When I first became a Christian, I didn’t like people praying out loud. Of course, I accepted that pastors often needed to lead people in prayer for church services. And, that someone needed to say “Grace” before meals.
The problem I had (even occasionally during those times) was it seemed like the person praying often sounded like he was praying to impress the listeners, rather than speak to God. Because it bothered me so much, I tried to never pray aloud.
But recently, I read again the Scriptures where Jesus gave a parable warning about taking care of our spiritual condition. He cautioned one about clearing out their room, decorating it, but leaving it empty. The two references are Matt 12: 43-45 and Luke 11: 24-26. They are too long to reproduce here, but this is the essence:
Either a man asks God to clean out his brain (soul) from demonic possession or God simply does it. Either way, the man’s conscience feels clear and he feels fresh. But, he then leaves his mind spiritually empty. Soon, the original demon checks in, sees no spirit, so re-enters the man and brings others with him.
The point of the parable is we should clean house, but after having done that we need to invite God in. When we accept what God as Jesus has done (die to obtain forgiveness for our sins), our dead spirits become alive and move into the “cleaned” out house of our minds … our spirits are reborn. But, when that happens, God as the Holy Spirit moves in also. He does that through a link to our new spirits. He is the “Comforter” Jesus talked about in John 14:16.
And, the Holy Spirit permanently lives in a person.
“Dou you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit has a permanent dwelling in you?” (1 Cor 3:16)
This means a demon has no room to move back in because our “house” is spiritually occupied.
The point I am trying to make is when God as the Holy Spirit moves into us, we “pray” by simply talking to Him in our mind. Since He now lives inside us, there is no need to relate to Him in a special way other than just talking to a Friend; don’t need to kneel, don’t need to look up at the sky and raise your hands, don’t need a church altar, don’t need elaborate bunches of words … just talk to Him.
Then the thought struck me. When we simply talk to God in our head, Satan and his demons can’t hear what we say. The Devil is the current god of the air. He can create all kinds of environmental disasters, storms, and diseases that can affect us. He can create circumstances and temptations to influence us. He can cause accidents and have bad people hurt us.
But what he cannot do is listen inside our mind and hear how we talk to God. The only way Satan and his minions can hear how close we are to God is when we pray aloud.
Yes, Jesus and a few Apostles did pray publicly, but Jesus gave guidance on how to pray in Matt 6: 6-15. Let me emphasize verse 6:
“But when you pray, go into your most private room and closing the door, pray to your Father Who is secret; and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you.
In verse 9 – 15, He answers the disciples request to be taught to pray. We now refer to it as “The Lord’s Prayer”. Two special notes about these verses must be understood; it is an Old Covenant prayer (it would be different now) and He did not tell them to say it aloud.
I still really dislike public prayer. So when I pray, I go to a totally private place. But, I almost always pray aloud when by myself. Usually, when God and I talk, I am thanking Him for something, praising Him for some blessing, rejoicing in some way He has made by life better, asking His involvement in someone else’s life, etc.
I pray aloud by myself so Satan can hear how close my God and I am. I suggest all mature Christians do likewise.