In today's church there has risen a practice by some that is both non biblical as well as disrespectful to the Lord. That practice is to pray unspoken prayers. Unspoken prayer requests are simply not biblical. They go against what scripture teaches as how we are to pray. No one in the bible ever prayed such prayers. One reason is that NO ONE can pray in faith while praying an unspoken prayer. If we do not know what we are asking we pray as those who tempt God with meaningless words without understanding. It would be like a child who goes to their parent and says the following. "Father just say yes to my request. The father says what is your request? The child again says just say yes." No wise father would say yes and neither does God.
The same is when we seek God with prayers without knowledge. We seek Him in vain and we sin. Yes He knows all, but we are also responsible to approach our Lord in understanding and respect and in the manner given by example in scripture. And let's be honest here. We may be asking for something sinful for someone else. The fact that we may be a friend to the person and trust that person does not justify going against the way that the Lord has commanded us to pray. The bible strongly warns against doing things our way. Psalm 81:12, EZE. 13:2,
May we not become like those of old who fell to condemnation of doing our own will instead of that of God. True faith praying needs to understand what we ask so we can say the Amen. There is a scripture that shows it to be wrong to say amen to that which we know not what we are say the amen to. It is in 1 Corinthians 14;
Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
While this is dealing directly with tongues it also has application to praying without understanding as well as saying amen to something that we have not understood. Saying amen is an acknowledgement that what has just been prayed is of God and God's will. It is putting our relationship on the line with God saying that I agree with this and God should do this. Prayer is a serious thing and should be done with a great deal of concern and respect. Unspoken prayers violates any model given in scripture and so violates God's will for prayer.
So what should we do if someone asks us to pray an unknown prayer? If we love the Lord and love the person we should lovingly tell them that we cannot pray in faith without understanding what we are seeking God to do. If the request is too personal to share then they should find someone who they trust enough to share it with so that they can pray in faith. That does not mean that every detail needs to be shared. If someone needs healing say that. if someone needs saved say that. if someone needs to be set free from addiction say that and so on. There is no need to say that the person is a homosexual needing saved, or that the person has aids and needs healed or other details. We only need to have an understanding of the basic need. Again there is no need for exact details, but we do need too understand what the request is about so we can pray in faith. No one can pray in faith and not know what they are asking, NO ONE! It is impossible and we are commanded to pray in faith. To do anything less we sin and dishonor the Lord.
Now someone might bring up Romans 8:26 which reads;
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
However this passage is not suggesting that we pray without knowing what we are asking for. It is saying that even though we know what we are seeking we do not know how to properly approach God. The word that is translated "ought" is the Greek word dā and it means; "it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper." In other words the manner we seek God is not totally understood. We simply do not know how to properly approach God in respect and honor. So the Spirit intercedes for us. However we are never to seek Him with prayers that we do not know what we are asking.
Now someone might say that God does answer unspoken prayers. Not so. What has happened is that God answered the prayer of someone else who actually asked knowing what they were asking. Those who pray without knowing simply dishonored the Lord and do no good at all, but actually are in sin. So let us pray biblically as well as honorably before our Lord doing so in faith. If we will do this we will help hinder the efforts of darkness from dishonoring our Lord and in doing so find that we are really part of God's answered prayer. God bless
The same is when we seek God with prayers without knowledge. We seek Him in vain and we sin. Yes He knows all, but we are also responsible to approach our Lord in understanding and respect and in the manner given by example in scripture. And let's be honest here. We may be asking for something sinful for someone else. The fact that we may be a friend to the person and trust that person does not justify going against the way that the Lord has commanded us to pray. The bible strongly warns against doing things our way. Psalm 81:12, EZE. 13:2,
May we not become like those of old who fell to condemnation of doing our own will instead of that of God. True faith praying needs to understand what we ask so we can say the Amen. There is a scripture that shows it to be wrong to say amen to that which we know not what we are say the amen to. It is in 1 Corinthians 14;
Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
While this is dealing directly with tongues it also has application to praying without understanding as well as saying amen to something that we have not understood. Saying amen is an acknowledgement that what has just been prayed is of God and God's will. It is putting our relationship on the line with God saying that I agree with this and God should do this. Prayer is a serious thing and should be done with a great deal of concern and respect. Unspoken prayers violates any model given in scripture and so violates God's will for prayer.
So what should we do if someone asks us to pray an unknown prayer? If we love the Lord and love the person we should lovingly tell them that we cannot pray in faith without understanding what we are seeking God to do. If the request is too personal to share then they should find someone who they trust enough to share it with so that they can pray in faith. That does not mean that every detail needs to be shared. If someone needs healing say that. if someone needs saved say that. if someone needs to be set free from addiction say that and so on. There is no need to say that the person is a homosexual needing saved, or that the person has aids and needs healed or other details. We only need to have an understanding of the basic need. Again there is no need for exact details, but we do need too understand what the request is about so we can pray in faith. No one can pray in faith and not know what they are asking, NO ONE! It is impossible and we are commanded to pray in faith. To do anything less we sin and dishonor the Lord.
Now someone might bring up Romans 8:26 which reads;
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
However this passage is not suggesting that we pray without knowing what we are asking for. It is saying that even though we know what we are seeking we do not know how to properly approach God. The word that is translated "ought" is the Greek word dā and it means; "it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper." In other words the manner we seek God is not totally understood. We simply do not know how to properly approach God in respect and honor. So the Spirit intercedes for us. However we are never to seek Him with prayers that we do not know what we are asking.
Now someone might say that God does answer unspoken prayers. Not so. What has happened is that God answered the prayer of someone else who actually asked knowing what they were asking. Those who pray without knowing simply dishonored the Lord and do no good at all, but actually are in sin. So let us pray biblically as well as honorably before our Lord doing so in faith. If we will do this we will help hinder the efforts of darkness from dishonoring our Lord and in doing so find that we are really part of God's answered prayer. God bless