Will Prayer Help You Become a More Humble Person?

Keith KettenringChristian Living, Prayer & Fasting, The Uncommon Journey

I have discovered much about prayer the last 15 years. It’s not what I thought it was. I’ve moved from seeing prayer as primarily communicating with God to experiencing prayer as communion with God. Prayer is not so much about me talking and listening to God but about me being in God in silence. That’s why prayer has been a journey into humility for me. It’s a journey experienced at a snail’s pace. It’s a journey that no matter how long I’ve been walking, it seems I’ve only just begun.

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Do you recognize the need for humility in your own life? Then regularly practice silent prayer and make progress on your journey. (Here, I use the word “silent” to describe prayer. Because there are so many ideas of prayer floating around, I must qualify it in some way. “Quiet,” “communing,” or “abiding” would work, too.)

The journey to humility is walked along the path of silent prayer. 

  • In silent prayer, you are not the one in control. You control a conversation by doing all the talking. So, be quiet. Shut up! Stop talking.
  • In silent prayer, you realize how full of yourself you are. In the quietness, you’ll struggle with your ego. Ego does not like silence. Go ahead and do battle with your ego by being silent.
  • In silent prayer, you begin to see yourself as nothing. You will recognize how little you are and how life-giving God is.
  • In silent prayer, you experience coming to Jesus, taking his yoke, and learning meekness and lowliness from him. You begin to learn humility from Jesus himself.
  • In silent prayer, you learn the joy of hiddenness. Hiddenness is the seed of humility. Embrace it.
  • In silent prayer, you entrust yourself to God. With regular practice of silent prayer, you begin to strip away self-reliance. You begin to experience God’s faithfulness.

How to engage in silent prayer

1. Find a place of solitude and isolate yourself for 5-10 minutes. Include a cross, picture or icon of Jesus, and a lit candle to help you focus your heart on the Trinity.

2. When your thoughts try to dominate the silence, pray the pray of the heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

3. Release any outcomes to God. You are not praying in silence in order to get something from God. You are simply being with Him.

4. Don’t overthink or analyze the experience. Let silent prayer be a path to humility.

Silent prayer is a key element to humility.

How will you begin to practice silent prayer? Share your experience below. Share the struggles you have on your journey towards humility along the path of silent prayer. 

Dr. K