My mother, without fail until about a month before she went to be with the Lord, always told me at the dinner table, "Anak (my child), please, sit up straight." She was always concerned with her children's good manners and right posture!
Today is our church's Day of Prayer. A 4-hour-long prayer and praise service is scheduled to take place at 1PM. The event signals a week-long time of prayer and fasting and individuals are encouraged to choose to take part. And in line with this, I couldn't take my mind off the thought of "correct posture" before the Lord.
In CS Lewis's book on prayer, he talks about the paradox of how indifferent posture is and how important posture is when we are in conversation with Hod. And by that I mean, I can pray in any posture- sitting, standing, walking, jogging, in the shower, strolling in the mall, whatever, but just try praying on your knees or your face and see if that doesn't dramatically impact the way you pray and maybe impact others around you!
While posture for me isn't all that important, prayer is. It should always be an important part of a Christian's faithwalk. I just can't imagine a Christian for whom that shouldn't be the case. It is our connection to the One who gives life and all that is. A Christian's is only as strong as his or her prayer life.
Over the last several weeks, I have seen so many things in my ministry, life, relationships, family, etc. that overwhelm me for which I found myself drawn to the floor of my apartment...a rather uncomfortable posture to seek God's face and favor.
When we are faced with issues to address other postures are vying for our attention. In my time spent on the floor, I realized a few things concerning our posture before the Lord.
PRAISE. This should be our primary posture. Psalm 147:12 exhorts the people of God to praise and extol Him. It should be our posture all the time because we were created above everything else to give Him praise. When we extol the Lord- to lift up His name- we arrive at the apex of what it really means to be human- a humble creature of dust before His maker.
HIDE. He is our shield. God IS the iron bars of yours and my gates. He is our Defender when anything and everything that hits you and me in life that’s not good and He gives us His promise, in Scripture, that there is absolutely nothing that can ultimately defeat you and me. Name your poison. Be it disease or economic downturn or marital strife or cancer or even death, there is absolutely nothing, when God is our Defender, that can defeat you and me. He is the iron bars of our gates. He is our Refuge and Strength. And if you and I be in Christ, then He is that Defender that will take us through this year and all of our years for our God is good.1
What better time to do that than on this first Sunday day of Prayer and Fasting Week! Hopefully the light will go on in our heads, if it never has before, that Jesus is the only way to peace with God and with ourselves and with others around us. You know, the paradox of surrendering your life to Christ, the paradox of waving that white flag in front of the cross is that you get the victory and with that victory comes that peace that passes all understanding.
Now, that can be a cliché or a trite phrase. What does that peace really look like? Well, back in 1873, Horatio Spafford lost all 4 of his daughters in a shipwreck and in the wake of that agonizing terror, he penned a hymn, which is a part of worship song line up for Sunday- one of the verses of that hymn to you:
“When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll,Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, ‘It is well with my soul, it is well with my soul.’”
Spafford knew that peace that passeth all understanding. He was on the right road. He had surrendered his life to Christ.
Well finally, we’re told at the end of verse 14 of Psal 147 that God satisfies the people of Jerusalem and He does that for you and me. Are you satisfied with way 2008 went? Are you satisfied with 2009 so far? Are you satisfied with your life? Yourself? What ultimately does satisfy you and me?
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1 R Scates HPPCDallas 010408
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