Knowing God - Philippians 2:9-11, Ephesians 3:14

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Your Name is ALMIGHTY

My Lord and Creator, as I start this day, buckle my knees

and help me start today by bowing before you!

Begin your prayers by literally getting down on your knees and bowing your heart in reverence and awe.

 

at the name of Jesus every knee should bend

Philippians 2:9-11

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

Ephesians 3:14

 

I'm stubborn.

 

The Bible talks again and again about using our bodies to pray to God. Sometimes people raise their hands in joyful praise. Sometimes they fall prostrate in humbleness and awe. More commonly their knees bend -- bowing, kneeling, praying.

 

But me? I'm stubborn. And intellectual. Technically, I know that I can pray with my mind ... so why bow?

 

Excuses, excuses. For the next 26 days, I'll be on my knees. Not because I have to, but because I want to. If I want to grow more (and believe me, these 26 days are as much for me as they are for you), then I have to submit myself to God's design rather than my pride.

 

The broader text of both of these passages reminds me of why I ought to bow. In Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul says, "8 Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is [remember, he persecuted and killed the first Christians] I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. ... 12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome.14 [And] when I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father."

 

If Paul's that humble, maybe I should be too. And if that doesn't get me no my knees, then maybe the other passage should. Paul starts with, "Let the same mind be in you as in Christ Jesus." Remember Jesus praying? If he was on his knees, why am I so proud and stubborn.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who wants to

wear out a pair of pants

this month 

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I have trouble praying. Much less on my knees.  Or out loud.  Guess that is a discipline I need to start.