Physical Expression of Prayer Pt. 2

I want to be honest with you—some of the postures we’re going to talk about today didn’t come naturally to me. I was taught how to believe, how to study, how to explain doctrine. But I wasn’t always taught how to respond to God. And when I encountered expressions of prayer that involved tears, kneeling, mourning, or movement, my first instinct was not excitement —it was caution. Yet the more I read Scripture and church history, the more I realized something unsettling: the Bible assumes that when God moves, the body responds. Silence, stillness, tears, dancing, falling—these weren’t outliers. They were normal.

We live in a very “cool” culture. We put a lot of emphasis on what others think of us, or what feels natural to us. Yet, Scripture is clear - and today I’ll pack a lot of Scripture into this messages so that you know I’m not just making stuff up.

“We pray not only with our lips, but with our whole body. Every posture of the body speaks before God.” Tertullian (c. AD 160–220)

“Let us not suppose prayer is accomplished by words alone; the soul prays even when the tongue is silent, and the body bears witness to it.” Origen (c. AD 184–253)

Paul wrote these words:

1 Timothy 2:8 NASB95

8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

Ephesians 3:14 NASB95

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

So, let’s today stretch our comfort zones just a little, let’s explore some unrealized expressions of prayer to our God - in faith that something supernatural is going to take place in our spirit being.

4. Beating The Chest - Repentance

Luke 18:13 NASB95

13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’

The Greek verb used here (τύπτων, typtōn) indicates repeated striking, not a single gesture. This was not symbolic theater; it was the body participating in repentance. The tax collector’s prayer was short, but his posture was loud. Jesus tells us that this man went home justified, not because of the volume of his prayer, but because of the posture of his heart made visible through his body.

This posture also appears at the crucifixion. After Jesus death we read this:

Luke 23:48 NASB95

48 And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts.

Again, this is the language of evident and godly sorrow. When truth finally breaks through deception, the body responds before the mind finds words. The following are Old Testament passages that speak to nations on the verge destruction

Of Nineveh we read:

Nahum 2:7 NASB95

7 It is fixed: She is stripped, she is carried away, And her handmaids are moaning like the sound of doves, Beating on their breasts.

The book of Isaiah, in chapter 32, it speaks of the women of Jerusalem who have lived in complacency, and a condition of spiritual headiness. The prophet is calling them to mourning in anticipation of coming judgement.

Isaiah 32:12–14 NASB95

12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, 13 For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up; Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city. 14 Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;

So often the body of Christ can become passive toward our sins. We receive the grace of God with joy - as we should, yet we forget that Bible repeatedly tells us that we should mourn for our sinful condition. Psalm 30:11 David says “you have turned my mourning into dancing…” The prophet Joel reminds us:

Joel 2:12 NASB95

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning;

What is this, is it condemnation, judgement, shame? It is the sorrow that Paul talked about in 2 Corinthians 7 - sorrow that produces repentance.

2 Corinthians 7:10 NASB95

10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

We run a great risk of becoming spiritual spoiled when we do not mourn over our sins. We become entitled, we take the grace of God for granted. I believe that one the reasons so many deconstruct their faith and backslide is because there has not been true sorrowful repentance.

5. Tears and Groaning

The next expression we come to is the expression of tears and groaning. Again, I believe this to be an expression that much of the church has becomes uncomfortable with. Tears and groaning in Scripture are not signs of weakness or loss of faith—they are evidence that prayer has moved past performance and into reality. Jesus adjures us in Matthew 5:

Matthew 5:4 NASB95

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

This mourning is not general sadness; it is spiritual grief over sin, loss, injustice, and distance from God. It is the emotional expression of a heart aligned with heaven’s values in a broken world.

Hannah mourned over the injustice of her barren womb

1 Samuel 1:10 NASB95

10 She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.

David wept over his sins regularly and declared

Psalm 56:8 NASB95

8 You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?

Jeremiah - the weeping prophet wept over Judah Jeremiah 9:1

Jeremiah 9:1 NASB95

1 Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Jesus wept often -

Over Lazarus

John 11:33 NASB95

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,

Over Jerusalem

Luke 19:41 NASB95

41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it,

Over His Own Death

Luke 22:44 NASB95

44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

The writer of Hebrews references Jesus sorrow

Hebrews 5:7 NASB95

7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

“Tears are the safety-valves of sorrow. But they are also the weapons of prayer.”

Charles Spurgeone

“There is such a thing as travail of soul in prayer, and unless the Church knows it, revival will not come.” Charles Finney

Johnathan Edwards wrote of the 1st Great Awakening

“Many were brought to great distress, and in some instances to anguish of soul… their cries and tears were the effects of a sense of divine things.” - Jonathan Edwards

During the The Cane Ridge Revival (1801) - Entire crowds wept, cried out, and mourned over sin.

Barton W. Stone wrote in his Biography on the Cane Ridge revival

“The bodily agitations or exercises were a very common thing… the tears were abundant, and the cries for mercy were loud.”

McGready wrote: The Presbyterian minister James

“The cries of the distressed were piercing… some fell as if dead, others cried aloud for mercy.”

If the church will not weep over it’s sin, it will fail to experience the High Praises of God.

Psalm 149:6

Psalm 149:6 NASB95

6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand,

The High Praises of God are reached when the people of God understand the gravity of their sins and inexpressible riches of Gods Love and Grace.

6. Dancing Before the Lord

Psalm 149:3–9 NASB95

3 Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre. 4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation. 5 Let the godly ones exult in glory; Let them sing for joy on their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, 7 To execute vengeance on the nations And punishment on the peoples, 8 To bind their kings with chains And their nobles with fetters of iron, 9 To execute on them the judgment written; This is an honor for all His godly ones. Praise the Lord!

Dancing in Scripture is not performance—it is a physical expression of joy, warfare, and surrender. The Hebrew Bible employs eleven different terms to describe activities typically translated as “dance,” suggesting that dancing was deeply ingrained in Israelite culture and worship.

David danced with all his might before the Lord as the Ark returned (2 Samuel 6:14). Worship through movement expresses freedom, humility, and victory (Psalm 149:3; Ecclesiastes 3:4). Dancing replaces mourning with joy and heaviness with praise (Psalm 30:11).

Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vols. I–X—A–Z Dance

Another term thus rendered (

Philo of Alexandria connects bodily movement in worship to alignment with divine order - He said:

“The body follows the soul in its upward movement toward God.” Philo of Alexandria

Martin Luther is known for saying:

“The body must sing, leap, and rejoice where the heart believes.” Martin Luther

Throughout Scripture and church history, dance appears as an embodied response to God’s victory, presence, and restoration. Far from being frivolous, biblical dancing is ordered, God-directed movement. When rightly governed, dance becomes prayer in motion, the body joining the soul in praise and warfare.

7. Prostrate and Kneeling

Both kneeling and prostration are penitent acts of worship and prayer to God. Prostration is the posture of laying on the ground with hands stretched fully out. In the Christian context this is practiced in conjunction with prayer to represent bodily what is happening in our heart spiritually. Author John Kleinig, in his book The Lords Song, notes:

The Lord’s Song: The Basis, Function and Significance of Choral Music in Chronicles The Nature and Significance of Ritual Prostration

As a stock gesture of homage and subservience it not only acknowledged the superior status of another (Gruber 1980: 187–201) but also functioned as an inarticulate expression of gratitude, or as a dramatic act of supplication (Gruber 1980: 98–105).

He goes on to say:

The Lord’s Song: The Basis, Function and Significance of Choral Music in Chronicles The Nature and Significance of Ritual Prostration

By the formality of prostration, a person did not merely express submissiveness but actually submitted to another person, and that in the most dramatic fashion at his disposal, given the natural human aversion to expressions of subservience

Author Derek Prince is noted as saying:

“When you are face down before God, you have reached the lowest place you can go. From there, the only direction God can take you is up.” — Derek Prince, Entering the Presence of God (Fort Lauderdale, FL: Derek Prince Ministries)

Prostration and bowing are not formal acts of prayer and worship that we teach and motivate - but look at this list of passages where prostration alone is mentioned.

Prayer and Petition

Matthew 26:39—Jesus fell on his face and prayed in Gethsemane, expressing his willingness to submit to the Father’s will

Luke 5:12—A leper fell on his face and implored Jesus for healing

Luke 17:16—A Samaritan leper fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks

Numbers 16:22—Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in intercession for the congregation

Divine Encounters and Theophany

Genesis 17:3—Abram fell on his face as God appeared and spoke with him

Ezekiel 1:28—Ezekiel fell on his face upon witnessing the glory of the Lord

Ezekiel 3:23—Ezekiel fell on his face when the glory of the Lord appeared in the plain

Daniel 8:17—Daniel fell on his face in fear when an angel approached him

Daniel 10:9—Daniel fell into deep sleep on his face upon hearing divine words

Matthew 17:6—The disciples fell face down in terror during the Transfiguration

Worship and Adoration

Matthew 2:11—The Magi fell to the ground and worshiped the Christ child

Joshua 5:14—Joshua fell on his face and bowed before the captain of the Lord’s host

1 Kings 18:39—All the people fell on their faces, declaring “The LORD, He is God”

2 Chronicles 20:18—Jehoshaphat and all Judah fell down before the Lord, worshiping

Nehemiah 8:6—The people bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground

1 Chronicles 29:20—The assembly bowed low and did homage to the Lord and the king

Heavenly Worship

Revelation 4:10—The twenty-four elders fall down before the throne and worship

Revelation 5:14—The elders fell down and worshiped

Revelation 7:11—The angels fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God

Revelation 11:16—The twenty-four elders fell on their faces and worshiped God

Revelation 19:4—The twenty-four elders and four living creatures fell down and worshiped, saying “Amen. Hallelujah!”

As the band comes up - I want us to take a moment of time in prayer - in worship with a physical expression, leading our hearts into worship. If you can bow on your knees that would be appropriate.