God knows our needs, thoughts and desires, but the purpose of prayer
is not to get God aligned with our will, but us aligned with his.
1 Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may
conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of
Satan that do uphold his work.
2 When prayer works as it should, we express the feelings of our
hearts in simple words. Heavenly Father typically answers by putting
thoughts in our minds accompanied by feelings. He always hears the
sincere prayer we offer when we pray with a commitment to obey Him,
whatever His answer and whenever it comes.
3 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?--If ye will
not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall
receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these
things shall be made known unto you.
4 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your
mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will
cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel
that it is right.
5 Sometimes, when our prayers are not answered as we desire, we may
feel the Lord has rejected us or that our prayer was in vain. We may
begin to doubt our worthiness before God, or even the reality and
power of prayer. That is when we must continue to pray with patience
and faith and to listen for that peace.
6 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I
will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye
shall search for me with all your heart.
7 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the
locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will
I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their
land.
8 Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall
be your blessing--yea, even more than if you should obtain treasures
of earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof.
9 If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication,
that your souls may be joyful.
10 There are the personal prayers which are less formal. We always
have a prayer in our hearts that we may do our best, that we may
appear well, that we may remember the things we have learned. We pray
as we stand to speak, as we walk, as we drive. We remember our
friends, our enemies. We pray for wisdom and judgment. We pray for
protection in dangerous places and for strength in moments of
temptation. We utter momentary prayers in word or thought, aloud or in
the deepest silence. Can one do evil when honest prayers are in his
heart and on his lips?
11 And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea,
with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my
words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your
repentance; but that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and
call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not
be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy
Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and
all long-suffering; having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye
shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your
hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his
rest.
12 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
13 What are some common problems that may be holding us back from
receiving answers? One is that we ask impatiently. We sometimes expect
the Lord to give us immediate answers. But he hasn�ft promised
that--and sometimes it�fs for our good that he waits. Sometimes when
the Lord doesn�ft answer our questions immediately--or within a day,
or a week, or a month--we assume that he isn�ft going to answer them
at all. That, of course, is a serious mistake. As long as we continue
in our prayers we have the promise of an answer. But we�fve never been
promised an answer to questions that we don�ft ask and we�fve never
been promised an immediate answer.
A second problem is that we don�ft listen. Our senses are constantly
bombarded with other information: we kneel to pray and feel the floor
under our knees or our arms folded across our chests; a truck rumbles
past the house; rain hits the window pane; the clock ticks loudly in
the corner. No wonder it�fs difficult to find enough spiritual quiet
to hear the things the Lord is trying to tell us. But we can make
things even worse by failing to make a real effort to listen. We utter
our prayers, even with feeling and sincerity, and then immediately
rise and jump into bed, rise and run to work, rise and converse with a
family member about non-related concerns.
How can the Lord get us to hear an answer under those conditions? It
takes practice and patience to learn how to receive spiritual
communications in the best of circumstances. Again, the difficulty is
not with the Lord; it is with us. I believe he will give us answers
rather freely, but if we are not listening or if we are not in tune,
we may not receive or understand the answer. The result is that we may
think the Lord is not even listening, when the real problem is that
we�fre not listening.
14 �gA person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the
spirit of revelation, for instance, when you feel pure intelligence
flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas so that by
noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; that is,
those things that were presented into your minds by the Spirit of God
will come to pass, and thus learning by the spirit of God and
understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation until
you become perfect in Christ Jesus.�h (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, Section 3, subheading 2 from the end, p. 151.)
15 I�fm afraid I�fm making this all sound very complicated. Actually
it isn�ft once we learn. When we righteously seek help and counsel
from the Lord, remembering the principles we�fve considered here,
we�fll grow in our ability to receive and interpret the answers to our
prayers.
16 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the
ministry of the word.
17 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee
for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord,
that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the
morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these
things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.
18 Pray to Him. Thank Him for all that is good in your life. Ask Him
to know what individuals He has placed in your way for you to serve.
Plead that He will help you give that service. Pray so that you can
forgive and so that you can be forgiven. Then serve them, love them,
and forgive them.
19 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and
his raiment was white and glistering.
20 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. And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them
as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them,
and the light of his countenance did shine upon them, and behold they
were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and
behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even
there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof.
21 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the
energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath
bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ;
that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this
hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
Younger Elder Brooksby
1-D&C 10:5
2-The Prayer of Faith by Henry B. Eyring, October 2014 Liahona
3-1 Nephi 15:11
4-D&C 9:8
5-Peace through Prayer by Rex D. Pinegar, April 1993 General Conference
6-Jeremiah 29:12-13
7-2 Chronicles 7:13-14
8-D&C 19:38
9-D&C 136:29
10-Prayer by Spencer W. Kimball, March 1980 Liahona
11-Alma 13:27-29
12-Matthew 26:41
13-Questions and Answers by Lindsay R. Curtis, July 1980 Liahona
14-Revelation and You by Harold B. Lee, February 1980 Liahona
15-Questions and Answers by Lindsay R. Curtis, July 1980 Liahona
16-Acts 6:4
17-Alma 37:37
18-The Priesthood Man by Henry B. Eyring, April 2014 General Conference
19-Luke 9:29
20-3 Nephi 19:24-25
21-Moroni 7:48
