The cards are stacked and they're not in your favor,
But you've got an ace up your sleeve,
Get on your knees and fight like a man…
-- Christian rock group Petra
Many a man has been brought to his knees by the prayers of a woman. Salute to the praying moms and grandmoms out there who never quit praying for us wayward fellas. But is prayer a manly sort of thing?
First there’s the posture of prayer, usually on one’s knees – not a battle-ready position, and completely vulnerable. We don’t do “vulnerable” well. But the fact is there is one Being before whom we are ultimately vulnerable. Ask the man who clutches his chest in pain, or the man who awakes gasping for his last breath. We are not masters of our ticking heart. Another One is.
Being knighted, a king’s soldier will fall to one knee. (Prayer on both knees is reserved for private, secure devotions before the Almighty alone.)
Before great battles, though, the toughest among us can be seen dropping their heads in a reverent pause to ask for help. That goes for athletes who don’t want to get injured as they chase a ball, and infantrymen who are charged to occupy land and avoid snipers. There are no atheists in foxholes. Some of us are bold enough to pray for nothing less than victory.
During times of particular stress, I pray and walk. There is a worn circle in my living room carpet where I pace about, wrestling with some issue or another that I can’t seem to figure out on my own. Privately, I can be loud, and gesture wildly, or be stealthily quiet, listening for direction from on High. (I’ve also been known to pray while walking across the length and breadth of a city, sometimes carrying a 9-foot cross. Wanna join me one of these days?)
Prayer is most commonly seen around the dinner table. Those who honor God will close often their eyes as they say “thanks for the food.” Sometimes this even happens in restaurants. It’s a pleasure to watch believers interrupt the bustle of a public meal to give some respect to the Creator, and ask for a blessing on the food, and upon the people who prepared it, and the people who planted, husbanded and harvested it.
(Is prayer before meals an insurance policy against tainted food? It’s worth considering in an age of Mad Cow Disease, salmonella poisoning, and countless other terrors of the nightly news. Two thousand years ago the Nazarene promised his followers, “if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.”)
In professional ministry settings, prayer precedes most meetings. Sometimes it is heartfelt. Sometimes it is routine.
On this National Day of Prayer, many prayers will be public. Jesus warned about public prayers, just before he taught “The Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter six.
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”
That does not disqualify all public prayers, just the ones that are offered for “show.” Political prayers, designed to influence policy or people are misdirected as well. The only, singular Audience for genuine prayer is You-Know-Who. So in the context of public prayer, say whatever you want, but know that the One who is listening already knows you very well. The only question is, are you willing to acknowledge before Him that you see what He sees, and you’re willing to see some changes in YOURSELF.
In short, the most effective prayers are confessional. Do you really want to do that in public?
There is also a school of thought that says you can identify with others and pray with them. This is called Identificational Repentance. John Dawson’s book Healing America’s Wounds has much more to say on that. That’s like taking the blame even though you didn’t do it – although you agreed with the deed, or you may have benefited from the outcome of the misdeed. (Remember the Christian doctrine: “If you did it in your heart (lust, murder), you did it.”)
See the article by Dr. Gary Greig, posted at the International Reconciliation Coalition.
Because I have led many prayer walks (guys like moving while they pray) and I’ve been to many men’s prayer meetings, I am have seen first-hand that men can indeed experience vigorous prayer. Men can, at the same time, be both humble and bold. Guys can pray with compassion, and sometimes tears. They can shake the walls with the volume of their declarations.
But you’ve got to get to know the One to whom you pray. That’s what the Father wants, some quality time with his boys.
Happy National Day of Prayer.
LINKS
Cao’s blog on the prayers of a knight
Many a man has been brought to his knees by the prayers of a woman. Salute to the praying moms and grandmoms out there who never quit praying for us wayward fellas. But is prayer a manly sort of thing?
First there’s the posture of prayer, usually on one’s knees – not a battle-ready position, and completely vulnerable. We don’t do “vulnerable” well. But the fact is there is one Being before whom we are ultimately vulnerable. Ask the man who clutches his chest in pain, or the man who awakes gasping for his last breath. We are not masters of our ticking heart. Another One is.
Being knighted, a king’s soldier will fall to one knee. (Prayer on both knees is reserved for private, secure devotions before the Almighty alone.)
Before great battles, though, the toughest among us can be seen dropping their heads in a reverent pause to ask for help. That goes for athletes who don’t want to get injured as they chase a ball, and infantrymen who are charged to occupy land and avoid snipers. There are no atheists in foxholes. Some of us are bold enough to pray for nothing less than victory.
During times of particular stress, I pray and walk. There is a worn circle in my living room carpet where I pace about, wrestling with some issue or another that I can’t seem to figure out on my own. Privately, I can be loud, and gesture wildly, or be stealthily quiet, listening for direction from on High. (I’ve also been known to pray while walking across the length and breadth of a city, sometimes carrying a 9-foot cross. Wanna join me one of these days?)
Prayer is most commonly seen around the dinner table. Those who honor God will close often their eyes as they say “thanks for the food.” Sometimes this even happens in restaurants. It’s a pleasure to watch believers interrupt the bustle of a public meal to give some respect to the Creator, and ask for a blessing on the food, and upon the people who prepared it, and the people who planted, husbanded and harvested it.
(Is prayer before meals an insurance policy against tainted food? It’s worth considering in an age of Mad Cow Disease, salmonella poisoning, and countless other terrors of the nightly news. Two thousand years ago the Nazarene promised his followers, “if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.”)
In professional ministry settings, prayer precedes most meetings. Sometimes it is heartfelt. Sometimes it is routine.
On this National Day of Prayer, many prayers will be public. Jesus warned about public prayers, just before he taught “The Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter six.
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”
That does not disqualify all public prayers, just the ones that are offered for “show.” Political prayers, designed to influence policy or people are misdirected as well. The only, singular Audience for genuine prayer is You-Know-Who. So in the context of public prayer, say whatever you want, but know that the One who is listening already knows you very well. The only question is, are you willing to acknowledge before Him that you see what He sees, and you’re willing to see some changes in YOURSELF.
In short, the most effective prayers are confessional. Do you really want to do that in public?
There is also a school of thought that says you can identify with others and pray with them. This is called Identificational Repentance. John Dawson’s book Healing America’s Wounds has much more to say on that. That’s like taking the blame even though you didn’t do it – although you agreed with the deed, or you may have benefited from the outcome of the misdeed. (Remember the Christian doctrine: “If you did it in your heart (lust, murder), you did it.”)
See the article by Dr. Gary Greig, posted at the International Reconciliation Coalition.
Because I have led many prayer walks (guys like moving while they pray) and I’ve been to many men’s prayer meetings, I am have seen first-hand that men can indeed experience vigorous prayer. Men can, at the same time, be both humble and bold. Guys can pray with compassion, and sometimes tears. They can shake the walls with the volume of their declarations.
But you’ve got to get to know the One to whom you pray. That’s what the Father wants, some quality time with his boys.
Happy National Day of Prayer.
LINKS
Cao’s blog on the prayers of a knight
(artwork: "The Vigil," John Pettie, 1884)
