8. “Whisper a Prayer for Me”
8
“Whisper a Prayer for Me”
The popular television host Bill Moyers served on the White House staff when Lyndon B. Johnson was president. An ordained minister, Moyers was often asked by the president to offer thanks at staff meals. While Moyers was praying at one luncheon, the president said, “Speak up, I can’t hear you!” to which Moyers responded, “I’m not talking to you.”
It’s not likely that President Johnson thought he was God and had to hear the prayer but only that he was at the table and wanted to hear the prayer and participate in the act of blessing. I find myself sympathizing with the president, for I’ve sat at many tables and also conducted many prayer meetings in which I’ve been perplexed by people who have prayed quietly to themselves, making it impossible for us to pray with them or even say a quiet “Amen!” to a request.
Another story of an opposite sort of problem also comes to mind. One of the greatest prayer warriors I ever knew was Peter Deyneka Sr., founder of the Slavic Gospel Association. When I was pastoring in Chicago, Peter and I often met for prayer, and the experience was a rich one. At an all-night Youth for Christ prayer meeting in the Westminster Hotel at Winona Lake, Indiana, Peter was praying fervently, and his volume was increasing with each request. One of the guests in the hotel, who was trying to sleep, became disturbed by Peter’s voice and sent a note down asking that we lower the decibels. One of the men said, “Peter, God isn’t deaf,” to which Peter replied, “He isn’t nervous, either,” and went right on praying.
Perhaps we should pray somewhere between these two extremes. Yes, prayer is an intimate conversation with God, but when others are praying with us, let’s not act as though God pays attention only to us. We have every right to pray silently in our hearts as Hannah did (1 Sam. 1:9–18), but if we are praying publicly with a group, let’s speak up so they can hear and pray with us. What Paul wrote about tongues could be applied to public prayer: if others can’t understand us, they can’t receive the blessing (1 Cor. 14:1–5). This doesn’t mean that in our prayers we speak to others over the Lord’s shoulder, although I’ve heard that kind of praying (“Lord, help our pastor be well prepared next Lord’s Day”). It simply means that we strengthen the fellowship by praying so that others can hear us and share the burdens with us.
When I was a lad in Sunday school, we occasionally sang a little chorus that I haven’t heard in decades:
Whisper a prayer in the morning,
Whisper a prayer at noon,
Whisper a prayer in the evening,
To keep your heart in tune.
Praying in the morning, at noon, and in the evening is biblical, and I highly recommend it. Daniel did it (Dan. 6:10), and so did David (Ps. 55:17). But why must we whisper? If we’re alone, we can speak to God out loud, and if we’re with strangers on a bus or in a doctor’s waiting room, we can pray in our hearts and He will hear us. Unlike the Pharisees, we don’t want to demonstrate on the street corners our prowess in prayer (Matt. 6:5), but neither do we want to imitate the “mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter” (Isa. 8:19). The people mentioned in Isaiah 26:16 were too weak to call, so they whispered.
When Dwight L. Moody was ministering in Great Britain in 1873, the popular magazine The Christian published his suggestions for leading a successful prayer meeting. Moody sent copies to all the Protestant ministers in the British Isles, and they greatly appreciated it. Here’s a summary of what he wrote:
Get the people sitting close together; ventilate the meeting place; keep the singing lively; let the prayers be specific and the minister brief in his remarks; announce the subjects in advance; don’t scold those who come for those who don’t; keep your discouragement to yourself and God; vary hymns with prayers, so that not more than two prayers are consecutive; keep remarks informal, pointed, and the meeting short; get all to participate, even if you have to speak to them in private beforehand; avoid controversy; be punctual; and most important, keep in the Spirit. 1
I would add one more suggestion: encourage people to speak up when they pray so that all may participate.