5 Prayer Postures to take in the Place of Prayer

In Thessalonians 5:17, God's word instructs us to "pray without ceasing". This is our commandment, to never stop praying. There is no right or wrong way to pray, or one position of a prayer that is superior to another. The only thing that we, as believers must do is humble ourselves before the Lord, acknowledge His Lordship of our lives, and pray without ceasing.

Important observations on prayer postures found in the Bible that may elevate your spoken prayers includes the following below.

Sometime the postures of our prayer can let God know that we are serious about specific issues. Again, we are observing the powerful and miraculous prayers of great men and women of the Bible. If Jesus needed to get alone on His knees to pray, why would we ever think that it isn’t important for us to do the same?

Standing

Prayers that were prayed while standing were for adoration, thanksgiving, worship, and praise. While standing in awe of God, the hands were typically open with the palms facing upward toward Heaven and generally speaking the eyes were open and lifted toward the heavens. Orans is the Latin word for praying. It is the oldest prayer posture found in scripture and most commonly used in today’s western churches, Jewish synagogues, practiced during mass and the standard position for taking communion together.

Some of the most memorable stories and miracles from the Bible have come from standing postures as

1 Timothy 2:8, In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.

John 17:1, Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come.

John 11:41, Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.”

One of my most beloved stories in the Bible is found in 2 Chronicle 20. A story of how God answered Jehoshaphat as he and his small army gathered corporately and stood in prayer believing God would fight their overwhelming battle for them as they obeyed His commandment of standing still.

Sitting

Seated prayer postures typically demonstrate one who is seeking guidance, counsel, or instruction from The Lord. Sometimes we read how one would use a seated positions to simply be alone, find calm, peace, quiet, and just bask in the presence of God. Jesus often went to be alone with His Father and pray. Other times we read how one would sit to pray and let God know they were ready and willing to serve Him and walk in obedience. We may need to remind ourselves to sit quietly and bask in His presence more often, or perhaps sit down with the Lord and let Him know we are ready to walk in obedience.

Simply sit in His presence in stillness, and listen.

King David sat down before the Lord to inquire, “Why me Lord?” 2 Samuel 7:18, Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?
 
Ezekiel 8:1, As I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell on me there, and who is ready to serve Him. 

Kneeling

Kneeling is a traditional posture that demonstrates humility, repentance, submission, and supplication. It is the position that we see most often where one is seeking favor or making their supplications known to God. When you practice a kneeling pose, we can acknowledge our weakness and grant His strength and power access to our every fiber. Lets use Camel Pose as an example. This is a great kneeling backbend, but it also allows us to open our heart upward to God. During this pose we can surrender all and worship wholly!

 

Ezra 9:5, And at the evening sacrifice I arose 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

 

Psalms 95:6, Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker

 

Daniel 6:10, He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God.

 

Prone

·       Prone (on the belly) postures typically symbolizes a desperate plea, an urgent request, or to express to God complete and utter dependence on Him. There have been many times in my life when I had to eat dust bunnies! Have you ever been out of options? This is the time we find ourselves flat on our face, eating dust bunnies from our floor, and crying out to the Lord, “Save me!”

Prone positioned prayers are also used for intercessory prayers, these are typically urgent prayers in themselves. When we find ourselves grieving over a loved one or need to stand in the gap for another brother or sister, these are usually prayers of urgency and desperation. Prostrated prayers are often used for repentance and confessing sins, sometimes this is an urgent task as well. This is also a position of true worship as we see in 2 Chronicles when Jehoshaphat bowed down face first.

Deuteronomy 9:25, I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights…

 

Revelation 7:11, And all the angels stood round about the throne, and [about] the elders and the four beasts, and fell just the throne on their faces, and worshiped God

 

Lying Down

·       Lying down and meditating on the Lord is a sweet and precious time with our Maker.

As we are on our backs, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to have His way in our body, heart, mind, spirit, and soul. We simply meditate on the fact that we are breathing and alive because of Him. All things are from Him, and because we were created to hear from our Creator, this is the perfect posture to do so. Allow His spirit to speak to yours. Our focus turns towards gratitude as we thank Him, spirit to Spirit, for the temples He has loaned us. This is the time to allow yourself stillness and a peace that passes all understanding.

Psalms 4:4, Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your bed, search your hearts and be silent.

 

Psalms 63:5-6, My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.

 

I Kings 1:47, Moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;’ and the king bowed himself on the bed.

 

Conclusion

     Prayer is a dialogue, it is not a monologue. He speaks, we listen. We speak and He hears us. As with any conversation, we must be quiet and listen to Him. Combining our faith with yoga postures are great postures to be filled in his presence and converse with the Creator of the Universe….your Dad! Imagine climbing on your dad’s lap and talking to Him. Maybe you just wrap your arms around Him and say nothing at all?

      Fasting is an expression of emptying oneself out to seek the Lord so that His word, will, and presence would be the one and only thing that would fill us up. Here, and many other passages, we see the manifestation of miracles that occur when we couple our prayers with fasting. Combining a specific prayer posture with fasting can elevate the intensity of our request and petitions. It will demonstrate to God that we are serious about His call on our lives.
       Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God!

The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. (Psalms 94:11) Sometimes when we cry, that is the only prayer needed. Often I have found the only prayer I can pray is one word, “Jesus”. He knows the rest. Other times I simply hold the Bible up to my heart in silence and download all of His great and precious promises. Prayer is our lifeline. Without prayer, whether spoken or unspoken, there is no communication to the Life Giver.

 

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for breathing your Spirit into mine and giving me life! My praises for You shall continually be in my mouth! Today I come before you with praise and thanksgiving. I know there is no right or wrong way to pray, just that I never stop praying. There is no good, bad, correct, or wrong posture of prayer, just that we communicate with each other throughout the day. Thank you for blessing me with a healthy body, one that can practice may postures of prayer. And as I set my prayer in motion and worship you with all my heart, mind, spirit, and soul I give thanks to you for all of your creation and what you would have me do for you while I’m down here on planet earth. Thank you Lord for every breath, may my every breath and my healthy temple glorify you, the Living God! In Jesus’ mighty name, amen and amen!