Prayer

I gave a talk on prayer in church today. It was a good experience for me and I thought I'd share a little excerpt with you.

"Prayer is the doorway through which we commence our discipleship to things heavenly and eternal. We will never be alone so long as we know how to pray. Let me say that again: We will never be alone so long as we know how to pray.

In Revelations 3:20 the Savior tells us, “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”.

I have read this verse numerous times, but as I was preparing for this talk, it hit me in an entirely new way. You’ve seen the picture of the Savior standing at the door knocking. There is no knob on the outside, so we have to open the door and let him in. But then what happens? The scripture says, “I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me”. To sup is to have supper. Is Jesus knocking at the door because he’s hungry and wants some food? No. But we are hungry. We need spiritual food and Jesus is the bread of life. Now why is Jesus going to sit down and eat with us instead of just handing us some bread? What does one do while they eat supper together? They talk. They chat. They tell about their day. The Lord wants us to talk with him. Jesus is our mediator and our advocate with the Father. As we pray to our Heavenly Father in the name of Christ, we should share with him our hopes and our dreams. We explain to Him the trials we are facing. We talk to him about our everyday struggles. We let Him know about the challenges in our life and ask Him if the decisions we are making are right for us. As we approach our Heavenly Father in this way, we open the windows of heaven. We can receive from Him truth, light, and knowledge. And as we continue in this pattern the eyes of our understanding are open to us and we can see clearly the path we should take before us. "