Sunday Lesson: Mar 19th

How Mighty a Thing is Prayer

President Hinckley stated, “None of us can really make it alone. We need help, the kind of help that can come in answer to prayer.” President Hinckley taught that nothing is too simple to counsel with the Lord about, and that as we pray we will develop a closer relationship with Father in Heaven. If we want a closer relationship, we need to do our part!

President Hinckley said that one key to prayer is remembering that we are children of God, and that He knows and loves each of us. Even though God is the creator and the greatest of all, He listens to our prayers! We discussed that because of this relationship, prayer is a special opportunity to talk to someone who really cares and understands. One person commented that we can tell our problems to Him when we can’t or don’t want to tell anyone else.

In the World Wide Youth event on March 4, 2017, President Eyring and Elder Holland had a discussion and shared about the conversation of prayer. President Eyring said to remember that although God is very close to us and is listening, sometimes there are long silences when we seek Him in prayer. Part of our earthly experience includes learning to ask and wait in faith for the answers to come. They also taught that we need to make sure that we are not too casual in our prayers. We show respect to God when we take time to pray and compose our thoughts, allowing time for pondering. Not all prayers need to be this way, but we show respect as we take the effort to make some prayers more formal.

The teacher suggested that we do a self-assessment of our prayers to see areas where we could improve. How often do we pray? How much faith do we have in prayers? How do we pray; vocally, on our knees, alone and with family? Do we remember when our prayers are answered and record it?
President Hinckley taught that family prayer has miraculous results over time. We discussed that through family prayer we teach respect, gratitude, faith, hope, compassion, obedience, humility, repentance, that we can solve our problems by turning to God, and that Heavenly Father is important and will be there for us. As we pray with and for our families, miracles will happen.

We all can improve our personal prayers and make a new commitment to improve in one or two areas. Let us commit to coming closer to God and letting God be our friend through speaking to Him in prayer.