I was speaking to a friend recently who told me he is presently teaching his children to say prayers of gratitude. For a time they are not allowed to ask for anything, only express gratitude to God for everything they receive at His hand. I was so touched by this because I believe in prayers of gratitude. I believe they bring us closer to God.
Another friend taught me years ago the true order of prayer which is praying by the power of the Holy Ghost. When we ask for his presence at the start of our prayer, we are given to ask for that which the Father is willing to give us for ‘he that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God; wherefore it is done even as he asketh’ (D&C 46:30). It’s an easy way of submitting to God’s will.
Praying by the power of the Holy Ghost also ensures that we do not ask for the wrong thing because ‘anything that is not expedient for us, shall turn unto our condemnation’ therefore we should not ‘ask for that which we ought not’ (D&C 8:10; 88:65)
I have learnt one interesting truth through prayer. There is no free lunch. That’s Satan’s philosophy. You get what you pray for but it comes with a price. I have noticed I have not prayed for one attribute I wanted without getting a difficulty or trial of some sort to enable me to develop what I’ve asked for. There is no magic wand that will change us into what we want to be overnight. If you pray like this make sure you are the person who is willing to change and to grow.
I believe there is also a higher and more supernal art of prayer. It is a prayer of worship. Whenever I come across someone’s prayer recorded in the scriptures I am touched to my core to hear such beautiful words of praise uttered by man. I am saddened that our prayers today fall short somewhat of reverence and worship they used to be anciently and now tend to be mere one-way dialogues of thanks and petitions for help. Some of us do not worship God for who He is and tend to speak to Him in all too familiar and common way as if He is our friend and so godly respect gets somewhat lost.
Consider the beautiful words of King Hezekiah’s prayer: “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth….” (Isaiah 37:16-20) or of King Mannaseh who was the most loathed and cursed king in history of Judah, the most idolatrous king who sacrificed his own son to a heathen god, added devotion of heavenly bodies and constellations to idol worship, who shed innocent blood of prophets and all the righteous men among Hebrews every day until he had filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to the other (2 Kings 21).
When the Assyrians carried him off to Babylon he saw the error of his ways and went to the Lord with the most profound prayer that is today known as The Prayer of Manasseh. A reference to the prayer, but not the prayer itself, is made in 2 Chronicles 33:19). The prayer is deemed to be Apocryphal by Jews and Christians alike and is used by some Christian Churches today. These are the words that touched my heart the most because they were uttered from the very depth of Manasseh’s heart: “O Lord, God of our fathers…unending and immeasurable are your promised mercies….O Lord I am justly afflicted because I did evil things before you….And now behold I AM BENDING THE KNEES OF MY HEART…” Have you ever heard a prayer of repentance as touching as this???
Manasseh’s prayer is today considered one that pays tribute to the merciful heart of God. Praying to God acknowledging His providence, mercy, grace, kindness, love and all the perfect attributes He possesses will bring us nearer to His throne because of the humility which will grow in our hearts and endear us to the God of heaven. Therein we will find forgiveness, mercy and deliverance and most importantly we will bring joy to His heart and be a delight to Him forever. And may we remember to bend the knees of our hearts next time we pray.
I stand all amazed as I am lifted to Thy throne,
To see Thy soul and all that Thou art.
If I had the might to plant Thee in each heart
Of all that breathes,
In pursuit of such a quest I would walk the earth
With apparent ease.
I long to praise the magnitude of words I cannot find
That tell the glory that is Thine.
As I can do so little all my desires to meet,
I place my loyal love at Thy holy feet.
No comments:
Post a Comment