Many years before I heard about the Silent Prayer from my YouTube Preacher, Jesse Lee Peterson, I was already praying silently but didn’t realize it was considered a prayer. I thought of it as just standing as quiet as I could be so that my soul and spirit could communicate, spirit to spirit with God because I had read in Psalms 4:4 that it was possible. I quickly saw how true the scripture was that said, “And thy ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.” Isaiah 30:21. I knew that once I connected spirit to spirit with God, then I would be led by His voice because it can only be by the spirit because God is a spirit. I knew this scripture was talking about my spiritual ears.
Praying with Words?
If silent prayer is the way to hear from God, why do we need to pray out loud? The Bible says that we can pray in the spirit and with understanding and when specifically asked how to pray, Jesus told his disciples how to pray the Lord’s Prayer. Therefore, if you just have to pray in words, do so but know that the silent prayer is how we really hear from God and are led by God. Most prayers spoken out loud are vain repetition and all ego so God doesn’t even hear those prayers anyway. I know a lot of people who say that they don’t understand why their prayers are not answered. I was taught in church that the devil cannot read your mind or thoughts so praying to yourself is ok if you can’t pray out loud. However, when I heard Jesse Lee Peterson’s testimony, I knew that what I had always believed was a lie. God opened my eyes about my thoughts. I already knew that ALL THOUGHTS ARE LIES because 2 Corinthians 10:5 says that every thought needed to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and that the imagination needed to be cast down because it exalts itself against the knowledge of God. I was literally shocked when I heard Jesse say that when you pray to yourself that you are praying to Satan. And in my spirit I knew it to be the truth. And that revelation or me seeing the truth is what set me free and woke me up.
Once I saw with my spiritual eyes that praying out loud wasn’t necessary… while not forbidden, it is not necessary, I just naturally didn’t feel a need to pray out loud anymore nor did I pray in tongues anymore… it just dropped off naturally and I haven’t missed a step. I don’t even feel the need to pray over my food anymore because that is all ego as well. Even Jesus said that prayer is to God not to be seen by man. However, if I’m asked to pray over a meal or for some reason or other, I would definitely say a prayer out loud for whatever the occasion. I don’t think it’s wrong to pray out loud… it’s just something that I don’t tend to do naturally anymore. I see Standing Quite Before God as prayer and walking in the Spirit at the same time.
I remember when I was in Tech School right after Basic Training, I was in Biloxi MS at Keesler Air Force Base, I went to eat lunch off base one day and I was in uniform. I was eating lunch at a local Captain D’s and after getting my food, I prayed over it before I began eating. An older couple sitting nearby told me that they appreciated seeing me pray over my food They started telling me all about their Bible publishing company that they founded and had even translated the Bible into 26 translations. I told them that I actually had a copy of that Bible. An evangelists had come to my church years before and because my parents had put so much money in the offering plate, the evangelists gave them that 26 Translation Bible as a thank you gift. They had several so they gave me one. While it was interesting to meet the actual publisher of a Bible I had, it was also a revelation to me that praying in public was all ego and any reward from God was gone because this couple made such a big deal over my prayer that I could see what Jesus meant when he said prayer should be for God and not to be seen of men.
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