Vocal Prayer: Singing with the Music

In 1838, Joseph Smith wrote in his own words a description of the events that led to what has become known as his "First Vision". In this vision, Joseph saw and spoke with God the Father and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. It was the opening of a new dispensation of the Gospel of Christ and eventually led to the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

The Prophet Joseph's miraculous experience began with a question and a prayer. His question was: Which church should I join? After attending several churches and listening to the preachers contradict each other, he decided his only course was to pray and ask God. He wrote:

So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
--Joseph Smith - History 1:14

The inference in this statement is that Joseph had prayed silently, perhaps many times, for an answer to his question about religion, but this was his first audible, vocal prayer. He does not say why he had not used vocal prayer before, not does he explain why he decided to speak out loud this time. What we know, however, is that the results were different for his vocal prayer than for his previous silent prayers. 

From the narrative, we can assume that the urgency and sincerity of this latest prayer was intensified. Perhaps Joseph had heard ministers and others offer powerful vocal prayers in the various congregational meeting he had attended. Or perhaps the power of the emotions in his heart simply could not be contained but could find full expression only in his audible voice.

I have wanted answers desperately enough to cry aloud to the heavens and raise my voice to break the silence around me. God does not need to hear my voice. He knows my every thought and hears every silent prayer. But sometimes I may need to hear my own voice. While I can hear songs in my head and play the music in my ears, sometimes there is no substitute for singing along.