My husband and I stay pretty busy as parents. After all, we have four children: one just became a legal adult and then we have three under the age of 9. Yes, we stay quite busy. While our eldest hasn’t requested being tucked in or a bedtime story in years, our services are still required with the younger kiddos. Believe it or not, my husband is the story teller between the two of us. He’s our own J. K. Rowlings with the bedtime stories. Maybe someday I’ll purpose to type out his stories of adventure that leave sparks of wonder in the minds of young and old alike – seriously, even my father-in-law wants the latest update for the ongoing tale.
My hubby and I take turns, alternating every other night, with putting the kiddos to bed. He tells stories and I read books – both of us pray. We don’t kneel down beside the bed and fold our hands. Ninety percent of the time we don’t even close our eyes. But we pray. I wasn’t always so “informal” in my prayers. I wasn’t always comfortable or relaxed when talking with my Father. While prayer is not a game, it’s also, in my opinion, no longer meant to be a formal affair of prostrating mixed with begging, pleading, and a sense of uncertainty.
The concept of kneeling to pray is all about approaching God with a submissive attitude – “…Not my will, but Yours be done…” Many even use the words, “…God, if it’s Your will…” I touched on knowing what God’s will is in my last post, Prayer Matters, but let’s take a brief look at what that is.
God’s will for my life is not about what my career is, but about my boldness in proclaiming God’s goodness to any and all who will listen (and some who don’t really care to). God’s will is that all come to know and believe in Him (I Timothy 2:4, II Peter 3:9). God’s will for us (as believers) is to spread the good news of our ransom being paid; He gave us specific skillsets to help accomplish it. It doesn’t matter what your profession or day job is; you can still be part of accomplishing God’s will. Choosing to not join in with the office gossip, doing your job with a cheerful heart and expression, walking in integrity, keeping your word, and expressing an attitude of gratitude all go a long way in shining God’s light in a dark world.
So if God’s will for us isn’t tied up in a specific profession but rather sharing the good news, let’s look back at the submissive attitude and what that’s all about.
My hubby and I have gotten very excited in growing together spiritually; discovering new layers of God’s grace and love that’s aimed directly at us. It’s been challenging only in that we’ve had to relearn how to view God. There are some who say that we’re saved by grace through faith but we have to obey the rules to keep our salvation. Nope! We’re saved by grace and kept by grace. I grew up believing that I was saved by grace through faith but I better not step out of line – if I did then I was “a backslider” or “fallen from grace” and the like. It’s a very poor comparison, but I’ll still ask: Do I love my kids all the time or do I stop loving them when they do something wrong?
I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on the difference between the Old Testament God and the New Testament God. If there’s a difference, that means that God changed, but scripture says that God never changes (Hebrews 13:8, Numbers 23:19). God never changes. It’s scriptural and is not contradicted by scripture. There is, however, one thing – one very important thing – that changed: His covenant between us.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
Several chapters later, we get to discover more of this “new thing.”
“‘…So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” Isaiah 54:9-10 (NIV)
Before this covenant of peace, God’s heart was still for mercy! We see time after time when God stayed His hand (Exodus 32:14, II Samuel 24:16, Jonah 3:10). God never changed and never will! His desire from the beginning is now a promise to usher us into eternity – that’s GOOD NEWS!
When we understand God’s heart, when our position is established on what He’s done and not on our own efforts, our prayers should come from a firmly established position as well. A position of trusting that God is faithful to do what He has promised to do.
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
I can already imagine that some who read this will deduce that I’m arrogant, prideful, or presumptuous. Arrogance, pride, and presumption would be my characteristics if I boasted of obtaining righteousness on my own. “Look at what I did for you, God… I’m worthy because I did all of these great things… I’m feasting at Your table because I worked hard in earning my place…” Rather, I’m boasting in what Jesus obtained for, and lavished upon, me.
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized in Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise… So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” Galatians 3:26-29, 4:7 (NIV)
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” I John 3:1 abridged (NIV)
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” Romans 8:15-17 abridged (NIV)
Kneeling or not kneeling isn’t the issue. It’s about knowing who you are, who you belong to, and what is rightfully yours through the spilled blood of Jesus.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” II Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
When we pray with our kiddos at night, we approach God’s throne with boldness – confidence that we have the freedom to run up to our Abba with laughter as we thank Him for His goodness and love. We thank Him for the day; the laughter in the high points and the lessons learned from the low points. And we rest in the peace found in the identity of being children of God.
What position are you praying from? Are you pleading for something that you’re not certain is God’s will to do?
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.” II Corinthians 1:20 (NIV)
When you take time to discover the promises God has made to you, you’ll start to see a transformation in your attitude towards, and your view of, God. You’ll conduct yourself in the freedom bought for you, you’ll walk in the inheritance promised to you, and boldly run into the arms of your Lord, your Father, your Abba.