The "powers" of prayer

In bishopric meeting this week, the spiritual thought was offered by one of the bishop’s counselors. He said that he and his wife had decided to try to follow the counsel of the prophet to “Be prayerful.” They decided that they would hold family prayers morning and evening with their children, and encourage personal prayer at other times during the day. Being a farmer, he had to get up early and leave the house before his children were out of bed. To help him participate in morning family prayer, they called him and he listened as his children prayed. He said that holding family prayer brought the spirit into their home and taught his children the power of prayer.


It is this concept of the “power of prayer” that started my thought process and it occurred to me that the phrase could have more than one meaning – thus the title, “powers” of prayer. In the classic (and certainly true) sense, we regard prayer as the means whereby we communicate our thanks and our needs to our Father-in-Heaven through our elder brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. We recognize that the Father hears and answers our prayers, and that He loves us. When our prayers are answered for healing, or protection, or forgiveness, or any number of things we pray for, we refer to the result as “the power of prayer.” But it seems to me that there are several other “powers” of prayer beyond answers to prayer that should be considered.

Before, during, and after His mortality , the Savior and his Heavenly Father shared the closest and most intimate of relationships. They were, and are today, one in purpose, spirit, and thought. Even though He had priesthood power to heal the sick and raise the dead, He still offered prayer often to His Father. Why did He do so? For the same reason that a loving mortal son communicates with his mortal father. He wanted and needed His support and counsel on a daily basis. Being mortal, the Savior used the same means we use to communicate with the Father – prayer.

But why are we asked to pray? Our Heavenly Father and His Son know our names. They know our needs and desires. They know our hearts and minds better that we do. The Savior suffered for our sins and trials. So why pray? Why don’t they just take care of things for us? They know before we ask what our prayers will request. So why pray? Elder Neal A. Maxwell in his book, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], 97 said this:

… why pray? The answer is that God foresees, but He does not compromise our agency. All the outcomes are not, for our purposes, "all set." True, God's foreseeing includes our prayers, our fasting, our faith, and the results that will thereby be achieved. But until our mortal actions occur and our decisions are made, things are not "all set." The Father foresaw the Atonement, but the Atonement was not wrought until the very moment of Christ's death when He gave up His spirit, which He had the power to retain.

Parents often know the needs of their children before they ask, but they know that it is a growing and bonding experience for them to ask – to express their needs verbally – to their parents. This process of asking and receiving is necessary to achieving true maturity both in mortality and in eternity. In an article in the December 1921 Improvement Era titled “About Praying” Dr. C. L. Olsen says:

It has been said that prayer is the key to the Father's heart. The "lock" to the Father's heart, is no Yale affair, no tumbler latch, no safety contrivance, to keep intruders out. It is always in order, and it readily yields to pressure—the latch-string is within easy reach—it is not hung too high for the tiniest …but even the giant must find it, if the door shall open.

Just as mortal parents often yield to a child’s request, so does our Eternal Father open his heart to those who earnestly seek him.

Just as mortal parents encourage their children to communicate, so does our Father want to hear from us. He wants to direct our lives. But he cannot force us to include Him. He has given us ample tutoring in the form of scripture and instruction from those who lead us – even a Prophet who receives revelation, inspiration and guidance on our behalf. But we have agency. Just as mortal parents cannot force their children to be open and communicative, the Father will not force us to do so; if we shut Him out, we lose the support, guidance, and priesthood healing power of the Eternal, omnipotent, all-knowing Creator of the universe.

So one of the “powers” of prayer is that through prayer we keep communication lines open and strong between us and our Eternal Father, and bring Him joy.

As my wife and I kneel in prayer each evening, we often thank our Father-in-Heaven for the opportunity to serve others through our callings in the Church and through simple friendship and love. We often pray for the welfare of others. Again, Elder Neal A. Maxwell in his book, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, says:

We sometimes find ourselves praying for others when we should be doing things for them. Prayers are not to be a substitute for service, but a spur thereto.

When we ask for help and support for an ailing neighbor, I think that the Savior, through the Holy Ghost, often whispers: “I already knew about that. Will you please be my angel? Will you please call and comfort them? Will you please visit them? Will you please go mow their lawn? Will you please take some food to them? Will you please baby-sit? Will you please drive them to the doctor?” The hymn says: He’ll call, persuade, direct aright…but never force the human mind.” (LDS Hymns number 240, Know This, That Every Soul is Free) The spirit suggests, nudges, and asks, but we choose what we might do to aid others. So another of the “powers” of prayer is that it helps us and the Lord to focus our efforts with regard to service.

The act of praying empowers us. President Heber J. Grant often quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing has changed, but that our power to do has increased.”

As we seek the Lord in prayer, we become more adept, both at praying, and at listening. We are more in tune with what the Lord wants for us, more in step with the real “powers” of prayer. We can understand how to ask, how to be grateful, how to invoke the Lord’s blessings on ourselves, our families, and our neighbors and friends. So one of the “powers” of regular prayer is increased power to pray properly and fervently.

Prayer is a “clear channel” to our Father, one which the adversary cannot invade. Said Elder Francis M. Gibbons, in October 1991 General Conference:

So, in his wisdom and mercy, God has provided a channel of communication between him and his children on earth that Satan, our common enemy, cannot invade. This is the channel of secret prayer. The significance of this to the Latter-day Saint is profound, for by this means we are able to communicate with our Heavenly Father in secrecy, confident that the adversary cannot intrude.

I am convinced that there are many other “powers” of prayer we have not discussed. A few: thanking Deity for our blessings makes us more aware and grateful for them. We count our blessings, not as the miser counts his coins, and not as the man who prays in public, but in sincere and humble gratitude for what the Lord has given us. As we obey the call to prayer, we become more obedient. Testimony grows as a result of fervent prayer under the touch of the Holy Ghost. Children see their parents together in sincere prayer and begin to understand the true meaning and importance of prayer.

So we can begin to understand, in a limited way, that the Father ordained prayer as the only medium by which we can communicate with Him for our growth and development as we proceed along the path to celestial glory. Remember, He knows our needs even before we ask. But when our Heavenly Father sees us in sincere prayer, he is more pleased than any earthly father could be because one of His precious spirits is “calling home.”

Just as we rejoice when our children communicate with us, so does the Father rejoice when we call on Him. Chieko N. Okazaki, in her book, Disciples, says:

But if our songs are prayers to Him (D&C 25:12), then I think it's also true that our prayers are songs to Him, sweet music that brings Him joy and rejoicing.