Pray Always, part 2

My thoughts on Elder Bednar's talk "Pray Always"

Ok, now I'll talk about his talk.

Some line's I highlighted:

"We are promised that if we pray sincerely for that which is right and good and in accordance with God’s will, we can be blessed, protected, and directed."

AMEN!

"Revelation is communication from Heavenly Father to His children on earth. As we ask in faith, we can receive revelation upon revelation and knowledge upon knowledge and come to know the mysteries and peaceable things that bring joy and eternal life."

I can testify of the peaceable things. Most of my prayers are answered through a peaceful heart.

"... meaningful morning prayer is an important element in the spiritual creation of each day—and precedes the temporal creation or the actual execution of the day."

I need to say more meaningful morning prayers. I guess that would start by going to bed earlier--ok, turning the light off before 11 would help. That way I will be awake for my prayers.

"At the end of our day, we kneel again and report back to our Father. We review the events of the day and express heartfelt thanks for the blessings and the help we received. We repent and, with the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord, identify ways we can do and become better tomorrow. Thus our evening prayer builds upon and is a continuation of our morning prayer. And our evening prayer also is a preparation for meaningful morning prayer."

I need to be accountable for what I pray for. It is hard to pray for a new body when all day long I stuffed it with cookie dough or something like that. ~smile~

"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doing, and he will direct thee for good;"
http://www.waldsfe.org/soapbox/thebook.htm
I had this experience almost 17 years ago.

"...many expressions of thanks and few, if any, requests."
I need to be more thankful. I have thought about that over the past six months as I have prayed for miracles to happen in our family. He knows what I want, that part of the prayer never changed, but my list of things I was thankful for did and it grew longer. I thought that like any parent why would He want to give me something new when I wasn't thankful for what I already have. (I know very sophomoric, but the thought was mine.)

"Just as expressing gratitude more often in our prayers enlarges the conduit for revelation, so praying for others with all of the energy of our souls increases our capacity to hear and to heed the voice of the Lord."

I tried this experiment, and it works. I will continue to pray for others now that my miracle has happened.

Now, if only my children could see the power of prayer in their lives! They will only see it if they experience it. I only know prayer works because it has worked in my own life.