How is your posture in 2017? Consider the Posture of the Soul…Prayer, Supplication, and Petition.

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 Outward posture contributes to so much.  Most women have heard that some of the warning signs of osteoporosis can be found in poor posture.  Did you know that sitting up straight contributes to feeling happier, more confident, and less risk averse? Outward posture primes us for the very next moment.  Poised for action…Positioned for rest…Recoiled to hide…Crouched for a fight? Most of the time it is unconscious, but we have posture 100% of the time-Aware of it or not. Healthy or not. Helpful or not.


As important as body posture is, there also exists a posture on the inside, the posture of the soul.   As unconsciously as outward posture is worn, the posture of the souls is even harder to keep a read on.  

It seems behooving to tune in and make sure you are poised for what you want as we begin this fresh year, as we greet and bless 2017.

Most of us want to be happier, healthier, godlier, more successful at something this year.  What posture is needed to move toward it? 

In what shape do you need your soul to fit these new places you desire?
Consider Paul’s vocabulary in Philippians 4:6-7:  prayer, supplication, and petition…Are they all variations of the same thing?  I have been taught no; they are very different and all essential components to our “peace that passes understanding” and finding that shape that will satisfy our 2017 hopes. 

Philippians 4: 6 In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (ASV)
~  Or  ~
Philippians 4:5b The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God. 7 And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours]. (Amplified Bible)


At first glance, Paul seems to be giving us a list of synonyms. Are prayer, supplication, and petition all variations of the same action? I have been taught by the books of Robert Mulholland, the answer is no.  

Therein is the secret to internal spiritual poster.


Prayer (Proseuche) seems to be “Paul’s term for the deep inner posture of one’s bring toward God in open receptivity and pliable responsiveness….With this term Paul sees to call us not to isolated actions but to a habitual orientation of our being toward God at the deepest level.”  It is a mindset we can pursue and practice.  We don’t take permanent hold of it…it has to be always cultivated as it is against our grain this side of heaven. It is the “prayer without ceasing” Paul calls us to in a different Scripture. When we even just brush it…it turns everything, even the most ordinary, moments, divine because the Presence of the Eternal is sharing it with you.

Supplication (deēsis) speaks to something a little different.  It addresses the insight we have regarding our nature in reference to God.  It asks us to take off our hazy glasses that cloud our awareness. It brings into focus the Throne encamped among the spinning galaxies, the Throne that weaves each fiber of grasshopper wings…and the Throne that exists in the depths of your heart and mind.  We find comfort in our smallness and neediness in orientation to it…Because as Ann Voskamp says:
“A King is coming, and the new Kingdom is stirring. And stirring in you. When the King rules your world, you can cease to rule or worry.  All worry dethrones God. All worry makes you king and God incompetent.  There is a King born in Bethlehem and on the throne.  You can breathe.”
It peels our eyes away from the mundane as we cast our eyes on the reality of this
Throne.  Without this supplication component, the prayer without ceasing mentioned above doesn’t penetrate to our core, where we suffer and need Him the most…because it is infinitely more soothing and satisfying to be offered this privilege of conversinif g and communing with a being of this magnitude:
Isaiah 6The Voice (VOICE)
6 “…, I saw the Lord sitting on a grand throne way up high with a flowing cape that filled the whole temple. 2 Bright flaming creatures waited on Him. Each had six wings: two covering its face, two covering its feet, and two for flying. 3 Like some fiery choir, they would call back and forth continually.
Flaming Creatures: Holy, holy, holy is the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies!
        The earth is filled with His glorious presence!
4 They were so loud that the doorframes shook, and the holy house kept filling with smoke.
5 Isaiah: I am in so much trouble! I’m ruined!
        I’m just a human being—fallible and stammering.
    My lips are encrusted with filth;
        and I live among people just like me.
    But here I am, and I’ve seen with my very own eyes
        none other than the King, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.


Petitions…. “having established the posture of the disciple’s heart toward God in the midst of life’s disruptions, Paul speaks of petitions. These requests, however, are now set within a different frame of reference.  If we have not first entered into the posture of prayer and supplication our requests tend to be narrowly focused on our own agenda and have their center in our self-referenced matrix of life”.  
Requests set before God from this intentional position become what Lisa Bevere inspires me to pray…she calls them, “Scary Prayers”.  (warning label: Lisa’s intense J)

Prayers beyond… “Oh Lord, help me get through the laundry today” and on to “Shake my day from the foundation with a powerful encounter with you and let it push me to my limits as I learn just what I am capable of that I never thought I could do…” that kind of “be careful what you ask for” type of prayer. “Hinds feet on High Places” Kind of prayers.

“The posture of prayer and supplication places us and our situations into the deeper matrix of God’s presence and purpose…and we find that we can release our tenuous control and fragile ordering of life to God”

How to?  Consider Christian mindfulness practices (skills to actively be still and know”), meditation practices, yoga, and spiritual formation….contact me for more information.



I pray that your New Year is full of Prayer, Supplication, and Petition and the posture therein poises you for abundance, enlarging, well-making room for God’s Presence to meet every need and satisfy your heart.
Soul Posture Verses

Mulholland, R. (2016) Invitation to a Journey. Intervarsity Press. Downers Grove, IL.



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