PRAYER
Dear Missionary,
Have you ever fallen asleep praying? If you have, you know there is nothing more demoralizing or disorienting than waking up from a prayer with your legs asleep :). All of us members could use a little fine tuning in our prayers so we can become better missionaries. So lets talk about why prayer is so important in missionary work and how we can pray more effectively so we avoid looking like this girl above!
Enos, in my opinion, is THE MAN when it comes to prayer. After having "wrestled with the Lord" and received a remission of his own sins he does something incredible. Instead of getting up, brushing the dirt of his knees and going to hunt, he stays on his knees and sincerely prayers for others!! as a result, the Lord says to Enos "I will visit thy brethren..." and later tells Enos it is "because of thy faith" (Enos 10-12). If we pray sincerely for others, I testify that the Lord will visit them in mercy.
A dramatic example of the power of prayer for others is the story of Alma the younger. Alma the younger and his friends were a rough bunch. Yet the members of the church gathered together in faith and prayed sincerely for them. As a result the Lord visited the trouble makers by sending an angel. The angel told Alma that "the Lord [had] heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father..." (Mosiah 27:14). Because these people prayed with faith, Alma the younger and his buddies had a mighty change of heart!!!
I highly doubt those who prayed for Alma the younger looked like the little girl in the first picture ;). So how can we have more effective prayers? As we really come to understand who we are talking with and prepare better to talk with Him, we will have awesome prayers!!
God is our loving Heavenly Father and also our majestic Heavenly King. I once heard a story from my friend Manny Griffiths. A general authority visited a mission in Portugal where all the missionaries combined had only helped 8 or so people come unto Christ through baptism during that year. The general authority felt impressed to invite the missionaries to imagine their Heavenly Father sitting in his majestic throne listening intently to every word they said during their prayers. The missionaries took the counsel to heart and a year or so later the mission in Portugal baptized over 100 people...
IN ONE MONTH!
So, my dear friend, approach God's throne prepared. Think and meditate a little bit before you begin your prayer. Take some deep breaths. Perhaps after getting up in the morning you should even take a shower, eat or do something to wake yourself up before your morning prayers (morning prayers are the hardest for me!). If you do, your prayers will be much more powerful and uplifting!
Above all, remember who you are. You are a Missionary.
--Parker
Who can you pray for this week?
Any cool prayer stories? Please comment below! :)
I love to pray!!! My kids and husband know that they are going to have to prep their knees when it is my turn to pray :) I am known for my long "Marsden arms" and my long prayers!! hahhahah But I love it. It is when I block out everything around me and commune with my Father. It is my greatest source of peace. Even when I can't figure out a problem, or make a decision, I most often stand up feeling like things are going to be okay. Sometimes, I still feel great turmoil after prayer, but I keep going--trusting that peace (or an answer) will come. God has fulfilled his promises of peace to me on so many occasions, that it has formed within me a great foundation of faith for the future. I am so grateful for that blessing of prayer! As far as missionary work and prayer goes, I have had simple thoughts and ideas come to mind with how I can help or serve someone. I am usually looking for a way I can make an invitation, but it is interesting that I usually gets thoughts of service and love first!
ReplyDeleteA couple experiences with prayer, faith and the Lords timing. It was my turn to drive as we headed up skiing at Snow basin with a few friends. We were enjoying the slopes and having a great time. Upon finishing a run, I got on the gondola and realized I had left my coat pocket open which held my car keys. Frantically, I shuffled through my pocket hoping to find my keys. They were gone, nowhere to be found. We had already taken 5 runs, I asked myself, “How in the world were we supposed to find my car keys on the whole mountain of snow basin?” Then and there in the Gondola we offered a simple, powerful, prayer. I was 100% confident with faith that we would somehow find my car keys. We made our best effort in following the same path down that we had just taken. To my surprise half way down the mountain I noticed a small dark object off to the side of the trail. Indeed, it was my car keys. God knew where they were, we exercised faith in Him and He lead us to find my keys so we could drive home that day.
ReplyDeleteExperience #2. No longer than a month or so after the previous experience, we were back at Snow Basin enjoying ourselves on the slopes. This time we had some fresh powder we were skiing off the groomed trails. It was steep terrain and I was going fast. I came down the top of a ridge and couldn’t see my friend’s side cutting across the same ridge I was headed down. After it was too late to move, I saw out of the corner of my eye my friend Cam cutting right in front of me. I yelled his name to avoid a collision. Luckily there were a few powder bumps I was able to pop off, I tried jumping over the top of him. My skis hit his back-side, throwing my sideways. (Did I mention I was going fast!?) I hit the powder and began to tom-a-hawk head over hills until I came to a stop. I was fine. I stood up to see if Cam was ok. He was fine. We all had us a good chuckle and were grateful nobody was hurt.
Unfortunately, I had flopped down the hill some 20 yards and all my gear was buried throughout the distance. We found everything fairly quickly expect my ski goggles. I instantly remembered the time a month prior when I lost my car keys. I said a humble prayer in my heart that I would be able to find my goggles. 5, 10, 15 minutes had past. Still no goggles. I said another prayer expressing my faith that I knew with full confidence that God knew were my goggles were and that I could dig in the right spot to find them. After 25 minutes of aimlessly digging around they were nowhere to be found. My faith wavered a bit as I headed down the mountain without my goggles. I was confused. I knew I had faith we could find them. (Now in the big scheme of things losing a pair of goggles was not that big of a deal, but at that moment it mattered to me). We reached the bottom of our run and got into the gondola. I sat down across from one of my friends. He pointed at my jacket and said “what’s that in the back of your hood?” No kidding, the whole time we had been searching for my goggles and they were in the back of my good the whole time.
A couple take a ways I learned from these experiences. Prayer is real and very powerful (use it!). Remember “if it matters to you, it matters to Him!” (Even the smallest most menial things you worry or care about, matter to our Lord. He loves us.) And lastly, although we feel we have perfect faith that things will work out how we plan, the Lord has his own timing that we don't always understand. But, if we “search diligently, pray always, and be believing, … all things shall work together for [our] good” (D&C 90:24) I know the Lord lives and loves us, as we exercise faith in trying to follow his ways our relationship with Him strengthens as does our desire to follow Him.
(Greg Martin)
ReplyDeleteI like a quote that I heard once "Prayer keeps a man from sin, and sin keeps a man from prayer". I have noticed when I keep up with my personal prayers I am less susceptible to Satan's influences.
(Robert Smith)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite scripture about prayer is D&C 9:7-8, where we are told that we need to do more than just ask, but must put forth effort. On my mission I was taught that we should pray like everything depended on the Lord and work like everything depended on us.
(Jason Smith)
ReplyDeleteThe scripture I chose was Matthew 7: 7-8 and it says "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." and it goes on saying, "for everyone that asketh recieveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be open." this scripture means to me that if you pray it shall be answered and that if you ask god for help he will help you.
(Alex Lippert)
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite scriptures is Luke 1:37 "For with God nothing shall be impossible." one way God makes all things possible is through the gift of prayer. Whether I was asking for help or seeking inspiration to do the "impossible," prayer has always helped me be in tune with Heavenly Father and what he wants me to do and accomplish.
(Ethan Heap)
ReplyDelete2 Nephi 32:4-5
This Scripture is special to me. When I was a teenager and learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I opened the scriptures with the intent of "just reading whatever was in front of me " when I opened the Book of Mormon. It reminded me of the teaching power of the Holy Ghost.
I love all of these comments! Amen to all of them :)
ReplyDelete