What is prayer? As defined by Google, prayer is, "a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship." Surprisingly, thats a fairly accurate definition. Prayer is merely described in the Bible Dictionary of the LDS canonized scripture, rather than being defined. Fortunately for us, we have scripture given of God to help us understand our relationship with God as is pertains to prayer.
Keep in mind, these are some of my thoughts and feelings and impressions that I have received and felt as I have read the scriptures according to the given topic. I take full responsibility for the things that I write, and recognize that some of these insights may contradict what has been taught in the church and from the traditions of our fathers.
Let me start off by first attempting to answer my first question. Prayer can be defined by many terms. For the sake of being simple, prayer is the way that we communicate with our Father in Heaven. A prayer can be a plea, asking or requesting spiritual knowledge, and temporal blessings, expressing of desire, or giving thanks. In the scriptures, we find examples of all of these things.
Although we may already know these definitions, we have been caught up in the "traditions of our fathers" and have adopted some form of prayer that teaches us to close off our body (folding of the arms), to look down towards the ground (bowing the head), and to shut our eyes. To one who may be unfamiliar with prayer, this approach may appear to closed off, and maybe even ashamed. I suggest several ways, and examples from the scriptures to improve our form of prayer.
Let us look to one of the greatest examples of prayer in the scriptures of all time; Enos. Enos hungered. Enos knelt upon the ground. He cried unto the Lord, in mighty prayer. These words he uses are there for a reason. Enos did not quietly express his concerns, and his problems to the Lord. This was not unnoticed by God, as we will see later on in this chapter. He gives us a sneak peek in on "how" he was praying. At the end of verse 4 he writes, "...and when the night came, I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens" (Emphasis added). This suggests to me that Enos raised his head (and his eyes for that matter) towards heaven, in an attempt to send his words, his pleas, and his cries towards that source.
One more thing I would like to point out about Enos's experience with prayer is that he begins to have a conversation with the Lord. Notice that Enos prayers, and the Lord responds, not only with feeling, but with words, actual audible words. "Thy sins be forgiven thee" (verse 5) "Because of thy faith in Christ" (verse 8) "I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith" (verse 11). Enos isn't making these words up! Enos teaches us that "the voice of the Lord came into my mind". Prayer is a very personal matter, and unless the Lord wishes to speak to more than one person at a time, the Lord will continue to speak to us personally in our "minds and in (our) hearts" (D&C 8:2)
I would like to touch again on the subject of "lifting our eyes towards heaven." Enos gives us a great example, however, we know of someone who gives us the perfect example. Jesus Christ, in His intercessory prayer, found in John chapter 17, teaches us this prime attribute of prayer. Verse 1: These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify the Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee". Jesus understood where His Father in Heaven was, addressed Him, and lifted His eyes towards that place. While it is not described in full detail, I personally believe the Prophet Joseph Smith kept his eyes open in his experience with the First Vision. After the darkness had almost overpowered him, how else would he have seen "a pillar of light"? There is more to learn about the eye in the scriptures, but that can be saved for a different time. Would we be "condemned" by the Father if we kept our eyes open? Apparently not.
I have noticed recently the accounts in the scriptures with prayer. Almost all of authors in Book of Mormon and their experiences with prayer, happened outside. Nephi goes to the top of a mountain. Enos is out in the forest. The brother of Jared also climbs a mountain. Joseph Smith previously designed a place that he would go in the woods to supplicate to the Father. God is more accessible in places that He Himself created. I have felt this in my own life. We may also associate being outside in nature, in air, on a mountain (closer to God) and on the earth with lifting our eyes towards heaven. It's hard to see the heavens when you're trapped beneath a ceiling of plaster, cement and dry wall.
The Lord speaks to us just as we speak to Him. Notice in the scriptures how others address our Father using words such as thee, thou, and thine. Now turn your attention to how Heavenly Father responds to them, using the same words. We must consider that Joseph Smith translated the record according to the language that was spoken of the time. However we address our Father in Heaven is how He will respond to us. 2 Nephi chapter 31 verse 1 teaches, "...He speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding." Back then, that was how people addressed each other. When people conversed (and not just with those of authority) we can see that they said "thee and thou." Therefore, while it is a nice gesture to address our Heavenly Father with "respectful" terms, He speaks to us as we understand I would prefer to think that He does not want us to distance ourselves, or put ourselves far away from Him using such "authoritative" language. Think of all the people that try and understand the Book of Mormon with all of its "and it came to pass's" and its thee's and thy's and thou's. We ,today, wouldn't pick up on that type of language. Is it wrong to say "you" , "yours" and other familiar and informal language while addressing our Heavenly Father. Apparently not.
One more thing to consider: We are taught in the temple how Adam prays and speaks with God. With his arms raised to heaven. We know that there is symbolism tied in with that. We also know that this mode of prayer has to be teaching us something. I'm not at liberty to discuss those kinds of things in this post.
By reading these things and applying them, I can witness of myself that God will be pleased with us. He deeply desires for us to speak with Him, and however we choose to do so, (as long as we are praying to Him, in the name of His Son) He will hear us. He will respond. As we become more aligned with the truth, we may learn more of our relationship with Him who speaks to us, just as we speak to Him. Someday, even in this life, we may have the opportunity to speak to Him "face to face" and as "one man speaketh to another".
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