Pray always

Today's scripture mastery is another short one, but it has some important council for everybody.  Doctrine and Covenants 10:5 says:

 5 Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.

Sounds simple.  Pray.  But not just pray--pray always.

The nice thing about prayer is that it is your own personal line of communication with your Father in Heaven who loves you.  He has given us prayer so that we can share with him our needs and desires, our hopes, and our dreams.  We can come to him in prayer when we have a question that we are struggling with in life--He will provide answers.  He will provide comfort and council and help.

We can come to him in prayer when we are full of gratitude for our many blessings in life.  We can thank him for our families, our friends, our many opportunities in life--or for this beautiful world which we live in, and all that is in it.  Anything that we are grateful for we can express that to Him in prayer.

Prayer can be done anyplace and anytime (yes, even in the workplace, or at school.)  It doesn't have to be done out-loud, nor does it have to be kneeling, or even with your eyes closed.  It can be done silently, in your heart, where only you and the Lord can hear.  In fact, there are places where it may not be appropriate to pray outwardly (such as the workplace or at school that I mentioned above), but you can ALWAYS pray in your heart.

There is a story found in the Book of Mormon about a group of people who believed in Christ, but lived at a time/place where those who had power over them threatened to kill them if they were even found praying.  They did not stop praying in their hearts, but God still heard their cries (Mosiah 24:11-13)

 11 And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death.

 12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

 13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

Again, we can pray at any time, and in any place, for any reason.  I like the verses quoted by Alma, from the prophet Zenos on prayer (Alma 33:3-11)

3 Do ye remember to have read what Zenos, the prophet of old, has said concerning prayer or worship?

 4 For he said: Thou art merciful, O God, for thou hast heard my prayer, even when I was in the wilderness; yea, thou wast merciful when I prayed concerning those who were mine enemies, and thou didst turn them to me.

 5 Yea, O God, and thou wast merciful unto me when I did cry unto thee in my field; when I did cry unto thee in my prayer, and thou didst hear me.

 6 And again, O God, when I did turn to my house thou didst hear me in my prayer.

 7 And when I did turn unto my closet, O Lord, and prayed unto thee, thou didst hear me.

 8 Yea, thou art merciful unto thy children when they cry unto thee, to be heard of thee and not of men, and thou wilt hear them.

 9 Yea, O God, thou hast been merciful unto me, and heard my cries in the midst of thy congregations.

 10 Yea, and thou hast also heard me when I have been cast out and have been despised by mine enemies; yea, thou didst hear my cries, and wast angry with mine enemies, and thou didst visit them in thine anger with speedy destruction.

 11 And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son.

Talk to the Lord in prayer--really talk to Him.  He does not require a special memorized prayer to communicate with him.  Talk with Him as if He were right in front of you, and were your best friend--because that is exactly what He is!  He loves you, and wants the best for you.  He appreciates hearing from you.  He wants to give you additional blessings and help in your life.  There are some blessings that he gives out only when we ask Him for them--don't be afraid to ask.  In fact, if you look through the scriptures for the phrase "ask and ye shall receive", you will find many scriptures that state that truth.