God Hears the Prayers You Never Say Out Loud
Andrew Ripp on stillness and rest
Singer, songwriter, Andrew Ripp has learned that life’s noise doesn’t stop on its own. You have to continually keep making the choice to be still.
“I found recently in my quiet space … my main calling right now is to slow down—not just … in my own tangible life … but also in my spiritual life, where it’s like, stay in the moment with the Lord. Don’t just get distracted and start to send an email or whatever … stay past those distractions, because oftentimes the word He’s trying to speak, or is speaking, I can only hear when I get past that noise.”
For Andrew, slowing down runs much deeper than clearing a calendar or finding a quiet room. “Slow down and be”—that’s the thing Andrew keeps coming back to. He encourages us to just be present with the Lord, to sit past the distractions, and in the moment give God room to speak.
Sitting with You
The other side of that stillness opened up something unexpected for Andrew. He’s found a new understanding of what prayer actually is. He carries a lot. Thoughts about his kids, longings he wants to bring to God, things he’s holding that don’t always find words.
“I can get really overwhelmed,” he says, “because I have a lot of thoughts and things that I want to pray for or pray about, but I can’t just pray them all because there’s too many of them.”
Then he heard a perspective that changed everything. “Any time I have those thoughts, God is sitting right there with me, looking at them. He’s receiving them. Just because you’re not voicing them with your mouth doesn’t mean you’re not praying them.”
Think about that image of being present with God, attentive, and unhurried. And He’s already leaning into what’s happening in your heart.
“When I think these thoughts—these good thoughts about my kids, and I want to spend more time in the Word with them, or take more walks with them, or have more time with them in general—God’s sitting there with me, watching those thoughts dance around in my mind. And I can take comfort in knowing that He’s heard them.”
He sees your heart. Andrew said, “You don’t always have to vocalize it in order for Him to see it and respond.”
Choose today to stay past the distractions long enough to remember God is already sitting with you in the middle of it all, watching, hearing, and responding to every thought you haven’t yet found words for.
Spend five days with us in Psalm 139, perhaps the most personal portrait of a God who knows you completely and is present in every moment of your life.
Search Me, Know Me: A Rest-Filled Journey Through Psalm 139 is a 5-day devotional that takes you there slowly. Start here