“Pray for Each Sister by Name,” Ensign, March 2018
Visiting Teaching Principles
Pray for Each Sister by Name
Our love for and inspiration concerning those we visit will increase when we humbly pray for each sister by name.
One sister related that during a difficult period in her life, a phone call or simple text message often came from her visiting teachers on “particularly dark days.” They seemed to know just when she needed a lift. She knew that they prayed for her, both during their visits and on their own.
The scriptures share many examples of men and women who prayed for others by name. Among the most dramatic is the father of Alma the Younger. An angel spoke to Alma the Younger, telling him that his father “ha[d] prayed with much faith concerning thee … ; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith” (Mosiah 27:14).
Praying for others not only invokes Heavenly Father’s blessings upon them but also helps us know how we can bless them too. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “Praying for others with all of the energy of our souls increases our capacity to hear and to heed the voice of the Lord.”1
“Think of our combined strength if every sister had sincere prayer every morning and night or, better yet, prayed unceasingly as the Lord has commanded,” said Julie B. Beck, former General Relief Society President.2 Praying for those we visit strengthens us as individuals and as Latter-day Saint women.
President Henry B. Eyring, then First Counselor in the First Presidency, said: “Pray for the way to know their hearts. … You will need to know what God would have you do to help them and to do it all, as nearly as you can, feeling God’s love for them.”3
Faith, Family, Relief