Look Up!Sample

Day 1: When You Pray

The eyes, they say, are the windows to the soul. Where we fix our eyes mostly determines the direction of the flow of our lives. Where we fix our eyes also reflects the state of our heart and influences [determines, impacts] our posture both physically and spiritually. The posture we take in prayer is an outward reflection of an inward position, a heart position. When our eyes and heart are on God, it shows in our posture. The entire John 17 is the longest and most personal prayer that Jesus prayed; it reveals a lot about Jesus’s heart, His focus and His posture in prayer. 

John 17:1(NLT) “After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.”

In the opening verse of this entire passage, the Bible is deliberate about pointing out to us Jesus's posture. It is a posture that we often see Jesus take when He prays or is in conversation with The Father. It is a posture that suggests that Jesus was looking in the direction of the person He was communicating with. Every time Jesus prayed, He looked up to heaven. What does this mean? There is a saying that, "talk is in the face," meaning a huge part of conversation happens just by looking into someone’s face. Imagine having a heart to heart with someone and all through your conversation, the person has his or her face buried in a newspaper or fixed on the television. How would that make you feel? That posture suggests that you are not that person’s priority at that time. When you turn your face [your attention, your focus] to someone in conversation and they do the same, it shows priority. Naturally, you feel valued, and the relationship is strengthened. 

God wants us to emulate Jesus’s posture in prayer. What was Jesus’s posture? The Bible says Jesus looked up. Jesus faces God when He prays. When you pray, you have to face God. Jesus looked up; this suggests that His heart was turned towards heaven, but it also shows that even His physical posture mirrored the state of His inward posture. The posture of your heart is very important in prayer. This does not necessarily mean you should always physically look up when you pray. However, your heart should be looking up to God always.

Isaiah 49:16 (KJV) “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” This scripture reveals that God’s face is turned toward us, waiting to engage with us face to face. We must be deliberate about turning our attention to God in conversation, in prayer. When Jesus prayed, He looked up and faced God. When you pray, look up to God and face Him. 

Hymn: My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior Divine; Now hear me while I pray; Take all my guilt away; Oh, let me from this day Be wholly Thine.