Fall upon your knees and cry out to your Maker!
We cry out to God by lifting our eyes to the maker of the hills and NOT just the hills themselves. Where does our help comes from? It comes from our designer. The one who put our DNA, genes, and molecules together and knitted us in our mother’s womb. It comes from the one who said, let there be light! Then the moon and the stars and the sun began to dance in their orbit.
The significant of praying on our knees is to show reverence for God, although, as Christian, we do not necessarily have to always pray on our knees. It takes a life that is totally set aside and dedicated in wonder of His awe, to fall upon his/her knees when going before the King of kings, and Lord of lords in prayers.
From culture alone, we can tell that being on one’s knees is a sign of respect, honour and surrender… During war times, the enemy would go down on their knees as a sign of surrender. Greeting the elderly on your knees is often regarded as a sign of respect. Kneeling before a king or queen is a sign of respect & honour. And also, proposing marriage while on one’s knee is a sign of devotion.
We learn from people in the Bible, we learn from examples, from their sins, failures, repentance and their godly lives. But if we ever just learn from people and miss comprehending the character of God and what God wants us to know about Him in these stories then we miss everything.
(Revelation 5:8) The Angels and the Elders are holding golden bowls… What’s inside them? The prayers of the Saints. They are not clay jars, they are ‘Golden bowls’. This shows that God keeps our prayers in Golden bowls to show how much He values, loves and treasures them all.
Psalm 56:8 also reveals how precious even our tears are to God when we cry out to Him. God stores up all our tears and records them all. After all, He did promise that there will be a day with no more tears and that He will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Rev. 21:4). Tears are prayers too, they travel to God when we cannot speak.
Every significant prayer in the Bible is always a specific prayer not ambiguous. How else will you know when God answers it? When Jesus said (in Matthew chapter 10:30) that the hairs on your head are counted, He does not mean that He simply knows how many. But when He says they are numbered, it means that He knows each singular hair that fell in the brush when you brushed your hair this morning. If God takes interest in the minutest details of the hair of your head, how much more does he takes interest in providing all your needs? If God is that specific in details with you, you have to be that specific in details with Him.
Don’t ever hesitate to pray specifically. When you are obeying God’s instruction manual – the Holy Bible, you will not ask for things that do not glorify God. When you are completely trusting in the sovereign plan and choice of God for your life, you are not going to be adamant that God must see it your way.
Have you ever wondered why God does not answer your prayer straight away the moment you ask Him? Perhaps God wants you to exhaust your resources, God wants you to come to the end of your rope so that when he answers your prayer, it will be done in such a way that you will have no doubt about it except to say, “God did it!”
There is a saying “Persistence is like wrestling a Gorilla, you don’t give up when you’re tired, you only give up when that Gorilla is tired.” There is no place this persistence is most rewarding than on the knees of prayer, no battlefield victory is more certain than on the throne of Grace, no campaign where we are assured of strength, power, and ultimate triumph than in the prayer closet.
(Luke chapter 18) Jesus tells of the parable of the woman with a just cause and the unjust judge who at first refused to vindicate are just cause, but eventually gave in because of her persistence wearing him out. How much more are we not going to be vindicated by a just God when our cause is right or aligned with the will of God?
BOLD persistent prayer that is prayed according to the will of God will get God’s answer. The Bible says (1 Thessalonians 5:17), “Pray without ceasing.” So how can one pray without ceasing? You will find yourself praying without ceasing when your desire is:
- To glorify God
- To seek God’s wisdom
- To be set free from the guilt of sin
- To sync deeply in fellowship with God
- Believing that God will meet all your needs
- To Be delivered from temptation, worry, and anxiety;
- To grow in Christ-likeness and become a fruitful believer.
“It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; not the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they may be; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they may be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the logic of our prayers, how argumentative they may be; nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be; nor even the divinity of our prayers, how good the doctrine may be;–which God cares for. But the fervency of spirit is that which availeth much.” – Bishop Joseph Hall.
One of the saddest words in the entire Bible can be found in the book of Judges; it said of Samson that the power left him but he did not know it… It wasn’t until Samson prayed and learned again to depend on God for his confidence and strength was he able to destroy his enemies. Even Christ Jesus, God the Son, during His darkness hours in His earthly ministry, prayed to God the Father, and this prompted an Angel to come down from Heaven to strengthen Him (Luke 22:41-43).
When we talk about ‘the power of prayer,’ it is not that there is power in the prayer itself that was offered to God. No! The power of prayer as revealed in the scripture is the power of God working in response to a wholehearted dependence and commitment in prayer to God.
As Christians, our power and strength is in the Lord and not in our success, net worth statement, or savings. Money may one day grow wings and fly, friends may get tired of you and leave you, families may let you down, jobs may be lost, but ALL of the Lord remains forever. Although our rivers may be running dry, God oceans are not. Although our star may be hiding from view, the Bright Morning Star shines brighter.
When we give up the illusion of safety for the promise of security, we can be assured in Christ alone that we have Possession that is unfading; Promise that is unfailing; Power that cannot be defeated; and a Provider who is limitless. God’s security and strength abides forever, God’s stability is immovable, God’s comfort is not seasonal, God’s power in unconquerable, God’s love is unaffected, God’s compassion is inexhaustible, God’s shield is imperishable, God’s peace is unexplainable.
Nevertheless, God never promised us a smooth sailing in the sea of life. On the journey to Heaven, we were never promised row row row your boat gently down the stream. God did NOT promise us that we will never ever have problems, trials, difficulties, illnesses, sickness and diseases in this life. But He PROMISED to be with us in the midst of it all until He calls us home. He never promised an easy ride, but He promised a safe arrival.
God never saved Daniel out of the den of the Lions, but he went in there ahead of him and zipped the mouth of those lions. God never kept Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the fiery furnace, but he went in there and walked with them and turned the fiery furnace into a beautiful garden. God did not promise us days without pain, laughter without sorrow, Nor sun without rain. But HE did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way.
Prayer is NOT submitting your wish list to God but it is for reporting for duty in total surrender. Prayer is more than just a petition but also is an intercession on behalf of others. Prayer is submission, confession, praise, and thanksgiving. You will start to understand your own motives in prayer if God answers your prayer specifically, then you had to give up that very thing He granted you when He answered your prayer. To pray rightly is to pray for God to manifest and magnify His Glory and Power in our lives. If you should forget everything in this post, please remember this above all else:
“God is no man’s debtor”
It may take a whole lot longer than you or I want it, but God always keeps his promises. God does everything he does in our life by appointment. We ought to remember that an appointment is a meeting already set up. God is never one second late or one second early because he always works by appointment. God will bring to pass all the promises that he made to you because he works by appointment.
The question we should ask of ourselves is this – Do I meet the condition for the promise? Do I persevere in prayer? Or do I quit too soon? The Apostles tells us in the scripture (Romans 8:32) that, “He who did not spare his own Son (Jesus) but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” If there is anything we should be praying for, it is “Wisdom”, not worldly wisdom but “Godly wisdom”. Godly wisdom will help us see things from His perspective and we should seek His wisdom in everything, every decision and at every moment.
As Christians, we are assured that the very same power that raised Christ from the grave lives in us, yet we can’t even rise up from our beds early in the morning to set aside much time in prayer before facing the day. Awake O you sleepers! We should learn to model Christ Jesus who got up very early in the morning, while it was still dark, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed (Mark 1:35).
In Christ Alone 