Pray Always.

HELP FOR HUMP DAY

My talk went great on Sunday. I was so nervous, my voice was getting scratchy during the opening hymn and I was so afraid it would get bad. It was just fine. Reading my talk went fine, I made some slip ups and had to correct myself, but it was no biggie. I felt the spirit and I like to believe the congregation did too! Adam's talk was on the Priesthood but it complemented mine so many times and they just worked together so nicely!

I was so blessed and guided to write my talk. I am so thankful to have this opportunity and I learned so much! I may speak English but if you read my blog you know I make TONS of gramatical errors, don't try to pick those out and you'll get more from this! Also, it would be great if I had the color and enlarging options on my computer and my old blogger account, those would help make all these words more inviting to read. Any how- I hope you learn something inspirational from my super long talk that will help you push through the rest of your week. Sunday is just around the corner!

K.I.T
November 11
This morning I was having doubt in prayer and I didn’t have great things to say about it. Then while I was getting ready for church I had the feeling that prayer was going to be taught to me, even if it was just to me. Well, sacrament started with the hymn “Did you think to pray?” and the talks are on prayer. Perhaps this was just for me. Maybe I should pay attention.
Maybe you should pay attention for the sirens have sounded and this wonderful advice to pray always has been heard, over and over again!!

We learn to pray by praying. Prayer is simple and sincere. Being in nursery I get the opportunity hear the prayers of children. I am sure I don’t get the extent of your family prayers where they bless everything and everyone. However, it is wonderful to see how eager they are to be the one to pray. They do not sit back and wait to be called on. They all raise their hands and they want to pray! Perhaps we were all like this at one time. Somewhere in our lives as we got older we found ourselves less eager to stand in front of the class and address our Heavenly Father for the blessings we have, for the needs of our loves ones, and to let Heavenly Father know everything that is going on in our lives.

Spenser W. Kimball, a former President of the church, tells us: “We all are under heavy obligation to our Lord. None of us has reached perfection. To pray is required of all men like chastity is required, and Sabbath observance, and tithing, and living the Word of Wisdom, attending meetings, and entering into celestial marriage. As truly as any other, this is a commandment of the Lord.”

Let’s play pretend:
Imagine that Heavenly Father sent us down with a yearbook. All the things that have happened in the past and are happening while were here on earth are being recorded. Records for us to remember the good times, the bad times, and all the stories of him who was most likely to succeed, best dressed, most spirited, and friendliest in the class. Many times through out these scriptures we are addressed and commanded to watch and pray always. The Lord has his signature and advice for our future all over these books. He signs it K.I.T, Your Heavenly Father. For many of you who don’t understand these acronyms going around on texts, K.I.T means Keep In Touch!

I am sure we all have felt times where we tell ourselves: “He just isn’t listening.”, “I am just talking to the bed?”, “I don’t know what to say so I’ll make this fast.” Through my experience and battle with prayer I have discovered a solution. Let me share with you my magic trick to prayer. I have shared this before but it works. The smallest prayer in the world, Heavenly Father, do you love me? He will answer, instant gratification. We just have to exercise faith! Ezra Taft Benson reminds us “if we don’t feel like praying, then we should pray until we do feel like praying.”

Can I just speak to Lord? Can I pray when I don’t need help? Do I have to be crying every time? Why are my prayers so different when things are harder vs. when everything is great? How long should my prayers be?
Is this outline necessary for effective and meaningful prayers? No.

Pray shouldn’t be this hard. If our sweet, innocent children understand that they should have a communication with God because he is their Father. How is it we lose sight of how easy and effortless it is to commune with God.

Heavenly Father signs K.I.T but unlike our friends in our high school year books whom we haven’t talked to in years and years. Heavenly Father says Pray ALWAYS! Luke reminded us, Men ought always to pray and not faint, in Psalms we read that we should pray Morning, Night, and Noon. In the Book of Mormon when Jesus taught and restored unto the people of Nephi the order of prayer, HE commanded that the multitude should not cease to pray in there hearts.
I have too struggled with prayer. It was so hard, I always felt behind. How could I actually pray for everything and everyone? I don’t have enough time. I’m not in the mood. I’m too tired. Whatever the excuse was. Then I learned I didn’t like to pray because it wasn’t profiting me, I wasn’t feeling ALL of its effects because I was doing it without purpose. The Prophet Mormon warned that if anyone “shall pray and not with real intent of heart…it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such”. We should pray with sincerity and “ with all energy of heart”. Elder David A. Bednar of the twelve apostles reminds that “if we pray sincerely for that which is right and good and in accordance with God’s will, we can be blessed, protected, and directed.”

A familiar quote by President Spenser W. Kimball reads: “Prayer falls into at least two categories. There are the formal prayers where we kneel regularly. Here we talk to Lord more intimately. We pray for some of the same things as in our family prayers, but more for our immediate and pressing needs. We express our innermost thoughts. We confess our weaknesses. We plead for help to overcome and for forgiveness of our transgressions. We bare our souls… Then there are the personal prayers, which are less formal. We always have a prayer in our hearts that we may do our best on the football field, that we may remember the things we have learned when the test is on, that we may be impressive to our friends. We pray as we stand to speak, as we walk, and as we drive.”

When Pres. Kimball says less formal prayers, he doesn’t mean less respectful. We are instructed to always use language that shows love, respect, reverence, and closeness. Heavenly Father loves you and is your friend but he is not the same as you. Praise him, for he knows all. Respect him and address him as the Omnipotent being he is. This is the first step in making your prayer more meaningful.

Praying takes steps. Meaningful prayer takes work. In this fragile life we live where any second we can break. We need to have the instructions on how to care for our lives. We have the yearbook, now we need to pick up the phone and communicate with our Father so he can guide us, protect us, and bless us. Heavenly Father says K.I.T, Keep In Touch!


K
Keep Others in Your Prayers!
We should offer prayers “for our welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around [us].”
Adam has 10 brothers and sisters. At night I would forget what and whom I wanted to pray about and I know I missed someone. And when I hear “I’ll put you in my prayers” I would just smile nicely but thought it was just something people say. It is for this purpose that Heavenly Father commanded we have a prayer in our heart always. That is how we do not forget things we want to pray about. If it comes up we pray for it, if it is still bothering us throughout the day we address it in our formal prayers. Let us pray for our loved ones, our loved ones loved ones, our neighbors who are dear friends and those who are strangers. Let us love them and want greater for them. Let us also pray for those who hurt and who hurt us.

I have been blessed with compassion for my brothers and sisters. Sometimes it is a difficult gift because I hurt for Heavenly Fathers children and if I made a list throughout the day of whom I needed to pray for at the end of the night I would be there for hours. This is why our year book advice is to pray always, in your heart send a up a prayer for your friends & family who lost their job, for that pretty girl on the street corner, pray for your local leaders, your national leaders, pray for your fellow ward members those who attend and those who have be offended or have allowed themselves to become blind and lost.

As we pray for others we will be blessed as well. Take time in your busy days to send up a prayer for all of those around you.
Prayer becomes more meaningful when we pray for others.

I
Identify your blessings. Give Thanks!
The former Prophet Ezra Taft Benson once said, “There is a great tendency for us in our prayers and in our pleadings with the Lord to ask for additional blessings. But sometimes I feel we need to devote more of our prayers to expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for blessings already received.

During family prayer I had so many things I needed. I began to pray about jobs, family, help, and I kept asking for more things. My sweet husband quietly slipped in a “we thank thee for ”. I was taken aback. We are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, on whom we depend for everything we enjoy. Sadly, I felt like I had to think about something I am thankful for, I quickly plugged it in and jumped right back to the things I needed help in, and I heard again “we thank thee for”. I guess I didn’t get it the first time. After our prayer he apologized for interrupting and it was kind of a joking reminder for him because when he was a child his dad would butt in and slip in a few intro’s of “we thank thee for’s”! He was taught to always have a “I’m thankful for” along with every “please help me with”.

Elder Bednar told a story last conference where they found out a dear friend had died. That same day they were housing an apostle of the Lord who was coming to speak at BYU-I. That night the member of the twelve joined them for family prayer. Unaware of the tragedy he suggested that in the prayer Sister Bednar express only appreciations for blessings received and ask for nothing. In painful times like this the first thing we want to do is request blessings and we forget all about expressing thanks. Sister Bednar was faithful and did as she was directed. She thanked Heavenly Father for meaningful and memorable experiences with that friend. She gave thanks for the Holy Ghost and the gifts of the comforter that helps us face adversity. She expressed appreciation for the plan of salvation, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and His Resurrection. And for the covenants of the restored gospel which makes it possible for families to be together forever. From that prayer they learned a great lesson in the power of thankfulness. Their thankfulness of the plan of salvation and the Savior’s mission of salvation provided the reassurance and strengthened their confidence that all would be well with their friends. They also received the things they should pray and appropriately ask for in faith.

A key to improve prayer is to learn to ask the right questions. Consider changing from asking for the things you want to honestly seeking what He wants for you. -Richard G. Scott. Through the help of the Holy Ghost we will know what we should pray for.

Challenge yourself during your prayer to double your “I’m thankful for’s” over your “please help me with’s” Heavenly Father already knows what you need, he desires for you to ask the correct things, in the correct ways, and be thankful for all you’ve already been given. Alma preaches to “Live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which (the Lord) doth bestow upon us.”

Prayer becomes more meaningful when we express gratitude.

T
Touch on everything that is going on.
“Let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord.”
How would you feel if your friend looked up your number in the back of her yearbook and called you up at the same time everyday and said the same thing everyday hurrying to finish this chore so she could get back to whatever she was doing that was much more important to her. Any one of us would be offended and probably a little confused. We should avoid the same phrases in each prayer.
In a similar example your child calls for you, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”. Don’t they know your not ignoring them? You’re right there, you’re going to answer and help them with their needs. Do we often find ourselves as this child? O Father, O Father, O Father. If we find ourselves asking for the same thing every night we need to ask for faith to be still and have patience. Then the next day try hard to focus on something different. Do not learn to pray with your lips. Do not memorize but talk to your Heavenly Father and discuss every aspect of your life.

Heed to Alma’s instruction to “Cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and withersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all they thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. 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 they heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”

Morning and evening prayers are kneeling prayers. These prayers are not to be long for they are linked to and a continuation of each other.
In the Morning after expressing our “thank you for’s” perhaps we plead for understanding and direction. Then we ask for help to do the things we cannot do on our own. We then reflect on occasions where we may have not done just as we should. We recognize that we know better. We express remorse for weaknesses and determine to pattern our life after the Savior more completely. We plead for greater strength to do and become better.
Throughout the day we are working on becoming better, we are counting our blessings, and praying for others. We are really striving to correct our bad behavior and exercise more faith.
At night we report back, review events, express thanks, repent, and identify ways we can become better tomorrow. If we were praying throughout the day our summary at night should be fairly short. This is the time for listening and giving praise.
Elder Bednar adds that Morning and Evening prayers- and all those in between- are not un related, discrete events, rather, they are linked together each day and across days, weeks, months, and even years.

The words to this song reminds me how our daily prayers are linked together and we truly can obey the commandment to pray always, it reads: “I get up every morning with hope inside my heart running through my every day routine. I ask for love and guidance and strength to do my part anticipating what the day will bring. On my knees I stand much taller. On my knees where living water fills my needs. In my heart I see what he sees in me. Then I find myself again on my knees. My soul is filled with gratitude for tender mercies given. It reaches out to those I love and draws my heart toward heaven. On my knees I stand much taller. On my knees where living water fills my needs. In my heart I see what he sees in me. I always find myself again, on my knees.”
Prayer becomes more meaningful as we counsel with the Lord in all our doings.

We must make our prayers MEANINGFUL, full of substance and reason! Make it full of quality and significance.
In our year book Heavenly Father wrote K.I.T. You know his number, you know he is there, and he will listen to you. K.I.T. Keep in touch!

I testify that Prayer becomes meaningful when I pray for others with a real intent, and express heartfelt gratitude. Prayer becomes more meaningful when I remember that I am talking to The Almighty God, he wants to hear everything that is going on in my life, he wants to guide me, mold me, and direct me. He wants to bless me and I want to grow closer to him!

This is my new motto: Life is fragile, Handle with Prayer. I say these things with love in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen