So I had to teach this past Sunday in the High Priest group. What is really odd is that I am the youngest of the group and trying to teach men who have been Bishops, High Council, and various other callings. But here it is.
This weeks lesson was on Prayer. To teach this lesson, I decided to decided to use the Who, What, Where, When, Why, & How process. It went over quite well. So let's begin.
Who should pray? This was answered very quickly with "Everyone!". But is this true? Should everyone pray? Even those who do not believe in a Greater Power?
My answer is yes, everyone should pray. Whether you believe in God, Mother Nature, Flying Spaghetti Monster, whatever. Everyone should pray.
This leads into Why.
Why should we pray? Prayer has been an important part of Faith and Religion since the beginning of time. We need to pray to help us in resisting temptation and to help us stay on the straight and narrow path back to our Heavenly Father. We also need to pray to help us feel closer to God and to have Him be a part of our lives. Someone in the class also mentioned that we should also pray to thank Him for our blessings and for all that he does for us, and has done for us.
This then leads into When.
When should we pray? The easy answer here is "Always" (Doctrine & Covenants 10:5). Of course we should always be praying by keeping Him in our thoughts, but WHEN should we pray? There is the food prayers, family prayers, individual prayers, couples prayers for those that are married, and those times when we need some extra guidance or comfort. There is NO WRONG TIME TO PRAY!!!!!!
Then comes What.
What is prayer? Prayer is a way for us to communicate to our father in Heaven. To stay close to Him, to share our delight with Him, to share our sorrows with Him. Prayer is that personal and direct communication with Him. It is a way for us to feel connected to something bigger than this world. It is a way for us to NOT feel like we are all alone. There are a lot of people struggling who feel alone in this world, who feel like no one is there for them. This is how I felt shortly after my divorce. Someone (my Mom) told me that I needed to pray. There is more behind this, but that will come later. After I prayed that night for the first time in many, many years, a peaceful feeling came over me and I felt like I was no longer alone with my troubles.
Where should we pray? We never got this far in the lesson on Sunday as we ran out of time, but I thought I would pose it here. The lesson manual never covered it either, so it's free reign. Of course this all depends on the situation and the circumstances of where you are. We are commanded to pray in private, but what does that mean? Does that mean the we pray only when no one is around? But what about Church meetings? What about Family prayers? I think that this means more like we are not to be boastful about our praying. We are to do it, but not announce that we are doing it to the world in a prideful manner. I would enjoy hearing others thoughts on this as well. So please feel free to leave and thoughts in the comments.
Finally How do we pray? No matter where we are, whether we stand or kneel, whether we pray vocally or silently, whether we pray privately or in behalf of a group we should ALWAYS pray in faith, "with a sincere heart, with real intent" (Moroni 10:4). Of course as young children we are taught that there should be a certain pattern to our prayer.We usually open with "Heavenly Father" or "Father in Heaven" or something similar. Then we thank Him for our blessings. Sometimes this list is long, sometimes it's not. Then we ask Him for help or for help on behalf of others. We ask for blessings that we would like or desire. Then we close with "In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen". The very first line in the lesson manual is as follows: "Jesus taught, "Ye must always pray unto the Father in my name" (3 Nephi 18:19).
The power of Prayer is incredible. If I hadn't knelt that night and prayed after my Mom had mentioned it, my life would be completely different. I wouldn't be where I am today without that first step of prayer "with a sincere heart, with real intent".
I hope that you enjoyed this post and will continue to come back and continue to enjoy what I post.
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ReplyDeletegreat post! i was just talking about this the other day while visit teaching. the 2 words that came up often were, humble and spirit. i think when we pray we need to be humble enough to accept His answer or lack of answer at that time. makes a big difference.
ReplyDeleteas we are commanded to pray in private, i feel at times it is important to allow others to hear you pray. in a troublesome situation with others, non-members/ less actives, it may be by the spirit to help that person see your faith, and feel the spirit themselves. it's also a great missonary oppertunity.
that being said, if you are seeking personal revealation, that should be done in private to be free from distraction to be in tune with the spirit. there is a reason why it's called personal prayer.
you and i are very fortunate to have wonderful, life changing experiences with prayer, that i will be forever thankful for.
love ya!!
ps. the deleted comment was from me.... logged in the wrong account. oops!!