LDS Place

“The trouble with most of our prayers is that we give them as if we were picking up the telephone and ordering groceries—we place our order and hang up. We need to meditate, contemplate, think of what we are praying about and for and then speak to the Lord as one man speaketh to another.”

Gordon B. Hinckley – Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, (1977), 469

The counsel of the prophet was plain and to the point: “Parents, safeguard your families. … Pray together. There is no substitute for family prayer when all kneel together before the Lord.”

Somehow when I had listened to President Gordon B. Hinckley speaking in general conference, I must have let those words be overshadowed by his announcement a few sentences later that the Nauvoo Temple would be rebuilt. Yet as I reread his talk in the Ensign, I realized that here was inspired counsel no one could afford to ignore: nothing can take the place of kneeling with our families and petitioning God for His help, guidance, and mercy. If we would help save and strengthen our families, nothing else we do can replace family prayer.

(continue reading…)

One of the special opportunities we have as General Authorities is to visit the stakes of Zion. Thirty to forty times each year we find ourselves staying in the home of a different stake president. We have the privilege of being guests in the greatest homes you will find in all the world.

Let me tell you about one of my recent experiences. I was assigned to a stake conference to release the stake president, who had served for many, many years. It was a difficult stake to administer. The stake had been losing population. It was located near one of our major city centers. Industry had moved in. With the growth of industry, many of the members had moved out to the more suburban areas. Because of his assignment, he had stayed in the area to shepherd the flock. He had not found it to be a hopeless situation. Through his energy, effort, and great enthusiasm, the stake started to grow once again.

(continue reading…)

We are told in the scriptures that it is essential to endure to the end:

“Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is” (1 Ne. 22:31).

“Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days” (D&C 24:8).

“Behold, we count them happy which endure” (James 5:11).

Examples of faithfully enduring to the end are taught by prophets of all ages as they demonstrate courage while enduring trials and tribulations to carry forth the will of God. Our greatest example comes from the life of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. When suffering upon the cross at Calvary, Jesus felt the loneliness of agency when He pled to His Father in Heaven, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). The Savior of the world was left alone by His Father to experience, of His own free will and choice, an act of agency which allowed Him to complete His mission of the Atonement. (continue reading…)

“Let me tell you about one of my recent experiences. I was assigned to a stake conference to release the stake president, who had served for many, many years. . . .

“As the weekend progressed, his children came by auto and air, returning home to pay tribute to their father for his years of faithful service. I found a special spirit in this home. They were a very close family. How they enjoyed being together!

“As I stood to address the conference in its final session, there seated to my left sat his entire family, tears streaming down their faces as they honored their father on this grand occasion.

“Following the conference session, I had been invited to stay for family dinner before leaving for the airport to fly home. As the family gathered around the table, the father requested that we kneel in family prayer. Kneeling in prayer, I discovered their strength. This family understood their relationship to God, their Eternal Father. They understood their relationship to their earthly father and mother, to their brothers and sisters. The brotherhood and sisterhood existing in this family unit made it easy for them to stretch beyond their borders to friends and neighbors.

“Being a guest in so many different homes over the last few years has certainly convinced me that a special spirit is clearly evident when a family prays together.”

L. Tom Perry, “Our Father Which Art in Heaven,” Ensign, Nov. 1983, 11

“Let us be humble, fervent, submissive, yielding ourselves to the will of the Lord, and there is no danger but that we shall have his Spirit to guide us. If we will open our lips and call upon our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we will have the spirit of prayer.”

Brigham Young, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 44

There is nothing that we are enduring that Jesus does not understand, and He waits for us to go to our Heavenly Father in prayer. I testify that if we will be obedient and if we are diligent, our prayers will be answered, our problems will diminish, our fears will dissipate, light will come upon us, the darkness of despair will be dispersed, and we will be close to the Lord and feel of His love and of the comfort of the Holy Ghost. It is my prayer that we can find the faith, courage, and strength to endure to the end so that we may feel the joy of faithfully returning to the arms of our Heavenly Father.”

Robert D. Hales, “Behold, We Count Them Happy Which Endure,” Ensign, May 1998, 77

“Our Father in Heaven wants us to have strong, loving families. One of the great helps he has given us to achieve this is family prayer. . . .

“Of course, our prayers must be more than words, for as President Marion G. Romney has so clearly stated, ‘The efficacy of our prayers depends on how we care for one another.’ (Ensign, Nov. 1980, p. 93.) Family prayer is fully effective, then, only as we rise from our knees and, with increased love and understanding, take better care of each other.”

John H. Groberg, “The Power of Family Prayer,” Ensign, May 1982, 50

“You who pray sometimes, why not pray more regularly, more often, more devoutly? Is time so precious, life so short, or faith so scant? . . . Do you pray occasionally when you should be praying regularly, often, constantly? . . . Do you just speak, or do you also listen? . . . Do you give thanks or merely ask for favors?”

Spencer W. Kimball, “Prayer, New Era,” Mar. 1978, 17

No Father would send His children off to a distant, dangerous land for a lifetime of testing where Lucifer was known to roam free without first providing them with a personal power of protection. He would also supply them with means to communicate with Him from Father to child and from child to Father. Every child of our Father sent to earth is provided with the Spirit of Christ, or the Light of Christ. We are, none of us, left here alone without hope of guidance and redemption.

The Restoration began with the prayer of a 14-year-old boy and a vision of the Father and the Son. The dispensation of the fulness of times was ushered in.

(continue reading…)

“Perhaps there are some of you who have slipped into patterns of behavior that you know in your heart are displeasing to the Lord. You feel unworthy and ashamed to approach your Father in Heaven. ‘I’ll repent first,’ you say to yourselves, ‘and then I’ll begin saying my prayers again.’ I tell you with all soberness that those thoughts are not from the Lord, but come from the evil one. Nephi said it very clearly: ‘The evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray’ (2 Nephi 32:8).

“It is when we are lost in the mists of darkness and cannot find our way that we most desperately need the influence of the Lord. Nowhere in all of the scriptural injunctions on prayer do we find the suggestion that we must first be perfect in order to communicate with God.”

M. Russell Ballard, “Be Strong in the Lord, and in the Power of His Might” (CES fireside for young adults, March 3, 2002), 3

“Paul counseled his beloved friend and associate Timothy, ‘Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity’ (1 Timothy 4:12).

“I would urge all of us to pray concerning our assignments and to seek divine help, that we might be successful in accomplishing that which we are called to do. Someone has said that ‘the recognition of power higher than man himself does not in any sense debase him’ (Stephen L. Richards, in Conference Report, Oct. 1937, 10). He must seek, believe in, pray, and hope that he will find. No such sincere, prayerful effort will go unanswered: that is the very constitution of the philosophy of faith. Divine favor will attend those who humbly seek it. . . .

“. . . May we learn what we should learn, do what we should do, and be what we should be. By so doing, the blessings of heaven will attend. We will know that we are not alone. He who notes the sparrow’s fall will, in His own way, acknowledge us.”

Thomas S. Monson

“The Prophet Joseph said at one time that one of the greatest sins of which the Latter-day Saints would be guilty is the sin of ingratitude. I presume most of us have not thought of that as a great sin. There is a great tendency for us in our prayers and in our pleadings with the Lord to ask for additional blessings. But sometimes I feel we need to devote more of our prayers to expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for blessings already received. We enjoy so much.”

President Henry B. Eyring

“Prayer in the hour of need is a great boon. From simple trials to our Gethsemanes, prayer-persistent prayer-can put us in touch with God, our greatest source of comfort and counsel. ‘Pray always, that you may come off conqueror.’ (D&C 10:5.)…This is also a key to use in keeping depression from destroying us.”

Ezra Taft Benson, Tambuli, Mar 1987, 2

“Prayer is a matter of the heart.”

Henry B. Eyring, Liahona, Jan 2001, 99–102

“If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect. … No man ought to say, ‘Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.’ He is not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things, and to give gifts that will eradicate them. If a man lacks wisdom, it is his duty to ask God for wisdom. The same with everything else…”

George Q. Cannon, Millennial Star, Apr. 1894, p. 260 as quoted by Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, Sep 1986, 68

“One religion teacher suggested to his class that they spend at least fifteen minutes a day in personal prayer. That seemed to many class members unreasonably long! One student came up to him later and said, ‘I just don’t believe I can think of that much to say.’ The teacher asked, ‘Don’t you spend at least that much time every day talking to your roommate?’ ‘Of course,’ the young woman replied. ‘Then give some thought,’ said the teacher, ‘as to why it is you have more to talk over with your roommate than you do with the Lord’ ”

Karen Lynn, Ensign, Jan. 1978, 31

“Parents should teach their children to pray. The child learns both from what the parents do and what they say. The child who sees a mother or a father pass through the trials of life with fervent prayer to God and then hears a sincere testimony that God answered in kindness will remember what they saw and heard. When their trials come, they will be prepared.”

Henry B. Eyring, Liahona, Jan 2001, 99–102

“Express your gratitude to Heavenly Father. When we pray in private, the Holy Ghost often reminds us of blessings we have overlooked. Public prayers can also be revelatory. I have learned to listen carefully as others pray. They sometimes call attention to blessings that have escaped my notice.”

Carolyn Wright, Tambuli, Nov 1994, 11

“Listening is an essential part of praying. Answers from the Lord come quietly—ever so quietly. In fact, few hear his answers audibly with their ears. We must be listening so carefully or we will never recognize them. Most answers from the Lord are felt in our heart as a warm comfortable expression, or they may come as thoughts to our mind. They come to those who are prepared and who are patient”

H. Burke Peterson, Ensign, Jan. 1974, 19