There is no command to pray in any of these ways. There are some examples we have where eyes were OPEN. At the graveside of Lazarus we read, “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying, and Jesus LIFTED UP HIS EYES and said, ‘Father, I know thou You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me” (John 11:41-42). In the Upper Room with His disciples we read, “Jesus spoke these words, LIFTED UP HIS EYES TO HEAVEN, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You” (John 17:1). It seems clear to me that the words “lifted up His eyes” and “lifted up His eyes to heaven” suggest that He had His eyes OPEN.

Now let’s read about Solomon praying in 1 Kings 8:22-23, “Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of Israel, and SPREAD OUT HIS HANDS TOWARD HEAVEN; and he said, ‘LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.” In this example nothing is said about Solomon’s eyes being closed or open, but we do read about “his hands being spread toward heaven.” I believe the main thought here is Solomon knew he was praying to “God who dwells in heaven.” David prayed, “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens” (Psalm 123:1).

Here is an example of one who didn’t lift up his eyes or hands to heave: “And the tax collector, standing afar off, WOULD NOT SO MUCH AS RAISE HIS EYES TO HEAVEN, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner.” This tax collector was humble and repenting of his sinful condition. Perhaps he knew that many did “lift their eyes to heaven” when praying, but instead he “beat his breast” and prayed in deep humility for God to show him mercy. Another case we can look at is Nehemiah 2:1-5 where we read: And it came to pass…when the wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said unto me, ‘Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.’ So I became dreadfully afraid, and said to the king, ‘May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?’ Then the king said to me, ‘What do you request?’ SO I PRAYED TO THE GOD OF HEAVEN. And I said to the king, ‘If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” The mention of Nehemiah’s prayer is very instructive even though it doesn’t tell us if:  1) his eyes were opened or closed, 2) he spoke his prayer out loud, or 3) what he actually said. What we can discern is it was a very short prayer for he was asked a question by the king and he quickly answered the king. One has said that he “shot up a prayer to the God of heaven” and I tend to agree with that thought. Perhaps he simply bowed his head and prayed for the Lord to show mercy to him by opening the king’s heart to allow him to return to Jerusalem. If you read on you will see the king’s heart was opened and he allowed Nehemiah to travel to Jerusalem to rebuilt the city.

Some have also asked: Should we kneel down when we pray like we see the Apostle Paul doing in Ephesians 3:14, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the father or our Lord Jesus?” We already saw examples of the Lord Jesus, Solomon, the tax collector, and Nehemiah STANDING, so what are we to do? Others have wondered: Should we pray in the morning or in the evening? We have examples of those praying in the morning and the evening (Psalm 5:1-3 and Acts 16:25). Scripture tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and to “continue earnestly in prayer” (Colossians 4:2). This implies we should always be “ready to pray at any time” (like we saw in the case of Nehemiah). I believe these examples of praying teach us “it matters NOT when we pray, or if we pray with eyes opened or closed, or if we are standing or kneeling,” what matters is WE NEED TO PRAY! We should desire to have fellowship with our blessed Father (and our Lord Jesus) and thus we should be offering praises to Him and expressing our needs to Him (Hebrews 13:15 and Philippians 4:6). And when we do pray, we will “obtain MERCY and GRACE to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16) and “the PEACE of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).  (DO)  (655.1)