made to Solomon's father David.

The prayer of Solomon contains several elements that we might do well to add to our own prayers:
1). The affirmation that there is no other god except the God of Israel (1 Kings 8:22). Of course God knows that, but our confession of it to God is of utmost importance.
2). Not only do we make that affirmation, but just as Solomon recognized that this God of Israel was a covenant-keeping God and a merciful God, so should we recognize this before God in our prayers. I like the phrase in 1 Kings 8:50 - "make them objects of compassion". I want to be this object!
3). Solomon also asked God for protection. Who of us doesn't need the protection of God?
4). "Hear and forgive" is a repeated phrase in this prayer. Our plea for forgiveness shows God our utter dependence upon Him, and Him alone, to cleanse us from the guilt and stain of sin that soils our souls daily.
5). One of the most intersting items I noted when reading through this passage is not the content of the prayer itself, but the posture in which it is prayed. Not that we can't pray in any posture (standing, sitting, lying down, etc), but notice in 1 Kings 8:54 - "he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven". Earlier in the chapter in verse 22 as he began his prayer, Solomon was standing. So at some point during the prayer, Solomon fell to his knees. I thought of the passage that tells us that "every knee shall bow". Solomon's knees buckled in the presence of Almighty God. I am convicted by this. Too often I rush in out out of the presence of God. On my knees I can show humility, respect and undivided attention. Much more than if I am whisking out the door in the morning with my car keys in one hand and a bagel in the other.

More prayer thoughts next week.
Mark

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I Believe...

1). I believe that there is one God. I believe God consists of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
2). I believe that God is holy, righteous, loving, and just.
3). I believe that mankind is separated from God by sin; that sin entered the world through Adam and death through sin.
4). I believe that, because of sin, man is condemned. Because of God’s utter hatred for sin, there is an eternal conscious punishment in hell for all those who do not come to God on His terms, dealing with their sin.
5). I believe that confessing our sins and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is the only way to properly deal with the sin that has infected everyone. Jesus Christ paid our sin debt on the cross; reconciliation by substitution. There is nothing we can do to add to the finished work of Christ.
6). I believe in the security of the believer, that once he is truly born-again, there is nothing that would cause him to lose his salvation.
7). I believe that upon the death of a true believer in Christ, that he is ushered immediately into the presence of the Lord, where he will live in everlasting joy in Heaven, experiencing eternal fellowship with God.
8). I believe in believer’s baptism by immersion. I don’t believe baptism is necessary for salvation, but it is a beautiful outward profession of an inward possession.
9). I believe in a literal 6-day creation where God created the heavens and the earth and then rested on the seventh day.
10). I believe that the words written in the Bible are truth. I believe that the Bible is inerrant in its parts and in its whole. I believe that the 66 books that make up the canon of scripture make the Bible complete and that God inspired the words written therein. The things that were written down in the Bible are sufficient for every need we have. Not only is God’s Word sufficient, but it is far superior to any other method of handling the problems that man faces, since He has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness.