The duty of prayer is usually not completed unless it is expressed in words. In Scripture prayer is called, "pleading with God', 'filling our mouth with arguments', 'crying to him', and 'calling him to hear our voice.' Such praying is not needful to God, but it is needful to us.
It may be said that all this may be done by internal meditation where no use is made of the voice or words. Hannah 'spoke in her heart: only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard' (1 Samuel 1:13). In some cases this may be so. Some circumstances call for inward, silent prayer, as do some strong, violent feelings, which cause men to cry out. But in this prayer of meditation, the mind still expresses itself in words and expressions though they are not uttered. Hannah said of herself, 'Out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken' (verse 16). She not only put her thoughts and desire into words and phrases but also expressed them to God silently within herself. Her mind was fully active in inward, silent prayer.
John Owen, The Spirit and The Church
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