Talk on Family Prayer

Yesterday Josh and I gave talks in church. Mine was on Family Prayer and his was on Learning from the Scriptures...It's always so funny how we learn the most out of anyone as we sit and ponder what the Lord wants us to teach. Right now in my little family we are working on having better scripture study and family prayer habits. It's actually going really well however as I was preparing this talk I realiized we weren't praying half as much as the prophets counsel us to. So I thought I would share ;) It has a lot of really great quotes from different prophets from our Church. {The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints} Quotes are Large, Personal Stories are Purple and Scripture References are Italicized. ;)

Modern prophets have consistently taught that family prayer is essential if we are to protect our families from the perils of today’s world.

President Gordon B Hinckley has taught us on many occasions of the importance of family prayer. In a general conference address he was plain and to the point with “Parents, safeguard your families…Pray together. There is no substitute for family prayer when all kneel together before the Lord.” He counsels us that nothing can take the place of kneeling with our families and petitioning God for His help, guidance, and mercy. If we would help save and strengthen our families, nothing else we do can replace family prayer.

He also counsels that a “return to the old pattern of prayer, family prayer in the homes of the people, is one of the basic medications that would check the dread disease that is eroding the character of our society.”

This is counsel that other prophets have consistently given us throughout the history of the church. President Heber J. Grant shared his feelings about family prayer: “I am convinced that one of the greatest things that can come into any home to cause the boys and girls in that home to grow up in a love of God, and in a love of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is to have family prayer. … I believe that there are very few that go astray, that very few lose their faith, who have once had a knowledge of the gospel, and who never neglect their prayers in their families, and their secret supplications to God.”

As an adolescent I did not have the opportunity to pray together with my family. We were still learning how to go to church every Sunday for 3 hours being that I joined the church at age 14 and my mother a year after me. Praying to Heavenly Father was very new to us since the Catholic church taught us prayers were to be memorized and recited to the Lord. I remember being so scared to pray in front of the young women at meetings let alone praying in front of my own family…It took some getting used to. And now I don’t even remember what it is like to not have that life line of praying to our Heavenly Father. I literally need it every day. ;)
Brother Christenson in our ward, mentioned a week or two ago how he has noticed that his youngest child Ethan is already learning how to pray without even being instructed. It has just been learned by observation. I love this. I see it in our own family too. I know by experience that it is never too early and it is never too late to kneel in prayer.

When I was preparing this talk the other day I thought I would ask Noah my 3 year old and Lexi my five year old a few questions regarding prayer: When I asked Lexi why we fold our arms and close our eyes she answered “so we don’t touch things and we can focus on Jesus. When I asked Noah “does Heavenly Father hear our prayers?” He answered quickly and matter of factly “yes” and then I asked him where Heavenly Father is that he can hear our prayers and he answered “the moon” ;) It was very sweet.

President Spencer W. Kimball taught us that family prayers should be “appropriate to the need. A prayer of a single couple would be different from one for a family of grown children or for one of small children. Certainly, it should not be long when little children are involved, or they may lose interest and tire of prayer and come to dislike it.”

He continues to teach us parents that: “No mother would carelessly send her little children forth to school on a wintry morning without warm clothes to protect against the snow and rain and cold. But there are numerous fathers and mothers who send their children to school without the protective covering available to them through prayer—a protection against exposure to unknown hazards, evil people, and base temptations.”

Today’s life is busy for all of us. It can be easy for families to fall into the habit of rapid prayer or no prayer at all. Even years ago, Church Leaders were concerned about this intrusion of busy schedules into family life. President George Albert Smith warns us: “I fear that, in the midst of the world’s confusion, of hurry and bustle, many times homes are left without prayer and without the blessings of the Lord; these homes cannot continue to be happy.”

And later, President Kimball counsels: “When we kneel in family prayer, our children at our side on their knees are learning habits that will stay with them all through their lives. If we do not take time for prayers, what we are actually saying to our children is, ‘Well, it isn’t very important, anyway. We won’t worry about it. If we can do it conveniently, we will have our prayer, but if the school bell rings and the bus is coming and employment is calling—well, prayer isn’t very important and we will do it when it is convenient.’ Unless planned for, it never seems to be convenient.”

Our children are still young, but I know there are many families with older kids and I’m sure it probably can get a little discouraging at times. As I see our family starting to get busier each year with sports and various activities, work and school schedules, I’m sure it gets a little tricky to heed the prophets advice to gather our families to the same place and same time for family prayer. Elder Joe J Christensen of the presidency of the seventy gave encouraging counsel to parents: “Remember family prayer every day. With schedules as they are, you may need to have more than one prayer.” Meaning we may have to have prayer in different waves as different members of the family leave the house each day. I guess it is up to us moms for that one…That is a lot of praying ;)

President Hinckley has encouraged us parents to be hopeful and persistent in holding family prayer even if the blessings promised are not immediately apparent. He testifies using Hebrews 11:6 “I give you my testimony that if you sincerely apply family prayer, you will not go away unrewarded. The changes may not be readily apparent. They may be extremely subtle. But they will be real, for God ‘is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him’ (Heb. 11:6).”

In keeping with the theme of safeguarding our families, these three prophets give us great counsel;

President James E Faust counsels us: “In the past, having family prayer once a day may have been all right. But in the future it will not be enough if we are going to save our families.”

Aside from mealtime blessings, President Ezra Taft Benson taught: “Just a few words added to the blessing on the food, as is becoming the custom in some parts, is not enough. We need to get onto our knees in prayer and gratitude.”

During difficult times family prayers in the morning and the evening will not always be enough. President Kimball said: “Never hesitate to gather your family around you for your prayers, especially in those times when more than morning and evening family prayer is needed. Extra needs require extra prayers.”

Just the other day we were having some of that ‘looking for homework’ type issues at home. Things got a little tense { you know where baby’s crying in the background as if we don’t have enough craziness just looking for the right book or whatever} and in my head popped a thought I should use this time to teach the kids to use prayer during crazy moments like this. We all gathered together and had family prayer…I don’t recall any grand miracle after that but I do know that every time we pray together as a family we grow closer to our Heavenly Father and my children will find it a little easier to say a prayer and be more comfortable in talking with their Heavenly Father on their own.

President Kimball tells us even very small children should have the opportunity to voice family prayer. He states “One cannot learn to pray by merely listening, but must be given experience.” He also reminds us that “If the father ishome, he takes charge, and calls on one of the family to pray. If the father is not there, the mother is in charge. If both are gone, the oldest child is in charge, and every night and every morning, the family is on their knees in prayer to the Lord.”

As children participate in family prayer and hear their parents speak to God in humility, with faith in Jesus Christ they can begin to learn things of the soul in a setting that cannot be duplicated anywhere else. During family prayer, children may begin to consider the answers to the great questions of the ages: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” Through family prayer—and their own personal prayers that are encouraged—children will begin to learn that they are sons and daughters of a loving Father in Heaven, that they are here as part of a great plan of happiness, and that they can return to their Father after this life.

I believe parents can have such an impact on their children if we pray as a family that our sons will prepare for and be worthy to serve missions. That our daughters and sons will stay morally clean and keep themselves worthy to enter the holy temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. As our children hear us pray for the spirit to be in our home, they will know the importance of praying for the spirit to be in their own lives. If they see us praying for help for difficult challenges and trials and witness answers to those prayers, they will learn to do the same.

In Matthew 7:7-8 It says, Ask, and it shall be bgiven you; cseek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that aseeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

President Kimball reminds us parents that “Your little ones will learn how to talk to their Father in Heaven by listening to you as parents. They will soon see how heartfelt and honest your prayers are. If your prayers are a hurried and thoughtless ritual, they will see this too.”

Parents can also learn much about prayer from their little ones, as did a group of Nephite parents when the resurrected Savior appeared to them and loosed the tongues of even their small children.

3 Nephi 26:14 And it came to pass that he did teach and minister unto the children of the multitude of whom hath been spoken, and he did bloose their ctongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and marvelous things, even greater than he had revealed unto the people; and he loosed their tongues that they could utter.

Sometimes words given to a small child in prayer are more than they can understand but a humble, listening heart can hear the Holy Spirit that speaks through them.

Sometimes there are instances where a spouse or a child declines to participate in prayer. But if the spouse will allow prayer or the child will be present, even without participating, a heart can often be softened and humbled by this loving example. They may learn the benefits of family prayer even if they do not realize it.

President Hinckley has said: “I know of no single practice that will have a more salutary effect upon your lives than the practice of kneeling together as you begin and close each day. Somehow the little storms that seem to afflict every marriage are dissipated when, kneeling before the Lord, you thank him for one another, in the presence of one another, and then together invoke his blessings upon your lives, your home, your loved ones, and your dreams.”

In 3 Nephi 18:21 we learn that after His crucifixion, the Savior appeared to the Nephite people and comforted them with the counsel to “pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.” What peaceful counsel for all of us to take and use in our families today.

John H Groberg of the seventy speaks of a family where family prayer was used for healing…Recently a good father and husband passed away unexpectedly in his home. He was only in his 55th year. His youngest son found him while the mother was away in a nearby city. The boy’s older brother and sisters were contacted at work. Friends and neighbors came to assist. The children gathered at the hospital with extended family and priesthood leaders. Medical personnel tried in vain to resuscitate the father, but he was gone. There was much sorrow and grieving. Mother was finally contacted and sped to the hospital, not knowing that her eternal companion had already passed away a few hours earlier and that her children had been heartbroken and awash in grief and pain for some time.

Upon arrival, this mother was informed of the loss of her husband and taken to the small hospital chapel where her children had been waiting. What a trial and test lay before this woman! As she entered the chapel, her children rushed to the comfort of her arms. Immediately, before much else was said, this wise and steady mother said to her sorrowing children, “Let’s have family prayer.” And so a family whose life and future had looked so bright and promising that morning knelt together, arm in arm, to petition their Father in Heaven to help and comfort them as they began the process of rebuilding shattered lives. The members of this family testify that God heard their prayer. From that moment on, there was strength and comfort. Testimonies were reaffirmed, hope was steadied, and love and understanding filled the family circle. Father was gone, but they knew it would be only temporary. Uniting in family prayer, they had been reminded that through the grace and Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, they would be together again as a family.

Elder Groberg reminds us that for this family, for other families in the Church, and for all families throughout the world, the words of a living prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, bring comfort, guidance, and promise of everlasting spiritual growth: “There is no substitute for family prayer.”

We need to call our families together. It needs to be a priority item. If you aren’t doing it now, it may be awkward at first and since Satan doesn’t want us to do it at all, he will throw all kinds of excuses at us. But if we persist we are promised great blessings.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen