In my Sunday school class a long time ago the topic of discussion moved to prayers and answers to those prayers. A man about 38 raise his hand and said something like “you can talk all you want about answers to prayers but I have been praying my whole life and have never received an answer.” this troubled me deeply.
Prayer
is one of the greatest blessings we have while we are here on earth. Through
prayer we can communicate with our Heavenly Father and seek his guidance daily.
We are all children of God. He loves
us and knows our needs, and He wants us to communicate with Him through prayer.
We should pray to Him and no one else. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded, 3 Nephi 18:19 "Ye must always pray unto the Father in my
name". As we make a habit of approaching God in prayer, we will come to
know Him and draw ever nearer to Him. Our desires will become more like His. So that should be
our goal, to have our desires in line with his. We then will be able to secure for ourselves and for
others blessings that He is ready to give if we will but ask in faith.
Always
give thanks to Heavenly Father. We should "live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and
blessings which he doth bestow upon [us]" (Alma 34:38). As we take time to remember our blessings, we will recognize how much
our Heavenly Father has done for us. We should express our thanks to Him. Receiving Answers to Prayer
The Savior taught, (Matthew 7:7–8)"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened". To the Nephites in (3 Nephi 18:20) He said, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you".
Heavenly Father hears our prayers. He may not always answer as we expect, but He does answer—in His own time and according to His will. Because He knows what is best for us,
Answers to prayer
come in many ways.
One answer to a faithful prayer is illustrated through the
experience of Oliver Cowdery, an early elder of the Church, when he attempted
to help with translating the Book of Mormon. He was told to "study it out
in [his] mind" and, if his translation were right, it would be confirmed with
a burning in his bosom; if wrong, a "stupor of thought" would come (D&C 9:8-9). When prayers are answered, one experiences peace of mind
and assurance that God has heard, even though the answer may be no. The
Savior's submissiveness as he prayed in Gethsemane shows us a good example when
he said: "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42).
Answers often come in different ways to all of us like; through the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost; this may come as feelings, impressions or sudden inspirations. They may come in the circumstances of our lives or through the kind acts of those around us. Often God gives us the power to help answer our own prayers. We can ask the lord for help in understanding how he talks to us, so that we can become more acquainted with it.
I did this once when following the challenge of my steak president. I prayed for help in understanding how he talks to me. I found that after I would pray for something and then that situation would play out that I would get a “run down” form the spirit telling “do you remember when you had that feeling not to go, but you did and it didn’t turnout good for you? Well that was me talking to you, helping you. I continued to pray for his help in knowing how he spoke to me and through many of these experiences I started to see how the spirit would talk to me and help me if I would listen, and better yet how to tell the promptings from my own thoughts and feelings.
Sometimes the answer will be yes; sometimes, no; sometimes, wait; sometimes, not yet; and sometimes he will let us work it out ourselves. We need to listen and remember how the Holy Ghost talks to us so we can more readily heed its promptings. Heavenly Father knows what is best for us, and he will give us “good things” or the things that will help us the most, because he loves us. He will answer our sincere prayers. And we can partake of those answers if we are prepared and listening.
As we continue to draw near to our Heavenly Father through prayer, we will recognize more readily His merciful and wise answers to our pleadings. We will find that He is our "refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Sometimes we do not realize that Heavenly Father has answered our prayers, but later we see that he has given us an answer.
So how can we know how and what to pray for?
Alma 7:23 "I would
that ye should be humble,…asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both
spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things
ye do receive"
Seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost so we will know what to include in our prayers. The Holy Ghost can teach us to pray and guide us in the things we say (He can help us pray "according to the will of God"
3rd Nephi 19:24 And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire. So we can see from this scripture that if we pray with the help of the Holy Ghost we will know what to pray for and how to pray.
D&C 46:30 He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to
the will of God; wherefore it
is done even as he asketh.
o
President Spencer W. Kimball commented,
"In all our prayers, it is well to use the pronouns thee, thou,
thy, and thine instead of you, your, and yours
inasmuch as they have come to indicate respect" (p. 201). Unnecessary
repetition of God's name is avoided,
The Church uses set
prayers only in temple ordinances, in the two Sacrament prayers, and in the
baptismal prayer. "By revelation the Lord has given the Church…set prayers
for use in our sacred ordinances…. [These] relate to the Atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ, his crucifixion, and his burial and resurrection. All of the
ordinances in which we use these prayers place us under solemn covenants of
obedience to God" (Kimball et al., p. 56). In all other instances,
Latter-day Saints express themselves in their own words.
o
·
Preparation
for prayer
o
A tranquil time and place allow quiet
contemplation on the specific requests one may make. Joseph Smith went to a
nearby grove to pray for an answer to his question, and received his glorious
vision. Job was told, "Prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands
toward him" (Job 11:13).
Alma 2 listed the qualities of a heart prepared for prayer: "I
would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be
entreated; full of patience and long-suffering…being diligent in keeping the
commandments of God…. And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then
ye will always abound in good works" (Alma 7:23-24).
Moroni 2 stressed the need for "a sincere heart,…real intent,…[and]
faith in Christ" (Moro. 10:4).
No comments:
Post a Comment