Faith Filled Family Magazine September 2016 | страница 15

Silence Golden?

Benefits of Praying Out Loud
By Ro Evans

I

t’s been said, “if we really
believed in prayer, we would
pray a lot more.” Each time
that I hear this I am convicted
because I realize that there are
times when I don’t pray because
I am not fully convinced that
praying will solve the problem.
This thought is false because
James 5:16 in the Message Version tells us that the prayer of a
person living right with God is
something powerful to be reckoned with. The New King James
Version reads that the effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous
man avails much.
We know that prayer is powerful but what kind of prayer? Do
we need to pray out loud by verbalizing our prayers, or can we
pray silently? I’ve been asked
this question several times over
the years and while I believe
that we have the liberty to pray
silently within ourselves, I have
found that verbalizing prayer is
more effective. Praying out loud
increases our faith when we
pray using scripture.
Romans 10:17 teaches, “Then
faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God.”
Therefore, as we pray the word
of God, our faith increases. It is
entirely possible to pray without

faith. We might pray something
like, “Lord please help me, I
really need your help right now.
I know that You are able and that
You are willing.” The words here
are fine, yet it is more effective
and it will build more faith to pray
the scriptures out loud. Instead,
we can pray “Lord I am asking
You for help because You are
my strength and my refuge and
a very present help in times of
trouble (Psalms 46:10) and You
promised that You never leave
me or forsake me so I say boldly
that You are my Helper, I will not
fear. What can man do to me?
(Hebrews 13:5-6) Father God
I know that You are faithful to
help me because You perfect
that which concerns me (Psalms
138:8) and I know that You will
give me wisdom to handle this
situation because in James 1:5
You said that I can ask for wisdom
and You will give wisdom to me
liberally.” When we pray the
verses out loud we are building
our faith because we are hearing
the word of God.

There are many voices that influence us - our spouses, parents,
friends, children, pastors, mentors, God, bosses etc. Of all these
voices there is one voice that we
believe the most, our own voice.
Others may have great influence however it is our own voice
that we hear most. What we say

within ourselves, and what we
say out loud shapes our lives.
Proverbs 18:21 death and life
are in the power of the tongue
and those who love it shall eat
it’s fruit. Praying and speaking
the word of God releases life.
What we say aloud also reveals
what is in our heart. Luke 6:45
shares, “A good man out of the
good treasure of his heart brings
forth good; and an evil man out
of the evil treasure of his heart
brings forth evil. For out of the
abundance of the heart his
mouth speaks.” When we consciously listen to what we think
and what say, we will hear faith
or we will hear doubt, and we will
also hear who we believe God is
and what we believe God will do.