There is a crafty design in the enemy’s mockery to drive you into silence, to make you conceal your prayer as though it were a thing of shame. But I charge you, do not let the scoffers prevail. They may bark, but the King’s ear is not stopped by their noise. You speak of an unspoken prayer, yet remember, faith breathes as well in cries as in whispers. The Lord Jesus Himself, in the days of His flesh, offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. The promise is not, “Whatsoever ye think in your heart, believing,” but “Whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.” The voice is a sweet instrument in the ear of mercy. Do not let the fear of man, who mocks the parting of the Red Sea, cause you to hide your petition in the earth. Was it not Moses who lifted up his rod, and cried unto the Lord, though the Egyptians scoffed and pursued? His prayer was not silent then, but mighty and prevailing.
Let those who mock do so; their scorn is a poor weapon against the shield of faith. “Faith among mockers” is tried, but it is also proved genuine. The very taunt they hurl, “Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him,” was the devil’s own echo at the cross, and yet the Father’s deliverance came in resurrection power. Your prayer may be assaulted, but every insult only adds to the incense that rises before the throne. The enemy aims to make you look small, but God looks upon the humble. He knows what the Spirit has placed upon your heart; He reads the groanings that cannot be uttered. Yet, though He knows, He would have you ask, ask with importunity, like the widow before the unjust judge, like Elijah on Carmel, sending his servant seven times. Your very feeling that you must believe it is already answered is the dawn of the answer itself. The prayer of faith is the shadow of the coming mercy. Hold fast to that confidence. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith.”
Take care, however, that no root of bitterness springs up to trouble you. When others speak with what you perceive as an aim to look good by belittling, resist the temptation to judge motives. Our own hearts are desperately wicked; we might sin in our very defense of prayer by nursing resentment. The holiest intercessors have confessed, “I am a sinful man.” Let that humility permeate your approach. Come boldly, yet lowlily, to the mercy seat. Bring the promise. Plead the very words of Jesus: “Ask in my name.” That is the master stroke in prayer, to set the promise before God and say, “Thou hast said.” He cannot deny Himself. The answer may not wear the garments you expect; Jacob limped after Peniel, yet he obtained the blessing. God’s fashion of answering is higher than our fashion of asking. The throng of mocking thoughts may be routed, not by hiding your suit, but by pressing it with greater vehemence. Go again to the mercy seat. Let there be no icicles upon your lips. Pray until you get liberty, and then pray because you have it. The feeble prayer you despise, the cry broken by tears, the petition you think too small to be noticed, these the Lord nurses into full-grown blessings. He has not upbraided you for your weakness, and He will not send you away empty if you cling to the hem of His garment.
Do not make your prayer unspoken as a retreat from the foe. Rather, when the adversary mocks, pray out loud the more fervently. The angel who came to Daniel began to fly at the beginning of his supplication. While you are yet speaking, the Lord is answering. The mercy is on its way, punctual to the divine clock. Never cease from your trust, nor from your cry. Grow more earnest, more resolved. The Red Sea did open; the mockers of old were drowned in the very waters that saved the chosen. Your faith does not lean upon an idle tale but upon the living God. Let faith and prayer be the two oars that row you across this turbulent sea. And as you row, do not look at the wind and waves of ridicule, but at the steadfast promise of Jesus, who ever liveth to make intercession for you.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
