the Lord that was what he wanted to pray and with an “ Amen” he could be under the covers in a very short time. Praying out loud might have helped this young man. Oswald J. Smith, pastor of the Peoples Church of Toronto, Can., known as a man of prayer, confesses that he had difficulty in praying silently. He wanted to spend considerable time in prayer, yet he was faced with problems as he tried to pray. At times he would get drowsy or his mind would wander. He then de veloped the plan of praying aloud, and instead of kneeling he started to pace the floor of his study. Dr. Smith says this helps him, for he can concentrate on what he is doing and get somewhere in his praying. There is no law against pacing the floor as you pray in the privacy of your home. The Bible tells of some who prayed while standing, others while kneeling and some who were even prostrate before God. However we pray, it must be more than a repetition of words— it must mean something. If praying aloud will help our prayers to have real meaning, then we ought to try it. A by-product of this might be seen in our public services. In too many churches the public praying is limited to the pastor or his wife or some of the old saints of the church. In too many congregations — good evangelical congregations — the praying is limited to a few. Can’t Others pray? They are afraid — afraid they will say the wrong thing, afraid of their own voices. There would be more Christians ready to pray publicly and more in prayer meeting if they, would pray aloud whenever they have the opportunity. I recall one church which I at tended. The entire congregation was expected to be at the prayer service and more than that they were expected to pray. The leader would call upon several persons to pray at the same time. It was rath er confusing to a human listener and would not be too satisfactory in some churches, but the people of that church learned how to pray. If such an opportunity is not given you in your prayer meetings, then try praying aloud in your home. It could bring results. END.
Try Praying Out Loud
by Robert Sherer Wilson
T ry praying out loud in your private devotions if you have difficulty in praying silently. Perhaps your mind tends to move so fast that you cover a lot of pray ing ground in too short a time. Per haps you try to pray at the end of the day and get sleepy during the prayer time. Of course it is not always pos sible to pray out loud when you are having private devotions. It is not the recommended thing for a soldier living in a barracks with a squad of other men. It is not prac tical with some college roommates. However, if you have a room by yourself or some quiet secluded spot where you can be undisturbed, your private devotions may take on new value if you pray out loud. A medical doctor tried it when he was driving along the road. He happened to be a Roman Catholic and was used to praying the mem orized prayers of his church. To occupy the time while in his car he one day decided to pray aloud. He started with the prayer familiar to many creeds and it sounded some thing like this, “ Aha Fahr whart innevin hollow beety name.” He discovered that he was accustomed to praying so r a p i d l y t h a t his prayers did not sound intelligible. He was merely praying sounds. He started over again and this time tried to pray distinctly and slowly. He also prayed in this way in his home because he believed it was a distinct help to his prayer life. He later reported in one of his church publications that a number of things happened to his praying
after he learned to pray aloud. He claimed that by enunciating each word of his prayers, the added sense of hearing became a partner in his prayers. Listening to them, he found new appreciation of his prayers. Also he discovered that it was easier for him to keep his mind on what he was praying when he prayed aloud. As he became more proficient in this, he found that he could put special emphasis on cer tain phrases of his prayers and thus make them mean more. The doctor also admitted that his praying out loud improved his ability to speak with men. Even though his praying was limited to set prayers, some of the things he learned can be of value to spontaneous as well as memorized prayers. Too often, the private prayer life of the average person becomes a routine matter — so much of a routine that its value is not always appreciated. Some of us are like the tired young fellow who believed that he should pray before he went to bed each night but he was rather lazy about how he did it. He was smart enough to realize that he was pray ing the same thing each night. W hy not write out his prayer? The written prater was mounted on cardboard and fastened to the wall near his bed. When he was ready to retire, he would read the prayer so as to be sure he did not miss anything for which he desired to pray. This became a habit with him, so much so that he finally de cided that all that was necessary was to point to the prayer and tell
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