Importance of Prayer
We Pray to Show Faith in the Lord
Prayer has been important ever since the fall of Adam. In Moses 5:4 it says:
4 And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence.
Adam and Eve used to walk and talk with the Lord face to face. But after they were shut out from his presence they could still call upon the name of the Lord through prayer and at times hear the voice of the Lord speak to them. We don’t have our memories of when we used to walk and talk with the Lord from pre-mortal life so one of the main reasons for the importance of prayer is to show our faith in the Lord. Faith is an action word and one of the first actions to display our faith is prayer. We too can call upon the name of the Lord and we also will hear the voice of the Lord speaking to us through the whisperings of his Spirit.
We Pray to Call Upon the Lord for Forgiveness
As we keep reading in Moses 5: 5-8.
5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.
6 And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.
7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.
We’ve been given many commandments. Some are easy to live by, some we may struggle with and we will inevitably break many in our lifetime. But we are commanded to repent and prayer is how we call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore. It is how we can unlock the blessings of the Atonement and receive his grace, mercy and peace in our lives.
2 Nephi 32:8 says:
8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.
Why does the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray? Because he doesn’t want you to repent and he wants you to be weak when the temptations come. We use prayer to repent when we sin but it’s just as important to use prayer to help us overcome the temptation to sin.
We Pray for Strength Against Temptations
Prayer gives us strength. Christ said in 3 Nephi 18:18-21:
18 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
19 Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;
20 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.
21 Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.
We must watch and pray always which includes family prayer.
In last October’s General Conference, Elder Richard G Scott said.
“Parents, help safeguard your children by arming them morning and night with the power of family prayer. Children are bombarded every day with the evils of lust, greed, pride, and a host of other sinful behaviors. Protect your children from daily worldly influences by fortifying them with the powerful blessings that result from family prayer. Family prayer should be a nonnegotiable priority in your daily life.”
In Elder Eyring’s priesthood talk in April, he says we must always pray for the Holy Ghost to be our guide. This applies to all not just to the priesthood:
“As a priesthood holder, you are to be part of the warning voice of the Lord. But you need to heed the warning yourself. You will not survive spiritually without the protection of the companionship of the Holy Ghost in your daily life.
You must pray for it and work to have it. Only with that guide will you be able to find your way along the strait and narrow path through the mists of evil.
You must pray that God will bless you with His Spirit, that He will lead you into all truth and show you the right way. That is how He will warn and guide you into the right path in your life and in your priesthood service.”
I would also have to say like Elder Scott that praying for the Holy Ghost to be your guide should be a nonnegotiable priority in your daily life.
We Pray to Express Gratitude
The Savior was perfect and didn’t need to pray for repentance and yet he prayed often. As we read in the new testament and in the Book of Mormon, many of Christ’s prayers were prayers of thankfulness to his Father in Heaven. He set the example for us to always express our gratitude for our blessings. In D&C 59:7 it says:
7 Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.
Prayer allows us to keep that commandment as well. That’s why we should always be thankful in our prayers.
We Pray to Bless Others
Our Savior was an example of praying to bless others. He loved to bless the children. He prayed for the Nephite people and the words were so wondrous and marvelous that they could not be written. So we follow his example and pray for others so they can be blessed.
My daughter Mina told us of an experience during a Family Home Evening. She saw a boy after school being picked on by a group of bullies. Mostly harmful words, nothing physical. She went to the boy and talked to him and became friends. He said they do it a lot. She prayed for the boy that the bullies would stop. About a week later at school he stopped her in the hallways and told her they don’t pick on him anymore.
We all know people that need our prayers. Don’t ever lose faith and stop praying for people. It may not seem like we have any effect and we may not get to see the results but our faith and prayers are heard by the Lord. James 5:16 says:
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (or woman or child) availeth much.
We Pray to Build a Relationship with Heavenly Father
Prayer is how we can build a loving and trusting relationship with our Father in Heaven. In the October 2014 General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott spoke of 4 tools to help our faith and the first was prayer.
“The first tool is prayer. Choose to converse with your Father in Heaven often. Make time every day to share your thoughts and feelings with Him. Tell Him everything that concerns you. He is interested in the most important as well as the most mundane facets of your life. Share with Him your full range of feelings and experiences.
Because He respects your agency, Father in Heaven will never force you to pray to Him. But as you exercise that agency and include Him in every aspect of your daily life, your heart will begin to fill with peace, buoyant peace. That peace will focus an eternal light on your struggles. It will help you to manage those challenges from an eternal perspective.”
I like how he says that Heavenly Father is interested in every facet of our lives whether it is important or mundane and that we can share with him our full range of feelings and experiences. One night I was doing just that in my prayer. I was expressing some worries and complaints that my wife might have to get a full-time job because our bills have gone up, but we still wanted her to be home with the kids. I was telling Heavenly Father that we’ve been paying tithes and doing our best to be frugal. I was questioning the timing of buying a new car which made more bills. Our older one was over 20 years old so we felt good about it at the time when we prayed about getting a new one. Well the very next day at work after I said that prayer my supervisor gave me a heads up that a position opened up that they want me to fill. I could take it or not. To make a long story short, after a few weeks I started in that position only after asking for a bump in pay. So now we can pay our bills and Candi can still be home with the kids. My old job was 5 minutes away and the new one 20 minutes away, so I don’t think my old car would handle that drive for very long so even the timing of the new car was right. I was humbled and am forever grateful to my Heavenly Father. He knows the end from the beginning and hears our soul’s complaints and will time things just as they are supposed to be.
We Pray to Seek Guidance
When problems and decisions in life are just too serious to figure out on our own we can seek guidance from our Father in Heaven in prayer. Nephi showed how he sought the Lord’s guidance in 1 Nephi 18:3.
3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.
Nephi went somewhere secluded and quiet to pray often and that was on a mountain. A mountain top was the next best thing to a temple. Today we can go to actual temples to pray or find some place secluded at home. Or there are plenty of mountains around to use if you want.
When Candi and I were deciding whether we should have our 5th child, we took that decision to Lord. We fasted then went to the Celestial room in the Temple to pray. And just like Nephi, the Lord showed great things, to my wife not me, although I was sitting right next to her. I have to strain the hear the still small voice, my wife has visions and stuff. As we prayed in the celestial room together a young woman with long wavy hair came to her and said she is waiting for us. So we planned on having a girl and she’s right over there, our little angel... because she was an actual angel not because she behaves well.
Turn to our Father in Heaven in prayer for guidance, he will be there to help.
We Pray to Consecrate Our Performance
It’s always wonderful to hear that the importance of prayer is sinking into the hearts of your children. My daughter Leila shared an experience when she and Mina were going to perform a tahitian number at a cousin’s wedding reception. When they practiced a few minutes before they were to go on they kept doing a lot of mistakes so they stopped and said a prayer for help. Then they went out and gave a mistake-free performance. It reminds me of the scripture in 2 Nephi 32:9.
9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.
Every day for us is another performance before our Father in Heaven which most of the time, for me anyway, won’t be mistake-free. But as the scripture says, let’s not perform anything save in the first place we shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate your performance for the welfare of your soul. So how does the prayer for a good dance performance help with the welfare of my daughter’s souls? Well they now have a stronger testimony in the power of prayer and they will more readily put their faith and trust in Heavenly Father in the future, to seek forgiveness, strength, guidance and to bless others.
Testimony
