I don't know about you, but when I pray, I usually bow my head, close my eyes and pray silently. It seems pretty rare that I pray out loud, unless I'm praying with/for a group of people or another person. It's something I could definitely stand to grow at, but I just noticed one thing about praying to myself the other day that I think is is cool: God can read minds.
You don't have to have me tell you that God has a lot of really amazing characteristics. He's loving, kind, good, merciful, just, etc., etc. The list could go on for eternity; however, this whole idea of God also being all-knowing, aka omniscient, really just recently stuck out to me. Yes, all-knowing means that God knows everyone and whats going on everywhere, but it also means so much more than that to me. It means He knows my thoughts, knows my heart and knows my prayers even when I don't verbalize them. Think about that for a second and let it sink it.
Remember all those times you prayed those silent prayers to yourself? All those times you prayed along silently while the pastor prayed out loud? All the times your mind was screaming out for help but your mouth stayed shut? Yup. God heard every single one of those, and this blows my mind.
The omniscience of God gets Him access to everyone's prayers ever. Not just mine, not just yours, but everyone's from all over the world. From the young kid across the big pond saying a prayer for the very first time to the elderly folks down the street praying for their long, lost friends, He hears them all, both the silent pleas we're too afraid to say and the audible cries out for help when we're most desperate. This is extremely comforting.
Psalm 139:4 says that "before a word is even on our tongue, He knows the thought completely," and then He comes back and promises us in 1 John 3 that He is greater than our heart, even when our heart condemns us because He knows all. Essentially, He overcomes all obstacles to knowing us. He already knows us. He knows us better than anyone will and anyone every could, and as scary as that may sound, I think it still sounds more comforting. I'm thankful I have a God that I literally can't lie to because He already knows. I'm thankful that I have a God Who already knows what I need when I need it, even when I may not recognize it yet. Having a God Who reads minds may seem like too much in some people's books, but in mine, it's amazing. I can be honest with Him because He already knows the truth, and He already knows the truth because He is the Truth.
Think about it. God already knows you are.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: God can read my mind. Cool. He can hear my prayers even when they're silent. Cooler. God knows my prayers before I even say them. Coolest.