Most of the time the Bible mentions prayers as spoken out loud. This is the most common way to pray revealed in scripture and it should be our common practice as well. However, there are instances where the Bible mentions prayers being offered to the Lord through thought and through whispers.
Jesus is our perfect example in everything that we do in the Christian life. We are commanded to “follow Him” after all. So when it comes to prayer we should follow His example as well, and every prayer we have recorded of Him was spoken out loud.
“Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You” (John 17:1).
“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.” (Luke 10:21)
“And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:41)
There are many more prayers of Jesus recorded than just these three, but as we can see from these three passages Jesus spoke out loud when he prayed. Now, most of the prayers recorded were prayers that were done in front of people so most of the time He was praying for their benefit as well as His.
However, the prayer mentioned in Luke chapter 22 was a prayer that He got relatively alone for, and yet He still spoke out loud.
“And He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come” (Luke 11:2)
This is another passage that reveals that prayer is meant to primarily be spoken out loud. Jesus said that when we go to pray we should speak. This is why He says, “when you pray, say…”
There are a couple of reasons why praying out loud is more beneficial than simply praying in your head or praying with a whisper.
First, praying out loud assists us in staying focused while we pray. We hear our own words which causes us to think more about what we want to say to the Lord. Doing this causes every word to become more calculated.
Second, praying out loud helps our minds not to wander. When we pray in our mind or with our thoughts, it is much more difficult to control where our mind is going because it is used to wandering from thing to thing freely. But if we harness our thoughts through speech then this ceases to happen.
Finally, praying out loud will remind us that God is a Person and that He is as real as anyone else that we know. When we speak out loud we remind ourselves that God is a Person with ears. He is not a fake God who cannot hear what we are saying. When we speak according to His word, He hears us.
All of this is not to say that speaking in a low whisper or in your mind is invalid. The Bible makes numerous mentions of this.
“Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray.” (Psalm 5:1-2)
Notice how David in this Psalm uses meditation and prayer interchangeably. This is because meditation is a form of prayer.
To meditate simply means to muse, dwell upon, or think about over and over again.
Biblical meditation is the meditation of God’s word. In the Bible we never see people meditating with the goal to think about nothing, it is always applied to thinking deeply about God’s word.
So when we think about God’s word and His ways in a way of meditation we are, in a sense, praying. God is considering our thoughts and taking delight in them if they are rooted in His word.
The Bible also reveals that when we pray with a whisper God hears us as well. We are going to cover this in the next section.
Can you pray by whispering?
Yes, you can pray by whispering. The Bible makes mention of prayers being answered by God that were offered up through whispering to the Lord. It makes no difference to God if we pray with a projected voice or if we pray in a whisper.
A perfect example of this is Hannah in 1st Samuel 1:13.
“And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.”
Hannah was pouring her heart out to the Lord for a son to be born to her but she was doing so with only her lips moving and no voice. Because Eli, the priest of Israel at this time, could not hear her, he thought she was drunk and began to rebuke her.
But when Hannah explained herself Eli said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” (1 Samuel 1:17).
And the Lord did grant her request and she ended up having a son and she named him Samuel, who became a mighty prophet of God and anointed David as King over Israel.
So from this one experience, we can see that God hears our prayers whether they are whispered, spoken, thought, shouted, or sung. If it is mentioned to the Lord through faith and sincerity, God hears us and will answer us.
What does the Bible say about praying in your head?
Here are some verses that you can study on your own time that reveal prayer happening in “the heart” or in our heads and thoughts:
“Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray.” (Psalm 5:1-2)
“And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk” (1 Samuel 1:12-13)
“But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’” (Genesis 24:45).
What does the bible say about praying out loud?
Here are some verses that you can study on your own time that reveal prayer is supposed to be spoken out loud:
“Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You” (John 17:1)
“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.” (Luke 10:21)
“And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:41)
“And He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come” (Luke 11:2)
“I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord; I make supplication with my voice to the Lord.” (Psalm 142:1)
“My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud; My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.” (Psalm 77:1)
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:12)
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it assisted you in your walk with God. Here are some more articles on prayer that I think you’ll enjoy!
Can You Pray by Writing? (+ How to do it)
Can You Pray Anytime & Anywhere? (Christianity)
Can You Pray Lying Down/On Your Bed/Sitting Down? (Answered)
Can You Pray with Your Eyes Open? (Biblical Answer)
Can You Pray in the Bathroom/Shower/Toilet? (Biblical Answer)
Can You Pray for Money? Is it a sin? (What the Bible Says)
God bless you all!
