Title Yeongam Church Prayer School (10) Prayer Chair...
content n style=line-height:160%>
Praying posture (2 Kings 1:9-16)
Because prayer is offered to God, not to people, the attitude of the heart is more important than the attitude outward. However, a person who is not neat and tidy on the outside cannot have the right attitude of mind. The outward attitude can be said to be an expression of the mental attitude. Doesn't even a decent gentleman lay flat on his back without hesitation when he puts on his reserve uniform? Therefore, the outward attitude is as important as the attitude of the person who prays.
Why did Elijah, a man of God, curse the captain of fifty and fifty men sent by Ahaziah and burn them to death? The people who came the second time were also burned to death, but the chief of fifty and fifty servants who came the third time were able to get Elijah's answer without dying? Of course, Elijah is not God, but here we show the attitude of a person who comes to God. have.
The first and second chief of the fifty department (who is not even a police chief in a fortress) came with an arrest warrant from the king and shouted arrogantly. “O man of God, the king has said come down.” Here, when they called "Man of God", they did not believe that he was a man of God or called him out of respect. It was just an ordinary title for Elijah, and in fact, it meant a sarcastic meaning. If you knew that Elijah was a man of God, would you have come to arrest him, and would you be able to shout at him to come down?
However, the third commander of fifty sent out humbled himself and asked for mercy from God and Elijah. Of course, Ahaziah would not have told him to do that. But he went up to Elijah (not commanded him to come down) and knelt before him. He begged for the life of himself and his soldiers to be spared. Elijah did not curse them, but rather followed them and stood before the king, boldly speaking the word of God. With what attitude should we come before God? What is the attitude of prayer that God accepts?
1. I got up and prayed.
As Moses entered the tent of meeting, a pillar of cloud came down at the door of the tent of meeting, and the Lord spoke with Moses, and all the people stood up, each standing at the door of the tent, and worshiping God (Ex. 33:9-10). After Solomon completed the temple, he faced the whole congregation of Israel in front of the altar of the Lord and prayed with his hands outstretched toward heaven (1 Kings 8:22).
Standing up is an attitude of respect. When the judge enters the courtroom, all the prisoners and those in the audience stand up. When a great piece of music is played, the audience all stand up and applaud. All of these are gestures of respect. The Israelites usually stood up and prayed (Matthew 6:5; Luke 18:11). Just as we stand up while singing hymns during worship, we can stand up when we pray. Especially in public worship prayers.
2. I got down on my knees and prayed.
When Ezra returned to Jerusalem, he received a shocking report that the people of Israel had been marrying foreign women and that the people were mixing with each other, and that the leaders were taking the lead in this matter. At this time, Ezra was so terrified that he sat until evening, then got up in the evening, got up on his knees and ripped his cloak, and raised his hands to God and prayed for repentance (Ezra 9:5).
Standing praying is a normal and ceremonial prayer, while kneeling is a posture for forgiveness of sins. Jesus knelt and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:41), and when Stephen was also martyred, he knelt down and called out to God and prayed (Acts 7:60). Paul also knelt and prayed (Acts 20:36, Ephesians 3:15).
3. I fell on the ground and prayed
In particular, earnest prayer was prayed on the ground as well as kneeling. Elijah prayed with his head between his knees (1 Kings 18:42), and Jesus also knelt in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and later fell on his face in prayer (Matthew 26:39). Ezra, who had been kneeling and praying, also later confessed his sin by praying and weeping on his face before the house of God (Ezra 10:1).
To pray like this on one's stomach did not pray with one's face down at all, but rather, he got down on his knees and prayed earnestly, then gradually lowered his head and lowered his face to the ground and prayed in tears. This shows how earnest prayer was. Otherwise, if you lie down with your head on a chair to pray after dawn worship, you will fall asleep in nine out of ten. Therefore, you should never pray with your head on the floor until the Lord gives you a heart of earnest contrite and falls to the ground.
4. He raised his hands toward the sky and prayed.
When Israel was fighting the Amalekites, Moses raised his hand with his staff and prayed (Exodus 17:1). When Solomon dedicated the temple, he raised his hands and prayed (1 Kings 8:22), and Jesus also looked up and prayed in front of the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:41).
The attitude of prayer (Luke 18:10-14)
A person's attitude is important. Depending on your attitude, you may be favorable to the other person, or you may be hated by the other person. Do you know the story about the meat of Jiseobang, the meat of Seokdori? In a village, there was a man named Ji Seok-dol who had been a butcher since he was young. He grew old and became an old man who passed his sixtieth birthday, but because of his status as a butcher, he was disrespected by people. One day, while he was working in the butcher's street, two young scholars came into this butcher's shop to buy meat. As soon as a scholar entered, he shouted, "Seokdol, give me only a pound of meat." Then the butcher said, "Okay," and took out the meat and cut it roughly.
Another scholar said, "Jisobang, give me a pound of meat." Then the owner of the butcher said, "Yes, please wait a little bit." He took the meat out of the butcher and cut the best part into large chunks. The first scholar to see this was angry. "Hey man, it's the same one, but why is this guy so much and mine is so small?" ' he asked, rolling his eyes. Then the butcher answered calmly. “Yes, Seonbi-nim’s meat was cut by Seokdol, and this person’s meat was cut by Jiseobang.”
How important is our attitude?
Attitude of Worship - Psalm 95:6-7 "Come, let us bow down and worship, and let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For this is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand. You can hear his voice today. I want to hear"
Attitude of listening to the Word - Acts 10:33 "I immediately sent a message to you, and you have come, and you have done well. Now we are all before God to hear all that the Lord has commanded you."
Giving Attitude - 1 Chronicles 29:14 "What is it that I and my people have the strength to give with such a joyful heart? All things come from you, and what we received from your hand we gave to you."
Prayer Attitude - Luke 18:13 "The publican stood afar off, and did not dare lift up his eyes to look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "Have mercy on me, O God, I am a sinner."
After teaching in parables to always pray and not to lose heart, Jesus told parables about the attitude of a person who prays again.
Pharisee - In fact, this man is more righteous than anyone else. It doesn't mean he has sinned a lot. But
(1) Standing and praying separately - I am thankful that I am not like them (because the word Pharisee means to be different, it means to be different from them).
(2) I set up my own righteousness - This is how I have lived (but what should I be proud of before God?).
Publican - (1) Realizing that he was a sinner, he did not even dare to look up to heaven. (2) He repented by beating his chest.
The Lord's Evaluation - The Lord's perspective and the people's perspective are not the same. “This man went down to the house justified than the other.”