Physical knees and prayer, prayer and spiritual knees are closely intertwined. Prayer becomes more focused when we bend our physical knees and spiritual knees become stronger when we pray.
In Acts 9, when Tabitha died, the disciples sent for Peter. When Peter arrived, he sent all the mourners out of the room, “then he got down on his knees and prayed.” When Peter dropped to his knees and prayed a miracle happened, Tabitha was raised from the dead and presented alive back to the disciples.
Would God have heard Peter’s prayer had he been standing instead of kneeling? Yes. Did kneeling make the prayer more valuable? Probably not. Did kneeling cause the miracle? No.
Kneeling doesn’t score brownie points with God, doesn’t make our prayers more valuable or cause miracles. Kneeling is not for God’s benefit; it’s for ours. All through Scripture, we are exhorted about physical postures in conjunction with spiritual acts.
Praise and worship are heart actions, but we are told that there are also outward manifestations, outward physical acts that accompany our praise and worship of our God. We are told to shout, sing, raise our hands, dance, stand, and kneel. These outward postures reflect, enhance, and focus the inward desires and delights of our hearts.
When we kneel to pray, our body bows alongside our hearts before our Savior and Lord. Our posture reflects our surrender to God’s will in our lives, His Lordship over us. Kneeling strengthens our prayer attitude, and prayer strengthens our spiritual knees. This reciprocal action makes us better able to face this walk of faith with courage and peace.
As our Blessed Savior neared the end of his life, the cross looming large in front of Him, He went to the Mount of Olives, taking His disciples with Him. “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, taken this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” [Luke 22:39-43]
Jesus faced the greatest challenge of His life, the cross, with prayer, falling to His knees in the garden. When we face our greatest challenges, the crosses that come our way in this walk of faith, we would do well to follow His example, on our knees, and with a “not my will but yours be done” on our lips.
