When's the Last Time You Knelt To Pray?

Brenna pointed out on Sunday that it was uncommon for Jewish people to pray on their knees except at the most sacred of moments. But that changed with the early Christians. Jesus knelt to pray in the garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested. Paul knelt on the beach to pray with his friends before they parted ways, and later wrote to his friends in Turkey that he knelt when he prayed for them.

There’s something about kneeling our body in prayer that can be helpful in bending our souls towards God.

As we head towards the cross and the resurrection this coming weekend, wouldn’t it be nice to feel reconnected with God? Perhaps one simple way to do that would be to kneel in prayer. We all know a simple ritual like kneeling won’t immediately make us holy or connect spiritually - but it can be a physical reminder to bend our wills towards God. It often helps.

Would you take a few moments - even just one minute - the next few days to kneel while you pray? And pay attention to what goes on in your body and mind and spirit as you do so. Perhaps you could think of a different friend or neighbor or family member and pray this prayer over them:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:14-19