Wholehearted Prayer--Pray (Outloud) Confidently!

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. Romans 8:26, 27.


     Are you a good pray-outloud-er? My missionary kid peers and I didn’t call it “leading prayer.” We said that so-and-so was a great pray outloud-er. As MKs we judged our missionary “aunts and uncles” on their praying outloud abilities…this was our gauge: when their prayers vehemently called upon God’s name and scripture was quoted with sermonesque voices, frightening us or at least making us slightly squirmy, they were good outloud prayers.

   I am sadly lacking in pray outloud-er abilities. Though my faith is strong, my love for serving the Lord unquestionable, and I’m a fairly confident public speaker, I often find myself lacking confidence when asked to lead prayer in a large group. I used to frequently “borrow” prayers from The Book of Common Prayers. Did you know that The Book of Common Prayer has specific prayers for (#32) The Good Use of Leisure Time, and (#43) Rain? I’ve even sponged from #17 for Bro. Brent: The Church Musicians and Artists.
   Once, I was tasked with saying a blessing for a corporate Thanksgiving dinner, only I wasn’t allowed to use the words God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, or Son. Even The Book of Common Prayer couldn’t help me with that! As if asking me to pray outloud to a group of 200 agnostics wasn’t uncomfortable enough, I couldn’t even petition my Father! This event rated high on my “slightly squirmy” scale, for completely different reasons.
   I can only speak for myself, but I believe it’s not just speaking anxiety that makes us lose focus at the thought of praying outloud. Sometimes, our hearts condemn us…disappointment has a way of turning prayers into silence. It can be hard to pray when we are bitter and angry toward people, or when we feel that God has let us down. Other times, our lack of confidence in ourselves because of sin, past hurt or damage makes us feel less than adequate about approaching our loving Father outloud and publicly.
   In times like these, I remember, God understands our feelings. He has made a way for us to come with confidence to His throne of grace, even when we have lost confidence in our own ability to find His attention in prayer. God Himself prepares our heart to pray, the Spirit of Christ leads us to the throne of grace and keeps us there, then presents our objects of prayer, and draws our soul into deep sympathy with God.
   If we forget about trying to impress the public, and trust God’s integrity, His character, compassion, love, wisdom and righteousness, it does not matter how, when, or where we petition Him, only that we do. He knows our desires, no matter how we express ourselves. Thank you Holy Spirit!



Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17 NAS