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5 Teachings from Church Leaders to Help Improve Your Prayers
Feeling disconnected from Heavenly Father? Take a look at these teachings.
I don’t feel like I always offer outstanding prayers. If you’re reading this, you may feel the same.
Heavenly Father wants us to build a relationship with him. Prayer is one of the simplest ways to connect with Him, and improving our prayers is a way to improve our relationship. Here are five teachings from Church leaders about prayer to help you do just that.
1. Pray until the Spirit Guides You
President Jeffrey R. Holland, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, gave the following counsel: “My beloved friends, our prayers are our sweetest hour, our most ‘sincere desire’ [Hymns, no. 145], our simplest, purest form of worship. We should pray individually, in our families, and in congregations of all sizes. … When we don’t know how or exactly for what to pray, we should begin, and continue, until the Holy Spirit guides us into the prayer we should be offering.”
2. Ask What, Not Why
President Susan H. Porter, Primary General President, explained how we can reword our prayers when we have tough questions:
“Sometimes you may want to know why something hard is happening in your life or why you didn’t receive a blessing you prayed for. Often the best question to ask Heavenly Father is not why but what.
“Do you remember when Nephi and his family were hungry while they were traveling in the wilderness? When Nephi and his brothers went to hunt for food, Nephi broke his bow. But he didn’t ask why.
“Nephi made a new bow and asked his father, Lehi, where he could go to get food. Lehi prayed, and the Lord showed them where Nephi could go [see 1 Nephi 16:18, 23–24]. Heavenly Father will guide you when you ask Him what you can do and what you can learn.”
3. Realize You Can Gain Access to God’s Blessings
Some blessings we are searching for are conditional upon our asking for them.
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve has taught: “To receive a desired blessing from God, act with faith, striking the metaphorical match on which the heavenly blessing is contingent. For example, one of the objects of prayer is to secure blessings that God is willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking. … The activation energy needed for us [to receive the desired blessings] is to have enough faith in Christ to sincerely ask God in prayer and accept His will and timing for the answer.”
So, in addition to prayer, we must have faith—faith to be OK with God’s answers and His timeline.
4. Be Filled with His Love
Elder Peter M. Johnson of the Seventy taught:
“Pray unto the Father in the name of Jesus Christ every day, every day, every day. It is through prayer that we can feel the love of God and show our love for Him. Through prayer we express gratitude and ask for the strength and the courage to submit our will to God’s and be guided and directed in all things.
“I encourage you to ‘pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, … that ye may become the sons [and daughters] of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him’ [Moroni 7:48; emphasis added].”
5. Heavenly Father Wants to Talk to You
This list would not be complete without counsel from the Lord’s prophet on the earth today. When he became President of the Church, President Russell M. Nelson said:
“Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will ‘grow into the principle of revelation’ [Teachings: Joseph Smith, 132].
Does God really want to speak to you? Yes! ‘As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course … as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints’ [Doctrine and Covenants 121:33].”
Heavenly Father wants to speak to you! He wants to reveal light and knowledge to you and guide you in the way you should go. Prayer will open the heavens and connect you to Him. Pray to Him and trust that He will guide you.
What other messages from general authorities have helped you develop your prayers?