Pray Always

Anne Steenblik gave us her "swan song" lesson last Sunday as she leaves us to teach the Laurels. The lesson was taken from David Bednar's last Conference talk, "Pray Always". (This is actually "part 2" from his April Conference address). This talk goes right along with one of our goals leading us to personal purity, that goal is meaningful prayer.

Elder Bednar gives us three principles to help us have meaningful prayer. The first is to council with the Lord in all our doings as Alma admonished. Our prayers are directed to the Father, through the Son and answered by the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. We are taught that all things are created spiritually before they are created temporally. Elder Bednard admonished us to think of our morning prayer as the "spiritual creation" of our day before the "temporal" creation, or what we actually do that day. Evening prayer is when we "report back". We give thanks for blessings received and reflect upon what we can do better. Each prayer is a continuation of each other.

The second principle is expressing heartfelt gratitude. Parents can truly appreciate children who express genuine gratitude. We need to remember that our Heavenly Father would also like to hear what we are grateful for. Elder Bednar invited us to occasionally offer prayers of gratitude only, asking for nothing. He has found that some of his most powerful prayers were ones he asked for little and gave thanks for much.

The third principle is to sincerely pray for the needs of others. Expressing gratitude "enlarges the conduit for revelation" and so does praying for those we love as well as those who treat us poorly. If our loved ones or the ones we serve haven't heard us praying for them, we need to repent. Our capacity to understand and receive revelation will be even greater as we pray for those who despitefully use us. The Savior offered countless prayers on the behalf of others while he was in His mortal ministry. During our last Stake Conference, we felt the power of President Haynie's prayer that was offered on our behalf, and behalf of all those who were fighting to preserve the traditional family.

Elder Bednar testifies that as we "pray always", whether it be vocally or in our hearts, and follow these three principles our prayers will be more meaningful.