Have you ever thought about the way our bodies were formed and shaped? Why our hands have five fingers and our feet have five toes? Have you ever wondered why our arms extend from our bodies and our legs extend from our torso? Why we have two eyes facing forward and two ears on the side of our head? How about the reason why we have to turn our neck in order to position our eyes to see things not in front of face?
I could tell you that we were given opposable thumbs in order to better grip and handle objects; that we are bipedal in order for efficient movement; or that our toes are for balance and our fingers are for more dexterity. Yes there is scientific explanation for all of that, but out of it all, that’s not why we were created the way we are. We were created by a Father, our Creator, who loves us enough to mold and shape us to be in His image. We were created to praise and have a relationship with our Creator. I am going to focus on prayer and the three important body parts in prayer: our heads, our hands, our legs.
Have you ever paid attention to the way you pray? Let’s start with our heads. I could sit here and tell you that the top two cervical vertebrae are called the atlas and the axis. The atlas, the first vertebrae, helps you to nod up and down. The axis lies beneath that and allows you to turn your head left and right. Think about it!
God created these they way they are for a significant reason. We usually look up in praise or bow our heads in prayer. I have never seen anyone look to the left or right when praying. God calls us to always keep our eyes focused on Him in our daily walk and relationship with Him, which is why He has the atlas first and the axis second. However, many times we tend to stray away from the path to God, and for this we blame the second best vertebrae, the axis. This is why it is second best to the atlas.
The atlas, also made to carry the weight of your head, was created by God to be the first and most important vertebrae so that we can either look to Him when we praise Him on the Throne or when we bow our heads t o pray. The atlas bears all the weight of the head because God bears all of our problems and burdens. God is the Head (our head) and Jesus follows. Let Jesus (the atlas) be the lifter of your head!
Moving on, typically, our hands are put together so that every finger is against its counterpart and are held at our face. All pictures and graphics show this, but have you ever really taken the time to notice how your hands lay on your face? The hands, when in “prayer position” fit ever so perfect around the nose and the mouth with the pointer finger resting against the cheek bones and nose while the thumbs just seem to rest right under the chin. (Most of you have probably already done this by now just to see).
The hand also has the most bones (27) comprising bone structure. Looking at numbers in the Bible, the number 2 represents a covenant or truth of God’s Word while the number 7 means perfection and completeness. There were 2 major covenants in the Bible: The Old and New Testament. When we pray, we should be praying God’s word and our hands remind us that we have an old covenant (left hand) and a new covenant (right hand).
But let’s also look at them together. When both hands are put together in prayer and used for worship, we are using 44 bones and 10 digits (fingers). The number 10 is also symbolic of divine order and completeness (10 Commandments, 10 “I am’s” of Jesus).The number 4 in the Bible denotes things of the earth (more importantly things God has created; the fourth day of creation was finished (minus the inhabitants)). How can you not see that God created you and me to worship Him?
Lastly, I could sit and tell you that the femur is the strongest and longest bone in the body because it carries all of our weight. I could also tell you that the Sartorius muscle, one that reaches from outside of the hip and goes to the inside knee is the longest muscle in the body and lays overtop of the femur, allows us to bend our knees. When you typically see someone praying, they are on their knees. God created it that way so that the strongest bone in the body would succumb to the longest muscle so we could humbly, and with humility, seek Him when we pray.
Please go and read 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. It talks about having one body but different parts. All parts were created to have a different function, but to be unified in praising the Lord.
“But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be…Now YOU (my emphasis) are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” ~1 Corinthians 12:18;27)
Have you ever thought about the way our bodies were formed and shaped? Why our hands have five fingers and our feet have five toes? Have you ever wondered why our arms extend from our bodies and our legs extend from our torso? Why we have two eyes facing forward and two ears on the side of our head? How about the reason why we have to turn our neck in order to position our eyes to see things not in front of face?
I could tell you that we were given opposable thumbs in order to better grip and handle objects; that we are bipedal in order for efficient movement; or that our toes are for balance and our fingers are for more dexterity. Yes there is scientific explanation for all of that, but out of it all, that’s not why we were created the way we are. We were created by a Father, our Creator, who loves us enough to mold and shape us to be in His image. We were created to praise and have a relationship with our Creator. I am going to focus on prayer and the three important body parts in prayer: our heads, our hands, our legs.
Have you ever paid attention to the way you pray? Let’s start with our heads. I could sit here and tell you that the top two cervical vertebrae are called the atlas and the axis. The atlas, the first vertebrae, helps you to nod up and down. The axis lies beneath that and allows you to turn your head left and right. Think about it!
God created these they way they are for a significant reason. We usually look up in praise or bow our heads in prayer. I have never seen anyone look to the left or right when praying. God calls us to always keep our eyes focused on Him in our daily walk and relationship with Him, which is why He has the atlas first and the axis second. However, many times we tend to stray away from the path to God, and for this we blame the second best vertebrae, the axis. This is why it is second best to the atlas.
The atlas, also made to carry the weight of your head, was created by God to be the first and most important vertebrae so that we can either look to Him when we praise Him on the Throne or when we bow our heads t o pray. The atlas bears all the weight of the head because God bears all of our problems and burdens. God is the Head (our head) and Jesus follows. Let Jesus (the atlas) be the lifter of your head!
Moving on, typically, our hands are put together so that every finger is against its counterpart and are held at our face. All pictures and graphics show this, but have you ever really taken the time to notice how your hands lay on your face? The hands, when in “prayer position” fit ever so perfect around the nose and the mouth with the pointer finger resting against the cheek bones and nose while the thumbs just seem to rest right under the chin. (Most of you have probably already done this by now just to see).
The hand also has the most bones (27) comprising bone structure. Looking at numbers in the Bible, the number 2 represents a covenant or truth of God’s Word while the number 7 means perfection and completeness. There were 2 major covenants in the Bible: The Old and New Testament. When we pray, we should be praying God’s word and our hands remind us that we have an old covenant (left hand) and a new covenant (right hand).
But let’s also look at them together. When both hands are put together in prayer and used for worship, we are using 44 bones and 10 digits (fingers). The number 10 is also symbolic of divine order and completeness (10 Commandments, 10 “I am’s” of Jesus).The number 4 in the Bible denotes things of the earth (more importantly things God has created; the fourth day of creation was finished (minus the inhabitants)). How can you not see that God created you and me to worship Him?
Lastly, I could sit and tell you that the femur is the strongest and longest bone in the body because it carries all of our weight. I could also tell you that the Sartorius muscle, one that reaches from outside of the hip and goes to the inside knee is the longest muscle in the body and lays overtop of the femur, allows us to bend our knees. When you typically see someone praying, they are on their knees. God created it that way so that the strongest bone in the body would succumb to the longest muscle so we could humbly, and with humility, seek Him when we pray.
Please go and read 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. It talks about having one body but different parts. All parts were created to have a different function, but to be unified in praising the Lord.
“But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be…Now YOU (my emphasis) are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” ~1 Corinthians 12:18;27)
God is the Artist and we are His painting
God is the Potter and we are His clay
God is the Architect and we are HIs house
God is the Writer and we are His song
God is the Director and we are His movie
God is the Teacher and we are the lesson
God is the Student and we are His project
God is the Mechanic and we are His car
God is the Gardner and we are His fruit
God is the Sheppard and we are His sheep
God is the Father and we are His children!
Until next time!
~ Not for my glory but for His. Not for the kingdom of this world, but for God’s Kingdom in Heaven. God be with you now and forever! ~
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