One of my favorite quotes about prayer comes from the LDS Bible Dictionary, which says,
“Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them.” {read more here.}
I really like that prayer isn’t about changing God’s mind – He is perfect, why would I change Him? It’s about bringing my will in line with His. It’s about changing myself; communicating with God, my Father in Heaven, and trying to become more like Him.
Okay but I'm just gonna take a leap of faith here and assume I'm not the only one who ever forgets to pray. One thing I just realized is that it is only because of Jesus Christ that God hears our prayers and is merciful to us {I'm kinda slow, I know.} Therefore, prayer is a way of taking advantage of the Atonement. Yikes! I would never take the Savior’s sacrifice for granted or not use it in my life. I value it way, way, way too much. I could never disrespect my Savior or His Atonement. So now that I know that prayer is only possible because of the Atonement... I hope I never forget it again.
God loves you, I promise! Happy Thursday :)
Cecelia I love this idea.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I realized that for a long time either. I did have a friend say once that closing our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ is kind of like the stamp on a letter; it gets our message to Heavenly Father. So yes, because of Christ we can communicate with a Father who is all-knowing, loving, and perfect. I like that:)
Totally :) It definitely makes saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ," a LOT more significant to me :)
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