Gospel Principles Ch8 Praying To Our Heavenly Father

8/8/2019 Gospel Principles Ch8 Praying To Our Heavenly Father

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Praying to Our

Heavenly FatherC h a p t e r 8

What Is Prayer?

Jesus taught, Ye must always pray unto the Father in my name(3 Nephi 18:19)

Prayer is one o the greatest blessings we have while we are hereon earth Through prayer we can communicate with our HeavenlyFather and seek His guidance daily

Prayer is a sincere, heartelt talk with our Heavenly Father Weshould pray to God and to no one else We do not pray to any otherbeing or to anything made by man or God (see Exodus 20:35)

Why Do We Pray?

Prayer has been an important part o the gospel rom the beginningo the world An angel o the Lord commanded Adam and Eve torepent and call upon God in the name o the Son (see Moses 5:8)

This commandment has never been taken away Prayer will help us

draw closer to God All o our thoughts, our words, and our actionsare infuenced by our prayers

We should pray or strength to resist the temptations o Satan andhis ollowers (see 3 Nephi 18:15; D&C 10:5) We should pray toconess our sins to God and ask Him to orgive us (see Alma 38:14)

For teachers: This chapter is organized under fve section headings. Each heading is aquestion about prayer. You could use these questions as a guide or your lesson. I theclassroom setting allows or small group discussion, consider dividing class membersinto groups o two to our. Assign each group one o the sections in the chapter. Have eachgroup read and discuss their assigned section and share personal experiences that relateto it. Then discuss the fve sections as a class, ocusing on the questions that are o mostinterest to class members.


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We should pray or the Lords guidance and help in our daily livesWe need to pray or our amilies and riends, our neighbors, ourcrops and our animals, our daily work, and our other activities We

should pray or protection rom our enemies (See Alma 34:1727)

We should pray to express love to our Heavenly Father and to eelcloser to Him We should pray to our Father to thank Him or our

welare and comort and or all things He gives us each day (see1 Thessalonians 5:18) We need to pray to ask our Heavenly Fatheror strength to live the gospel

We should pray so we can keep on the strait and narrow path that

leads to eternal lie We must pray to God, the author o all righteous-ness, so we may be righteous in our thoughts, words, and actions

HowhasprayerhelpedyoudrawnearertoHeavenlyFather?

When Should We Pray?

We can pray whenever we eel the need to communicate with ourHeavenly Father, whether silently or vocally Sometimes we need

to be alone where we can pour out our souls to Him (see Matthew6:6) In addition, we can pray during our daily activities We can pray

while we are in a Church meeting, at home, walking down a path orstreet, working, preparing a meal, or wherever we may be and what-ever we may be doing We can pray any time o the day or night Wecan pray when we are alone or when we are with other people Wecan keep our Heavenly Father in our thoughts at all times (see Alma

34:27) We can pray always (D&C 10:5)At times we may not eel like praying We may be angry or discour-aged or upset At these times we should make a special eort topray (see 2 Nephi 32:89)

We should each pray privately at least every night and every morn-ing The scriptures speak o praying morning, midday, and evening(see Alma 34:21)

We are commanded to have amily prayers so that our amilies maybe blessed (see 3 Nephi 18:21) Our Church leaders have counseledus to pray as amilies each morning and night


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We also have the privilege o praying to give thanks and ask ablessing on the ood beore each meal

We open and close all o our Church meetings with prayer Wethank the Lord or His blessings and ask or His help so we may

worship in a manner that pleases Him

How Should We Pray?

No matter where we are, whether we stand or kneel, whether wepray vocally or silently, whether we pray privately or in behal o agroup, we should always pray in aith, with a sincere heart, with

real intent (Moroni 10:4)

As we pray to our Heavenly Father, we should tell Him what wereally eel in our hearts, conde in Him, ask Him or orgiveness,plead with Him, thank Him, express our love or Him We shouldnot repeat meaningless words and phrases (see Matthew 6:78) Weshould always ask that His will be done, remembering that what wedesire may not be best or us (see 3 Nephi 18:20) At the end o our

prayer, we close in the name o Jesus Christ (see 3 Nephi 18:19)

How Are Prayers Answered?

Whydoyouthinkanswerstoprayersarenotalwaysreadilyapparent?Whydoyouthinkanswerstoprayersdonotalwayscomewhenwewantorinthewaywewant?

Our sincere prayers are always answered Sometimes the answer

may be no, because what we have asked or would not be best orus Sometimes the answer is yes, and we have a warm, comortableeeling about what we should do (see D&C 9:89) Sometimes theanswer is wait a while Our prayers are always answered at a timeand in a way that the Lord knows will help us the most

Sometimes the Lord answers our prayers through other people Agood riend, a husband or wie, a parent or other amily member,

a Church leader, a missionaryany o these individuals may beinspired to perorm acts that will answer our prayers An exampleo this is the experience o a young mother whose baby was injuredin an accident at home She had no way to get the baby to a doctor


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Gospel Principles Ch8 Praying To Our Heavenly Father