Elder Russell M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles, explained, “Our prayers follow patterns and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. He taught us how to pray.” This week, we will study his recent General Conference talk, “Lessons from the Lord’s Prayers.” As always, I love to read your thoughts and comments. (Mostly your comments, since I can’t actually read your thoughts.)
If this is your first visit to the General Conference Book Club, click here to learn more about it. You’re welcome to join us at any point along the way.
>>Click here to read the talk “Lessons from the Lord’s Prayers” by Elder Russell M. Nelson <<
Diapers and Divinity 
This talk started me thinking this week on my own personal prayer. I was surprised as I went to prepare my VT message that it was also on prayer. I am determined to take on the challenge I made to the sisters I teach to take what ever level I am at in praying, and enhance it one step farther.
Elder Nelson gave several ways to enhance prayer that I liked:
1- Remember that “the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me.” I think this is one of the easiest ways to keep a prayer in our hearts at all times.
2- Fasting (although I liked the reminder that “the Lord will accept that which is enough, with a good deal more pleasure & satisfaction than that which is too much & unnecessary.”
3- Using the right words because doing so “helps us to be humble.”
4- (This wasn’t in his list, but he mentioned it earlier and it is something I am going to try harder to meaningfully strive for in my prayers) To pray for the companionship of the Holy Ghost and help our children do the same.
I like the reminder to use hymns more. I’m thinking I should use that tool more often in those “chaotic” home moments.
1. I loved this summary of the Lord’s Prayer: “The Master simply wants us to pray for God’s help while we strive constantly to resist evil and live righteously.” It’s so straightforward and not overwhelming. Basically, do you best and rely on God’s help. Prayer is the means to accessing that help.
2. I also like the simple concept of how we should pray for unity. I’m not really a grudge person and I don’t tend to carry burdens of hate or anything, but there are admittedly some people that I’m just not fond of. I should use prayer as a tool for charity, a catalyst for unity.
3. The phrase “pray in your families” stood out to me. Family prayer is not just a suggestion from modern general authorities; it is a commandment directly from the mouth of the Lord.
4. “AMEN” to his call for shorter prayers in meetings (no pun intended).
5. This quote reminded me that sometimes I’m simply not meeting the minimum requirement needed for me to access the blessings of prayer:
“The practice of Church members is to kneel in family prayer each morning and evening, plus having daily personal prayers and blessings on our food.”
6. In the notes of the article, he said this, which makes me want to do some more reading, because who doesn’t want to be known as a sincere student of prayer?
“Note #1: The January 1976 issue of the Ensign was published as a “Special Issue on Prayer.” The sincere student of prayer will gain much from a study of those articles.”
Most of the thoughts that I had were already mentioned by Stephanie and Charlotte. (Hi, girls!)… You know, I’ve always wondered why prayer is a struggle for me. I have a testimony of it, and have many examples in my life of prayers being answered. I have found comfort, direction, and connection through prayer. So why is it that I struggle, every day, to do this simple work?
This is what caught my attention, in this talk–when he mentioned the language that we use, and how it helps us to be humble. I think, when I miss the opportunity to say prayers, I am unconciously relying on myself. I am being prideful. I had never thought of it, quite that clearly, and it was good for me to read. It also reminded me of the absolute importance of teaching my children to prayer properly: heads bowed, eyes closed, arms folded. Kneeling, for family prayer. I thought that tied in nicely with Elder Bednar’s talk from last week, where it talked about having the desire and purpose to bring our children to the temple. Where better to start than prayer??
Those were a few things, besides the wondeful ones already shared. Now, upward and onward to Elder Hale’s talk for this week!
I like the minimum requirement concept! I am always telling my children they can’t get the reward until they’ve done what I asked, the same thing is true with prayer.
I have been thinking the same thing about pride and prayers. I sometimes don’t like to admit my struggles even to God. I need to work on that. I was thinking the other day that I need to be more specific with my prayers. Instead of asking for patience, ask to be guided in the best course of action when my child keeps {fill in the blank- a million things come to mind}.