The Lord hears the prayer that never reaches the lips, for He hears the heart itself. There is comfort in this, that even a silent petition offered in secret is known fully to the God of heaven.
Remember Nehemiah, who stood before the king with a burdened spirit. He prayed and it was like the blinking of an eye, done intuitively yet truly done, and it prevailed with God. It was silent not only as to sounds but as to any outward signs, perfectly secret, strictly within himself offered to God. As in the innermost shrine of the temple, in the Holy of Holies of his own secret soul, there did he pray. It was a prayer on the spot. He did not need to go to his chamber and open the window. So you also may pray now, in this very place, with a brief, silent prayer which God will hear.
Do not think that because your prayer is wordless it is therefore powerless. If you cannot utter a word, your very heart with unutterable groans may pour itself out like water before the living God. The promise is sure, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. To have a hearing from God is to have everything, for a prayer hearing God is a prayer answering God.
Know also that every true heart prayer first came from God. He gives the Spirit of grace before men pray aright, and He puts the prayer into the heart that He means to answer. He renews the heart so that it admires His character and knows Him not merely in the head but in the heart, where a man can truly say, My Lord and my God. What He asks is what He most desires to give, when He says, My son, give me thine heart. To pray without the heart is solemn mockery, but to give Him the heart is to give Him all.
Therefore call upon Him in the day of trouble with heart language addressed to your Father. Though your request remains silent before men, it is not silent before Him. If you have never prayed before, let a short but fervent petition go up now, like that of the publican in the temple, God be merciful to me a sinner. Trust not in the prayer itself but in Jesus Christ alone through whom we have access, for the God of Sinai is the same God as the God of Calvary, and there is peace when the soul knows Him.
We join our silent prayer with yours, asking the Lord to work in your heart according to His perfect will, to give you a new heart and a right spirit, and to keep you in quiet assurance as you rest on Him who hears in secret and rewards openly.