The man who cannot pray can never find peace. The man who will not pray must be his own god. The man who knows not how to pray is lost. The man who forgets to pray is captive.
But the man who righteously and earnestly prays to his God in the worthy name of Jesus Christ, be he at the moment saint or sinner, shall find rest unto his soul. How should we pray? The following five steps are suggestions for seeking the Lord through prayer.
- Believe in Jesus Christ. In a time of educated unbelief such as ours the first challenge of prayer is to believe sincerely in Jesus Christ. If we have truly received the gospel message, we have also received divine witness that Jesus was and is the Son of the living God, that he as a perfect man and merciful God wrought an atonement for our souls, and is an all-powerful, all-knowing, benevolent being. He is able to help us with every problem and to save us from all of our enemies. But it is one thing to entertain even correct ideas about abstract theological attributes of our God; it is quite another thing to embrace those ideas with a trust that will make such ideas the basis of our decisions and actions. This is not blind faith, but implicit belief through the abundant sufficient evidence which the witness of the Spirit brings as the basis for true prayers. If we believe in Jesus Christ, we will love him for all he has done for us, for his suffering, for his sacrifice, for his selflessness.
If we believe in Jesus Christ, we will trust that he is everywhere in his power to bless and save. If we believe in Jesus Christ, we will serve him as the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One of Israel. We will honor him as the Lord and Master of all the pure in heart; give him the homage of serving him with all of our mind, might, and strength. And we will gladly give, sorry only that we do not have more to offer.
It is not who we are, it is not where we pray, it is not the words we say that makes for great prayer. It is the strength of our feelings, it is the penetration of our conscious thought, it is the depth of our humility, it is the power of our love, it is the sincerity of our belief that makes our prayers real.
- Pray as you have need. One pitfall we should not fall into in our praying is vain repetition: the saying of the same words and phrases over and over again without really thinking about what we are saying. One good way to avoid this pitfall is to remember to pray as we have need. The situation and circumstance of almost every prayer will be different from all others. If we will consciously think over our needs, then pray exactly as we have need, then our prayers will be neither repetitious nor vain. We will be grateful, praise our maker, share sorrow with him and request his help.
This is not to suppose that our only need is to ask for favors and blessings. These we should indeed ask for; though our Father knows all our needs even before we ask him, yet he desires that we choose good things and desire them through our Savior. But as we have need to give thanks to the One who so richly blesses us, we should thank him. As we have need to rejoice and share the treasured moments of supreme happiness that come to us as we live the gospel, who better could we tell about our happiness than our Father in Heaven? As we sorrow in the manifold tribulations of mortality, who will more willingly share our burden and receive the anguished outpourings of our soul than our Father in Heaven? As we seek understanding to know why things are as they are, our Father will be our companion in the labor of our analysis. As we strive for wisdom, we will seek to pray that we might act in a manner that will solve problems and bless others. He who has overcome all is delighted to hear us and guide us. As we have need that is genuine and righteous, the Lord is glad to bless us spiritually, intellectually and physically.
What is the ultimate need we mortals have? As we progress in spirituality through prayer and righteous living, the time will come when we shall see that of ourselves we do not know what is good for us. Then as little children we will rely on the love, power and knowledge of our God, claiming the promise of the scriptures: “And if ye are cleansed and purified from all sin, ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done. But know this, it shall be given you what you shall ask.” (D&C 50:29–30)
Is there any matter too trivial to take to the Lord? The answer is that there is nothing trivial about any human being in the all-encompassing love of the Lord. Not even a hair of our head falls to the ground unnoticed. Let us heed the admonition of Alma: “Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let thy thought be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.” (Alma 37:36)
- Pray always. The life of a true Latter-day Saint becomes more and more a never-ending two-way conversation with the Lord. As each of us takes the covenant of baptism and as we renew that covenant in partaking of the sacrament, we promise to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, to remember him always, and to keep his commandments which he has given us. The Lord promises us that if we do these things, we shall always have his spirit to be with us. Always we will have the guidance, the light, the comfort, the gifts, that come from the Savior through the Holy Ghost! Always we may hear the voice of the Lord, to know what is true, what is wise, what is good. Is this not indeed a pearl of great price? For this a man should be willing to give all that he has. And he will do it if he loves righteousness and even begins to understand the worth of this great pearl.
But what is it that we must do to enjoy this great gift? It is simply to keep our promises. As we keep the commandments of God, we become worthy of and able to bear all blessings. But we know the commandments of God only through his spirit. We receive the spirit as we remember him always and honor his name. And what more significant way is there to remember him always than to pray in his name continuously? Note the witness of Amulek: “Yea, cry unto him for mercy, for he is mighty to save. Yea, humble yourselves and continue in prayer unto him. Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea over all your flocks. Cry unto him when ye are in your houses, yea over all your household, both morning, mid-day and evening. … But this is not all ye must pour out your souls in your closets and your secret places, and in your wilderness. Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare and also for the welfare of those who are around you.” (Alma 34:18–27)
- Reinforce prayer with fasting. The great damper upon spirituality is lack of self-control, giving way to the bestial impulses that beset all of us. One of the great challenges of this probationary mortality is to see if we, as a rational, intelligent personality, can learn to govern completely the magnificent machine each of us has for a physical tabernacle. The body of itself has many cravings, desires, impulses, passions. It is these passions, physical and social, that the adversary uses to ensnare us in his powerful bonds. But the satisfaction of body needs and the use of our bodies to accomplish good are important parts of receiving a fulness of joy. The matter can be stated simply: If our passions control us, we are minions of the adversary. If we control our passions and allow them satisfaction only within the bounds of righteousness as prescribed by the Lord, then we are children of the Most High.
Fasting, the temporary abstaining of food, drink or other physical satisfaction, is the God-given way of overcoming and subjecting our own physical tabernacles. As we exercise control, we gain power over our bodies. As we use this control to do good works, we gain power in the Holy Spirit, which gives us the possibility of even greater control over the physical body.
Every good thing is available to those who love the Lord. Fasting is not a denial of the flesh but rather a training of the flesh to do the will of God and thereby to receive a fullness. Thus it is that fasting is a special key to help us make our prayers more efficacious through righteousness. To all who would truly serve him the Lord has said: “I give unto you a commandment that ye shall continue in prayer and fasting from this time forth.” (D&C 88:76) Can we understand and profit by this counsel?
- Heed the Lord and he will heed you. How many persons have said “I don’t think my prayers are getting past the ceiling.” Our Father hears all prayers, but doubtless as far as getting any result goes, many times it is as though the prayer was never uttered. How can we be assured of doing better than that?
We must remember always that it is the purpose and delight of our Father and his Son to bless their children with all good things. But in their mercy they give us only those blessings which we can stand, and we can stand blessings only in direct proportion to how well we have learned to live the gospel. Let us not suppose that when we are obedient to the Lord, we earn a blessing; thought he receiving of blessings is always predicated upon the fulfillment of law, the blessing is almost always a result quite out of proportion to the effort we put forth to fulfill the law. The purpose of the law is then mainly to give us the strength to cope with the blessing when we receive it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the message of a pattern of life wherein we may be prepared by God to receive a fullness of all blessings.
Is it any wonder then that our prayers are effective only when we are obedient? It is the just reproof of a guilty conscience which makes us doubt the worth of our own prayers. And it is the spiritual witness of worthiness to receive that makes a righteous man mighty in prayer. If we cannot hearken when the Lord entreats and entices us to become worthy and capable of receiving blessings through living his commandments, can the Lord hearken to us? To live by one’s conscience in all things is the key to righteousness, and righteousness is the key to all blessings. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16)
The light that shineth in darkness commends us to pray, thus to enjoy communion with the Spirit and to prepare to fulfill the end and purpose of our existence when we are reunited with our Maker. Truly, no words can express fully the manner not the rewards of effective prayer. These are known only by our own careful experiment and experience. But we can say that in and through God-given opportunities of prayer lies everything good which eternity can offer. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matthew 7:7)