"For this reason I kneel before the Father..."

Reading Ephesians 1:14-21

Spiritual ergonomics. The best posture for a healthy spiritual life is the posture of submission and surrender before God. The word that is used for kneel here is a word that means 'to bend.' It speaks of flexibility as opposed to the 'stiff neck.' Kneeling before God is a recognition of who is really in control in this world. All thought of demand is laid aside. It is not that Paul thinks of God as the cruel task master who must be appeased. Quite the contrary he prays that the Ephesians would come to know the unbelievable dimensions of the love of God. The bending of the knee in this prayer brings together the twin facts that the most loving being that anyone could contemplate is nothing less than the God of the universe. In kneeling we accept that only our loving and powerful God knows whether a greater good is achieved by granting or by denying or be delaying our request.