One of the greatest blessings we
enjoy as children of a loving God is the opportunity to connect to Him through
personal prayer. We Mormons follow a basic pattern in our prayers — we address
Heavenly Father with reverence, give thanks, petition God with our needs and
desires (using ‘thee, thou, thy, and thine’), and close in the name of Jesus
Christ.
What do Most
People Pray For?
A recent
survey performed by LifeWay Research and reported by Religion News Service shows that Americans pray about the
following:
Mormons
probably pray about all of these things, but would probably add our
missionaries, members of the armed forces, our church leaders, and
increasingly, would Jesus please come soon.
How Many
Kinds of Prayer are There?
We might
need reminding that there are many kinds of prayers, and we might want to
choose one form when it is specific to our circumstance. This might help
us to focus our minds, hearts, and our faith to a single purpose when we pray. Here
are 25 kinds of prayer you might want to try.
1. Prayer of
gratitude. The perfect time to acknowledge God’s
greatness and loving kindness. It’s always a wonderful experience to just give
thanks and not ask for anything.
2. Prayer for forgiveness. For this, preparation is needed. We must first
acknowledge our distance from God and wish to be reconciled with Him. This
is a first step in the repentance process and begins with the realization that
our thoughts and actions have offended God.
3. Prayer over sacrifice. Ever pray over your tithing and fast offerings, or that
quilt you made for humanitarian aid? Notify God that you are making an
offering, and you wish it to go to building up the kingdom, helping the poor,
or rescuing the afflicted. Send it on its way with a prayer in your heart
and try to imagine the people who might benefit from your offering.
4. Prayer upon rising. Does the prayer with which you great the day differ from
the prayer that ends it? Perhaps it should. Productivity, safety,
guidance, and the company of the Holy Spirit are all needed as you begin your
day. Also thanks for a night’s sleep (whenever you happen to get one) and
the realization that you’ve awakened in good shape.
5. Prayer upon retiring. What a great time to review the day and repent of the
harsh word, the hasty judgment, the unkind thought. This is when I go child by
child and pray for my children.
6. Acknowledgement of God’s
children around you. Once before a meal in a
bustling restaurant, my friend uttered a quiet but audible prayer on the food
and asked God to bless everyone at that restaurant with the needs and righteous
desires of their hearts. Suddenly, my mind and heart awakened to the
people around me. Total strangers I had ignored before. It was a
miraculous transition and a blessed one. Next time you are at Disneyland…
7. Prayer before a meal. If any Mormon prayer has become formulaic, it’s this
one. A great family home evening exercise would be to dissect this prayer
and see what you’re really after. I am always grateful to have food available
when I want it, a blessing unknown to many of God’s children on the earth.
8. Prayer after a meal. Gotcha. Mormons don’t do this, but Jews do, and
think of the value of thanking God for a meal well-enjoyed after it’s done.
9. Prayer of invocation. An invocation is the act or process of petitioning for help or
support; a prayer of entreaty (as at the beginning of a service of
worship). So, an invocation would be the opening prayer in any church
meeting, but could it also be the prayer just as you are leaving for a trip or
starting school?
10.
Prayer of benediction. Surprisingly,
a benediction is also an invocation. We invoke blessings from God at the
closing of a church meeting or other event. Usually the benediction is the
closing prayer, the short blessing with which public worship is concluded, but
could it also be the prayer of thanks after a successful trip or semester at
school?
11.
Psalm. Most of us are not songwriters, but
most of us are singers. God has said, “For my soul delighteth in
the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a
prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads”
(D&C 25:12). Notice the Lord said nothing about how well we
sing. Sing the hymns as if you had written the words yourself, and they
become prayers very easily.
12.
Communal prayer. Many prayers performed
by Mormons are for the congregation, too, as with opening prayers in sacrament
meeting or Relief Society, but this specifically refers to the Church and to
God’s kingdom rolling forth in preparation for the Second Coming of
Christ. Most prayers in ancient Israel were communal in that they were
prayers for all Israel, and not just for the individual. These prayers can
be lifted for missionary work, for humanitarian relief, for our church leaders,
for the sincere-hearted of the world to be prepared to receive the gospel.
13. Prayer in the temple. For all those whose names have been submitted due to
trials or illness, these have a special, profound power not just because of
where the prayer takes place, but because of the worthiness of the supplicants.
14. Prayer for healing. Often accompanied by fasting and with family and friends
participating, these prayers are lifted in emergencies where a loved one is
sick or injured. Where the priesthood power is not present, the prayer of faith can bring forth its own miracles.
15. Prayer of remembrance. In Old Testament times, the yizkor, or prayer for the dead, was thought
to aid in their salvation. We utter prayers of remembrance on holidays set
apart to remember all our dead, or those who died in battle. We can pray
for ancestors to accept the gospel in the spirit world. We can pray for
those whose names we take to the temple. Another form of a prayer of
remembrance is to recount our spiritual experiences that are the anchors of our
faith.
16. Sacramental prayer. This is perhaps the only prayer in Mormonism that is pre-written
and read verbatim. In fact, it must be perfectly recited, because it is an
ordinance with saving power.
17. Covenantal prayer. We make covenants at baptism and in the temple, but we
also make covenants personally and privately in prayers lifted to our Father in
Heaven. We might be reminded of the experience of Lucy Mack Smith, who, ill and near death,
covenanted with God that if He would save her life, she would seek Him with all
her strength. She recovered, and kept that covenant.
18. Prayer for help in service. This is the prayer of Visiting and Home Teachers as
they seek to be perceptive to the needs of the families they teach; also of the
Relief Society, Primary, and other auxiliary presidencies as they seek guidance
in the service they render. Some members of the Church claim that these
prayers are the ones that illicit the most inspiring answers, the most
spiritual experiences.
19. Prayer for guidance in making
decisions. Should I choose this college, marry this
person, move to this city, join the military, serve a mission? The Lord
promises guidance for these life-changing decisions, and the answers we receive
are often so revelatory, that they become spiritual anchors for us all the rest
of our lives.
20. Political prayer. If the study mentioned above is correct, not many of us
are praying for our governmental leaders. Or for good people to choose to
volunteer to lead. Or for moral goodness to triumph in the public square.
21. Preparedness prayer. Do you have enough water in your emergency storage? Have
you asked Heavenly Father that question? A Mormon father in Haiti was
inspired to fix his back gate. Then Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake.
Had he not done so, he and his wife would not have escaped their back yard in
time to avoid a crumbling stone wall whose collapse could have killed
them. What specific preparations do we need for our own, personal
circumstances?
22. Prayer of helpless
desperation. The old adage is that there are no atheists in foxholes, because all are praying for
their very lives. This is when you are at the end of your rope and only God can
save you. For many, this is their very first experience with personal
prayer.
23. Prayer of surrender of will. Often, this prayer follows #22 (the prayer of helpless
desperation) after it has been answered, and #1 (the prayer of
gratitude). In it, we confess the fallibility of our own will, and
surrender it to God. Really the only thing of value we have to give Him,
the gift of our will into His care can be the real beginning of our lives ….
24. Prayer of release. From this life to the next. It is our final
benediction upon everything that is temporal and temporary. It is at that
moment that we begin to see what is really important.
25. Prayer for those left
behind. Do we realize that mortals on earth are not
the only ones praying? Millions and millions who have gone before and have
already passed to the other side are praying for us, and for God’s will to be
done; for evil to be finally defeated, and the Plan of Salvation to achieve its
end. Have you ever contemplated that while you are praying fervently for
one thing, your ancestors and heaven’s angels are praying that you won’t go
that direction, so that something better will come to pass? Prayer and
getting answers to prayer might be more complicated than we thought!
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