We have been sharing how in the Scriptures “fervent” love means “to extend the hand, to reach out, to be intense.” We have been discussing about reaching out our hands in love to others, but God also wants us to reach out our hands to love Him in worship and prayer.
Somehow, it is inherent that we want to reach out our hands to God when worshipping Him. It is the response of our grateful and worshipping hearts. Look at the trees. Even their branches stretch upwards in worship to God.
We inherently lift our hands when crying out to God in prayer. It’s a reaching out to the heart of God. In fact, we are commanded in 1 Timothy 2:8 to “Lift up holy hands” in prayer.”
David cried to God in Psalm 28:2 (NLT): “Listen to my prayer for mercy as I cry out to you for help, as I LIFT UP MY HANDS toward your holy sanctuary.” Again he cried out in Psalm 143:6: “I STRETCH FORTH my hands unto thee” and in many other Scriptures.
I find I do this automatically, but I feel committed to specifically do it when praying for President Trump. The Holy Spirit put this on my heart when he became president. I remembered the story in Exodus 17:8-16 where the Israelites were battling against the Amalekites. Whenever Moses held up his hands to the Lord, Israel prevailed!
But it’s hard to keep your hands up for very long and when Moses let them down the Amalekites prevailed against the Israelites. So his brothers, Aaron and Hur, came and held up his hands and the children of Israel defeated their enemies.
President Trump has enemies all around him and fights a huge battle every day. There’s something about doing something tangible and as I raise by hands in prayer for him, symbolically, I feel as though I am holding him up. I think he needs all of us believers holding him up in prayer, don’t you?
There’s another great concern in our nation for which we should lift up our hands in prayer. It’s for the young children of our nation. If we are truly burdened, we’ll lift up our hands in desperation to God as we cry out against the evils of abortion and child trafficking. These two evils are destroying thousands of precious lives. How can we mumble a little prayer about these issues? We must lift up our hands to God. We need to cry out.
Lamentations 2:19 (NKJV) says: “Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him for the life of your young children.”
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
More Scriptures:
Lifting up our hands to God inn worship and prayer:
1 Kings 8:22, 23; 38, 39, 54, 55 (2 Chronicles 6:12, 13, 29, 30); Ezra 9:5, 6; Job 11:13-15; Psalm 28:2; 63:4; 88:9; 134:2; 141:2; 143:6; Lamentations 2:19; and 3:40, 41.
Lifting up our hands to honor God’s Word:
Nehemiah 8:5, 6 and Psalm 119:48.
Lifting up our hands to commit to an action:
Genesis 14:22-24.
P.S. I have discovered 50 prayers in the Bible where David prayed against his enemies. Because they are biblical prayers, I like to use them, and speak them out as I pray for President Trump. If you would like to receive a copy of these prayers, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..