There is a passage in C. S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters, that helps explain the physical side of being spiritual.

In his fourth letter, senior demon Screwtape holds forth on the subject of befuddling a new Christian in his prayers. He starts by mentioning a line from the romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge about how he prayed without “moving lips and bended knees.” Coleridge thought he nailed it well enough by merely feeling prayerful, a view that Screwtape endorses in the lines that follow. “At the very least, they [Christians] can be persuaded that the bodily position [like kneeling] makes no difference to their prayers,” he says, “for they constantly forget . . . that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls.”

via Joel J. Miller: Author of The Revolutionary Paul Revere.

Last Sunday, I visited a church where the pastor read from Romans 12.1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Then he asked us if anyone noticed how he had misread the passage.  No one did.

But Romans 12.1 actually says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Of course, that means the same thing as “yourselves,” but the point is that we normally think it doesn’t.

Joel Miller’s post on the use of gestures is very helpful in this regard. I think it also applies to the helpfulness of praying out loud with tongue, lips, and lungs.  Otherwise, prayer becomes difficult to differentiate from daydreaming.

I also pointed to something similar (I think) when I posted “Jesus is Lord”: A Practical Suggestion for Struggling with Sin.