Truman G. Madsen wrote:
Was the Prophet [Joseph Smith] effective in silent prayers, did he commend that or even command it? I note with interest eight different places where the Lord, through the Prophet, says, ‘pray always.’ That’s a strong imperative. How can we? If ‘pray always’ means vocally, then none of us do it—none of us can. But if ‘pray always’ includes the kind of prayer that is from the heart and wordless, we’re getting closer to a possibility. And if it means even more profoundly, that we are to be in the spirit of prayer regardless of what we may be doing, then all of us can pray always.
The Prophet gave us a better rendering of the New Testament verse about prayer. It is Romans 8:26. The King James version of the Bible has Paul saying (speaking of how the Spirit can assist us in prayer), ‘The Spirit itself maketh intersession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.’ The Prophet’s version is, ‘The Spirit maketh intersession for us with striving which cannot be expressed’ (Joseph Smith, Teachings [1938], 278). I think he is saying that when we have enough confidence in the discerning power of the Spirit, we stop worrying so much about the words we use and are concerned more simply to open up what really is deep within us—even with things we cannot find words for. Strivings are different than groanings—you can groan in discouragement and despondency and it can all be turned down instead of turned up, but strivings—even those that we cannot express—and know that as we silently think and pour out our feelings, the Spirit will translate those and perfectly transmit them to the Lord. And in turn, the Spirit can respond from the Lord to us. A great confidence and a great freedom can come when we trust the Spirit for that. ~ Truman G. Madsen, (from the book ‘A Year of Powerful Prayer’ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), 130-31
