Lifting up holy hands

Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands [lit. palms] in Your name. [Psalm 63:4, NKJV]
כֵּ֣ן אֲבָרֶכְךָ֣ בְחַיָּ֑י בְּ֝שִׁמְךָ אֶשָּׂ֥א כַפָּֽי׃

Hear the voice of my supplications
When I cry to You,
When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary. [Psalm 28:2, NKJV]
שְׁמַ֤ע ק֣וֹל תַּ֭חֲנוּנַי בְּשַׁוְּעִ֣י אֵלֶ֑יךָ בְּנָשְׂאִ֥י יָ֝דַ֗י אֶל־דְּבִ֥יר קָדְשֶֽׁךָ׃

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

Βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ.

What happens when we lift our hands to the Lord? For myself, I find myself crying ‘Father..’, and beginning to pray. What happens if one also kneels down, as King Solomon did before all Israel in supplication:

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1 Timothy 2.8: what are we to pray for, first of all?

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; [1 Timothy 2:8, ESV]

Βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ. [Nestle-Aland 28th ed.]

In 1 Timothy 2 verse 8, Paul instructs the men of Ephesus to pray, but he does not tell them what to pray for. The little Greek word οὖν, however, gives us the clue we need. In classical Greek, it was a particle of ‘retrospective reference’, which is to say that it recalled attention to something which has been said previously. By New Testament times, it could signify inference from what had been said previously, but it was also used to indicate continuation, or the resumption of the main theme.

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1 Timothy 2.8: the call to men to pray

Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. [1 Timothy 2:8, NASB]

Βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ. [Nestle-Aland 28th ed.]

Paul calls the Christian men of Ephesus to prayer. The Greek word ἄνδρας used in this verse is the accusative plural of ἀνήρ, ἀνδρός, whose primary meaning according to BDAG (the leading New Testament Greek lexicon) is ‘an adult human male’, that is, ‘a man’ or ‘a husband’:

In verse 1, where Paul urged prayer to be made for all people:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [ESV]

Παρακαλῶ οὖν πρῶτον πάντων ποιεῖσθαι δεήσεις προσευχὰς ἐντεύξεις εὐχαριστίας ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων,

the ‘people’ is standing for ἀνθρώπων, the genitive plural of ἄνθρωπος, whose primary meaning is given by BDAG as ‘a person of either sex’, that is, ‘a human being’:

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A wake-up call

Originally posted in 2011. By Andrew Chapman and Mark Huckstep.

The recent outbreak of rioting and lawlessness in our cities must serve as a call to pray for them and for the nation as we are exhorted to in the scriptures. Let the men now lift up holy hands before the Lord and pray for all people, and especially those in authority. We must pray especially for the young people who are running riot, for their salvation and for the raising up of evangelists among them as a means to that end. The situation is fraught with danger, as racial enmities are stirred up, and because of the peril of resort to arms in the gangs of troublemakers.

Meanwhile, as we gather to pray and to seek the Lord for His directions and strategy for prayer and evangelism, we are not dismayed but trust in the Lord with all our hearts. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to preach the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ to the poor and oppressed, and we have in Him all the things we need pertaining to life and godliness, by His divine power and through knowing Him who once called us ourselves out of darkness into His marvellous light. To Him be all the glory and honour and praise, as we gather also to worship Him and thank Him for His great mercy and kindness and longsuffering to this nation, and we believe that there remains a promise of revival and of a great move of the Spirit of God within these shores. Hallellujah!

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Making and repairing prayer nets

Originally posted in July 2011. Author: Tony Cash

There are many good books on prayer, this article does not set out to address the topic of prayer itself, rather to describe the importance of group prayer and prayer networks. Prayer first and foremost is conversation; therefore two or more people are always involved. Conversation should be two way, else the speaker may be talking to himself if at least an acknowledgment is not received. Even when we pray alone as Jesus did, Father, Holy Spirit and often angels are involved in the conversation. In fact as born again believers we are never alone. Jesus promised that we His followers would never be left alone John 14:18, His Spirit would always be with us, even to the very end of the age Matt 28:20. These promises of God can not be broken; so be encouraged by it when things seem to be all against you.

Prayer is all about relationship; it is more than cold communications. Prayer can be considered to be the life blood of our relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Furthermore God has a wonderful vision of all His believers being and acting as parts of a single body, the body of Christ. This vision was given to Paul, he describes it in his letter to the Colossians Col 1:18, Christ is the head of the body and we are the members. In his letter to the Ephesians Paul sees the Jews and the Gentiles united in Him (Christ) as one new man Eph 2:11-3:12. This vision pictures us as interdependent upon each other and all dependent upon Christ our head. If this is a metaphor for the spiritual unity we are intended to enjoy, then our prayer life must include group prayer. Group prayer can have a dynamic that can change nations. In Acts chapter 2 we see that the disciples were all together in one place when they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit; but later in Acts 4:32, 33 we see that the believers were one in heart and mind, and great power was on them. The prayer of agreement avails much. Hebrews encourages us not to stop assembling together. In the book of Acts we read that the believers met together, they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, breaking of bread and to prayer. In Acts 12 we read about the fifth persecution of Peter when he was released by an angel from chains in prison with a guard set over him. He quickly went to the house of Mary where the brethren were gathered to prayer for him. Group prayer can bring about release from prison and indeed any other persecution. When we are together to pray it seems to increase our boldness in prayer. Next when we are together to pray the LORD seems to speak to the whole group through several people. He is often quite economical with both His words and His actions. We are all encouraged to prophesy and to seek the gift of prophecy; however when we are together, those who have a developed prophetic gift can encourage others. I say this because we always need to hear from the LORD. The call to be an intercessor will always include a measure of the prophetic gift. It is important that intercessors join a prayer group where this gift is encouraged and developed.

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Why men’s prayer?

First posted in 2011. Author: Mark Huckstep

Why should men pray together? Especially, why should men group together to pray (at certain set times) only with men? Shouldn’t our prayer meetings reflect our heterogeneous, mixed-gender society and Christian community?

Certainly the Jews and ancient Armenians separate men and women for times of prayer, but should we, Bible-believing Christians have meetings with only one gender represented?

The Bible instructs men to lift up holy hands in prayer – should not this be read as generic ‘people,’ ie ‘men and women’?

The benefit of praying together at certain times as men lies partially in the fact that men are put together differently to women – seeing the world through ‘masculine’ lenses – perhaps less intuitive than women, focusing instead on the structure of a problem, its relationship to other issues, and moving swiftly to proposed solutions. On the spiritual level men are more naturally warriors and can delight in spiritual warfare rather than simply enduring it.

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First things first

Father of glory, we praise you and magnify your holy Name. We dedicate this web-site to you, Father, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we ask you to help us to make it pleasing in your sight, full of love and wisdom and prayers of faith, anointed by your Spirit, and effective in fulfilling the purpose which you have for it. Father, forgive us our sins, strengthen us in our weakness, make us men of valour and humility and godliness. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

The purpose of this web-site is to release a men’s prayer movement, in accordance with the scripture:

Therefore I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands, without wrath or dissension. [1 Timothy 2 v 8 NASV]

(The Greek word for man here is ἀνηρ meaning man specifically, not woman.)

and also with a prophetic word released by Jean Darnall in 1987 (if not before) that the first sign of the great spiritual awakening that is coming to the island of Britain will be a men’s prayer movement:

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