From yesterday’s post, quoting Neal A. Maxwell:
“Prayer is clearly a commandment, and we are even asked to urge others in the Church to pray. (Moses 5:8, 16; Doctrine and Covenants 20:47.) It is likewise clear that there are different types of prayer—prayers of adoration, of appreciation, of confession, and of petition. Since in our humanness we seem to utter many more of the latter than of any other kind, it is out of these prayers that some of the most frequent questions and concerns seem to arise.”
Continuing he wrote. . . . “First let us note, however, that the Lord tells us to pray over our crops and our herds, our fields and our flocks. (Alma 34:17-29) Jesus counseled us to pray for our daily bread. We are even reminded of the adversary and how we are to pray with regard to him that we will “come off conqueror.” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:5.) Our duties are to be done if at all possible, after we have prayed to the Lord in the first place. (2 Nephi 32:9)
Marvelous promises are given about what can be received if we pray properly. “If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.” (Doctrine and Covenants 42:61)
Prayer, in fact, is to be a reflection of our attitude towards God and life. In this sense we can always be praying. (Luke 18:1.)
Clearly, however, since praying is a part of living, if we are not living righteously the quality of our prayers will be affected. Likewise, routine, personal prayers will scarcely reflect the unevenness of life, especially in those moments when we are in deep need. When we are in deep need, we, as did He, “being in agony” will need to pray “more earnestly.” (Luke 22:44.)
Nor is merely placing the petition before God enough, as Oliver Cowdery was told, for he had not fully understood the process, supposing that God would give him the answers “when he took no thought save it was to ask me.”(Doctrine and Covenants 9:7.)
It should not surprise us as we grow if we are sometimes less than fully comprehending of prayer. The Lord’s disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1) Jesus then gave a marvelous model of what prayer could be. Yet even this model did not suffice for the needs of Gethsemane. Nor was it as sublime as His prayers given in special circumstances after His resurrection when Jesus prayed among the surviving Nephites. (3 Nephi 17:15-18.) The point is obviously not to detract from the tutoring nature of the wonderful Lord’s Prayer, but to underscore how prayers will reflect circumstance; no single prayer will suffice for all circumstances!
There are no Christlike prayers, however, that do not include, as did the Lord’s Prayer, deep expressions of gratitude and appreciation to our Father in heaven along with a submittal to Him.
So very much of pure prayer seems to be the process of first discovering, rather than requesting, the will of our Father in heaven and then aligning ourselves therewith. The “Thy will be done” example of the Lord’s prayer reached its zenith in the Saviors later prayer in Gethsemane and in His still later submittal on the cross: “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39.)
When we do conform to His will, God will pour forth special blessings from heaven upon us, as was the case with Nephi, the son of Helaman. Of him the Lord said, “And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearingness, behold, I will bless thee forever’ and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee for according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.” (Helaman 10:5. Italics added.) ~Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980). 92-94 (continued)
