Lies I Believe That Keep Me Off My Knees: It Don’t Take All That!

Confession.

I'm a preacher’s kid.

But before that, I was a deacon’s kid.

As a deacon, my dad’s job was to unlock and lock the door at every service. EVERY SERVICE. Most afternoons, my dad would pick me up from school and we’d head straight over to the church. 

And, y’all. We’re talking, two hour Tuesday Night Prayer, Wednesday Night Tarrying Service, Friday Night Bible Study which began with one-hour of prayer on our knees. These people also held prayer Monday - Friday during lunch prayer and at 10am on Saturday. And they would pray at just about every transition on Sunday. Before testimony service, after the choir sang, before offering, before the preacher came up, after the preacher read the passage for his sermon, before and after the second offering. They loved to pray! And, they loved to pray on their knees! You couldn’t just sit on the pew and rock. You had to be on your knees. You were considered a heathen or raising heathens if you and your kids weren’t down on their knees.

As a kid, I didn’t appreciate this kind of dependence on God, and now, as an adult, it shows. 

Maybe It Does Take All That

When I became a believer and read Matthew 6:1-8, I took one judgmental look at the saints of my home church and said to myself, “See, it don’t take all that. I don’t need to use a lot of words. I don’t need to fidget on my knees for two hours trying to figure out what to say. The man said, ‘When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles, for they think that they will be heard for their many words’ (Matthew 6:7). The Father already knows what I need before I ask. So, why do I need to get on my knees and pray for hours?”

However, the man, Jesus, also told a parable about a widow who persisted in bringing her request before an unrighteous king to teach us to persevere in prayer to a righteous one (Luke 18:1-8). 

Jesus also celebrated the woman who bowed down before him and anointed his feet with expensive oil. Though everyone looking on thought, “She’s doing too much. It don’t take all that,” Jesus thought differently. He called her actions noble and stated that wherever the gospel was told what she had done would also be shared in her memory (John 12:1-8; Matthew 26:6-13).

Then there was Zaccheus, who thought just a glimpse of Jesus was worth putting his pride aside and climbing up into a tree. To his surprise, Jesus asked if he could stay at his house in response to willingness to publicly humiliate himself for just a view of His face (Luke 19:1-10). 

What these three share in common is a poor spirit. They were willing to put aside their pride and contort their bodies to communicate their desperation. 

The widow, by getting up her fibble body every morning to appear at the king’s gate. The woman, body bent over, kneeling on her knees to anoint Jesus’ feet with expensive oil and wipe them with her hair. Less than average height Zaccheaus, using all his strength to get to the highest point of the tree to see Jesus’ face.  

In each of their hearts and minds, “it took all that.” Jesus was worthy of all of that. It was nothing for them to publicly embarrass themselves or “be extra” with their bodies to demonstrate their desire for Him.

Posture Matters

Though our posture in prayer isn’t essential to whether or not God will hear our prayers, it matters. Our posture in prayer reveals the posture of our hearts. 

When the Spirit nudges me in the morning to get on my knees and pray, and I just roll over to offer half-hearted prayers only to fall back to sleep, it reveals I don’t believe prayer is essential.

If I only get on my knees is in a crisis, it reveals I believe I only need God for the big stuff and I can handle the mundane on my own. This is the antithesis of what it means to be poor in spirit. 

A person who is poor in spirit recognizes that the very breath they breathe is provided by God. A person who is poor in spirit gives thanks to God that they woke up clothed in their right mind. They ask God for help with the mundane. They put no confidence in their flesh to not fall into temptation. They ask God not to lead them there. The Lord’s prayer is not something elementary they have graduated from, but it is the bread and butter of their prayer life. 

In Christ, we don’t have to pray on our knees. And in Christ, we can have a meaningful time of prayer and worship in our car or even laying down in our bed. It’s true that the only requirement is that we come to God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Yes, all we need to do is come to Jesus with the intention of cultivating intimacy, humility, and dependence on him. But for some of us, the simple gesture of posturing on ourselves on our knees, praying with our hand palm face up in a receiving posture, or sitting still with our eyes close to focus can help us do just that. It’s not required, but sometimes “it takes all that” to settle our distracted minds and remind us of our immense neediness.  

As you pray this week, pick a posture to start implementing. Try it out for a couple of weeks and consider how just the simple addition of purposefully posturing yourself in prayer cultivates humility and dependency on God in you. 

Here are some questions for reflection:

What lies do you believe that have keep you off your knees in prayer?

What’s one posture you can start using in prayer to help cultivate humility and dependency in God? 

Questions for discussion with friends:

If you grew up in a church, what did prayer look like in your church? What role has that experience played in how you approach God in prayer?

If you didn’t grow up in church, what did prayer look like in the family or neighborhood? Even if nonexistent, what impact has that experience (or the lack thereof) had on your approach to God in prayer?

As a group, read Matthew 6:5-15, Luke 18:1-8. What do these two passages teach you about prayer? What do you find convicting or encouraging about them? 

What’s one thing you would like to change about your prayer life and why? 

What’s keeping you from making that change? How can your friends help you?

What’s one posture you can start using in prayer this week to help cultivate humility and dependency in God?