Prayer is a privilege and honour God gives to man, through which we admit and acknowledge that there is Someone more perfect and greater than us, and we need His help. Prayer is different from praise. How do we approach God in prayer?

The different prayer postures mentioned in the Bible and their significance are:

-- kneeling (Elijah, 1King18): humility, broken and contrite heart and spirit

-- prostrated (Abraham, Gen17): unworthiness

-- standing (in Ephesians): readiness for service or battle

-- standing with hands lifted up: praise and thanksgiving

-- seated: signified the finished work of Christ

-- bowing with kneeling: (Apostle Paul, Eph 3:14): reverence and worship

Today, the sense of reverence and worship is lost. Some think they do not need God, they forget who God is and who man is, and show contempt for God. We must realise that we cannot do anything of spiritual value without God’s help (John 15). We are only sinners saved by grace.

We pray only to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, not to any other gods. Lucifer, the archangel created by God, wanted to be worshipped and was banished to earth and has since invented false worship to lead many astray. We approach God only through Jesus Christ. Based on what Christ has done for us on the cross (i.e. based only on Christ’s merits), we thus can pray. Only when we pray to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, through Christ, will God answer our prayers. The more we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more we will know how to pray. Pray to the Father without ceasing, He is our help in all matters.

The saints in heaven and on earth are in the same family of Christ. When we spend time together (serving, having fellowship, etc), we will know one another better. We will learn to forbear and pray for one another. The more we pray one for other, the less Satan will be able to cause a wedge to come between us and destroy our testimony.

Hence, we must pray with the right attitude in the right posture, to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ through Christ’s name, and for the right family.