Last week, was my first post on becoming prepared spiritually and physically. I have now decide to split the posts into two days. There is just too much to have them together.
Today, I will be focusing on becoming spiritually prepared. In the "Pursuit of Excellence" booklet one of the goals is to, "Establish a habit of daily personal prayer". That is the topic on which I have choosen to focus on this week. We are so blessed in this life that our Heavenly Father hasn't left us alone without communication. He loves us so much and desires to hear from us, so he has given us prayer as a way to communicate with him. I love that no matter where I am I can pray to my Heavenly Father. I know that he hears me and I know that he will answer my prayers. It may not be in the way I think it should be answered or in my time frame, but it will be answered the way Heavenly Father knows it should be answered.
So, how can we establish a habit of daily personal prayer??
There is an amazing conference talk given by Elder David A. Bednar titled, "Pray Always". In this talk he speaks of counseling with our Heavenly Father in the morning. One idea that I have found that works good to form a morning prayer habit, is to set the alarm clock 5 minutes earlier than I actually need to wake up. Then I use that time to pray and counsel with my Heavenly Father. The days that I do this I begin the day with feeling the spirit and it helps me to keep things in focus throughout the day.
Elder Bednar then goes on to say to keep a prayer in our hearts throughout the day for continued help and guidance. I once had a seminary teacher when I was in high school challenge us that when ever we heard the bell at school ring to think about having a prayer in our hearts. To think about our Heavenly Father and the things we are in need of his help with or even the things we are grateful for. We can establish this habit by thinking of our Heavenly Father throughout the day. If we are having difficulty with something than we should pray unto our father for help and guidance.
And lastly, at the end of the day we pray to report to our Heavenly Father. I once had this likening said to me, when we were little kids weren't we so excited to come home from playing with a friend or from school and tell our parents all about what we did that day. Our parents were always eager to hear. Well, same with our Heavenly Father. He desires to hear about our day. He wants to hear the things we are thankful for, the acknowledgement of the blessings he has given us. He wants to hear about our struggles and the things we are in need of. How can we remember to say our prayers before bed? When I was little I had a prayer rock. Just an ordinary rock that said "prayer rock" on it, but when put on the pillow it would surely help you remember to say your prayer. It could become a habit along with reading scriptures, to read and then pray. It just is consistency and making the conscious effort to remember that Heavenly Father wants to hear from us and that we need his help. I know that I need my Heavenly Father's help in this life and I am grateful that I can pray to him personally.
My goal is to be better at saying my morning personal prayers and keeping a prayer in my heart throughout the day. Also, kneeling in prayer each night.
No comments:
Post a Comment