Hot, Holy & Humorous

What Posture Do You Use When You Pray?

When I go looking for photos to go along with my blog posts on prayer, I see lot of different positions people strike to approach their Heavenly Father. Let me show you a sampling:

Woman praying in church sanctuary
Kneeling, Hands Folded
Woman's hands on Bible folded in prayer
Hands Folded on Bible
Person on knees praying at sunrise with hands lifted to Heaven
Kneeling with Hands Raised
A group of young women bow their heads and pray while holding hands
Holding Hands with Others

Indeed, there are many different postures you can take. And I’ve come to believe our posture can help us focus on the act of praying.

Growing up, I was taught you had to close your eyes during prayer. As an adult, I looked back and understood the goal was to shut out distractions so that you could concentrate on God. But honestly, keeping my eyes closed tended to be even more distracting. It was seriously freeing when I realized that I didn’t have to close my eyes to prayer. I could choose my prayer posture.

You can choose your prayer posture. Click To Tweet

I scanned the 165 verses in the New Testament in which the word “pray” appears, and kneeling appears to be the most common posture (Luke 22:41, Acts 9:40, Acts 20:36, Acts 21:5, Ephesians 3:14-16). But we also have examples of lifting hands in prayer (1 Timothy 2:8), placing hands on someone to pray for them (Matthew 19:13), and falling face-down on the ground (Mark 14:35, Matthew 26:39). That’s nine verses, leaving a whopping 156 New Testament verses that just talk about praying with no specific posture.

Maybe the underlying message is get into a posture that makes you aware of your relationship to your Father and/or the person you’re praying with/for and then just talk to God. What’s most important is that you pray.

I’ve been experimenting with prayer postures to see what works. Sometimes it depends on what I’m praying about or the time of day or my environment. For instance, I love praying outside, especially on a star-filled night. Looking up to the Heavens and seeing the bright lights of faraway constellations always reminds me how big my God is, while still making me feel that He cares about little ol’ me.

But I started to wonder about when we pray as a couple. What postures are good for couples to take when going to God about their marriage and/or sexual intimacy?

We can:

  • bow our heads together
  • hold hands
  • link arms
  • embrace one another fully
  • kneel together
  • raise our hands toward Heaven
  • lie prostrate next one another

And really anything else you can come up with. It’s a good idea to try different prayer postures to see what works for you as a couple. What helps you both focus on God and feel connected to one another as you pray?

Try different prayer postures to see what works for you as a couple. Click To Tweet

Once during an interview, I received an excellent question about where and how my husband and I specifically pray together. I ended up admitting that my favorite place to pray with him is in the shower. Yep, that posture is hugging one another under a stream of water, and it feels very focused and intimate to me.

I don’t know where and how you and your spouse best pray together. But think about your prayer posture. The right posture might help you pray together for your marriage and marriage bed.

5 thoughts on “What Posture Do You Use When You Pray?”

  1. I think that’s a sweet thought. I always find it’s more a matter of the posture of my heart while I’m praying then how i am positioned. But sometimes a powerful moment occurs when I take a position of humility when i am not feeling so inclined to pray (but know i need to just to get through to the other side of things). I hope people use this to try new ways to get closer to the Lord.

  2. A favorite of mine is to take a walk and pray outside in the fresh air with some greenery and flowers around me.

  3. First, thanks so much for the alt-text tags on all those pictures, J! this entry wouldn’t have been nearly as clear if those were not described! My prayer posture often depends on who or what I’m praying for/about. My husband and I pray together in all kinds of places. Most commonly sitting beside each other on the couch, either holding hands or with an arm around each other. We’ve prayed kneeling beside our bed together, or sometimes laying in bed in each other’s arms. Very occasionally lying facedown on the floor beside each other. I find the thing about you and your husband praying together in the shower pretty cool.

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