Silent Yelling

A lady asked me if my book explains why so many preachers have to shout and yell so loud during prayer time at church. There are actually books that recommend that to get a prayer through to God, you must pray out loud, REALLY LOUD!

First, let me explain that contrary to the title, I'm not advocating that we have to be loud in order for God to hear and answer us. What I'm promoting is honesty in our conversations with God, no matter what mood we're in. Let's not pretend to be tranquil when we're raging inside. He knows the difference.

Pretense is the like the crackling noise an AM radio makes when you're driving beneath power lines. Turning up the volume doesn't make the signal clearer, it just makes the static more annoying. Just as we have to get past those power lines for a clear signal, we have to get past our phoniness for prayer to avail. If prayer's power resided in our ability to produce enough decibels to pierce the pearly gates we would be hopelessly lost. Our puny vocal chords can't penetrate earth's atmosphere, let alone reach beyond the throne of grace!

Doesn't the writer of Psalm 139:2 acknowledge to God, "You read my thoughts from far away." Didn't God promise that,  "before they call, I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24)? Does that sound like God only answers when the ringer's turned up full blast? Didn't Hannah receive tangible evidence that God heard her silent prayer (1 Samuel 1:13)? No amount of raising her voice would've been sufficient in expressing her pain and desire. Her silent prayer is no condemnation of those who pray audibly in public, but her example does vindicate Christ's counsel to pray in secret so that we can be rewarded publicly (Matthew 6:6).

In summary, yell silently when in public and privately when at home in your closet. Jesus told us we need to find someone down here that will cash in our rewards points for loud public displays, because the Father's treasury rejects them as counterfeit.