Prayer

During scripture study this morning I read in Ether chapter 1, and I excitedly wrote my thoughts. I love the account of the brother of Jared and pondered on how the Lord answered the prayers of a righteous son. I have some of those passages underlined in my scriptures, showing that I have recognized the Lord compassion in previous readings. But as I read the study guide I noticed that I had missed an important lesson from this story. It comes at the last verse of Ether chapter 1 when the Lord explains that blessings had come as a result of prayers offered over a long time—“And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me”. I have always assumed that it was more a matter of one plus one equals two. I didn’t give enough credit to the brother of Jared and his efforts which in turn didn’t give enough credit to the Lord and his blessings.

The study guide states “enduring obedience coupled with frequent and persistent prayers is powerful. President Spencer W. Kimball similarly taught that we must put great effort into our prayers and that we must pray frequently:  “Do you get answers to your prayers? if not, perhaps you did not pay the price. Do you offer a few trite words and worn-out phrases, or do you talk intimately to the Lord? Do you pray occasionally when you should be praying regularly, often, constantly? Do you offer pennies to pay heavy debts when you should give dollars to erase that obligation?

“When you pray, do you just speak, or do you also listen? Your Savior said, ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Rev. 3:20)

“…Should we ever fail to get an answer to our prayers, we must look into our lives for a reason” (“Prayer,” New Era, Mar, 1978, 17).

I felt this was an answer to my ponderings on my own personal prayers. I know and have mentioned before that prayer is a difficult principle for me. I have a testimony of prayer, but I an not converted to prayer. I know prayer can work, and have received answers to prayer, but it is still a struggle, prayer is not effective in my life as it should be. I received a witness to that and a renewed interest to make that change after my experience on trek. Reading this confirms to me that the first step is to make more effort to be consistent with prayer. I must remember to pray each and every night, and really speak from the heart. I also need to do more listening. I have the faith that it will work, I see now that I need to use that faith and do the work.