-After President Kimball became President of the church he said, “I thought I knew how to pray before, but now I am really learning how to pray.” (“Spencer W. Kimball: A True Disciple of Jesus Christ” by Elder Marvin J Ashton, Gen. Conf. April 1985)

-“Bless our enemies. Help us to understand them, and them to understand us.” This was an oft repeated phrase in President Kimball’s prayers. (“Spencer W. Kimball: A True Disciple of Jesus Christ” by Elder Marvin J Ashton, Gen. Conf. April 1985)

-When I was at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo Utah, Elder Jeffrey R Holland of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came to speak to us. He was asked how we get the spirit. He gave 3 councils: 1. Search the scriptures. Search them long and deep. 2. Pray. Pray like you’re banging down the doors to heaven, begging, pleading to be heard, desperately. 3. Once you have the spirit, try to not lose the spirit by offending Him with bad choices.

-An excerpt from  my essays “Magnifying Your Calling in the Church & Your Calling in the Gospel” and ” Top 3 Types of Crazy to Look for In Dating “ …when your spouse comes to you and says something like “I feel prompted to do the following thing which is in the parameters of the teachings of the prophets…” you must be open to that.  As your spouse approaches you with this type of an idea, you pray about it yourself for confirmation of the idea, wherein you’ll get one of the following answers:

 

Answers:

 

1. “it doesn’t matter”
2. “no bueno”
3. “ya’ll decide, it’ll be fun for all of us to see where this goes” (“God, you speak southern!? This keeps getting better!”)
4. “hm… you might not be ready for this… ask later. And in the meantime, READ THOSE SCRIPTURES! PS I love you & I’m proud of you!” (“God, well is it written of thee that thou art a Lord of hosts of armies and a God of mysteries! PS Thanks for the compliment!”)
5. “I respect you and your wishes. Do it if you wish, much good can come of it, but know that it’s not strictly required of you”
6. “Try 7” (God can give us specific answers! He isn’t limited to yes or no questions!)

 

DISCLAIMER: Though God certainly has a sense of humor, prayer isn’t this casual.

 

Leading the Children in Prayer:

 

Direct the children in “extra-long prayers for Sunday” on occasion. Have them kneel and told them to tell God all they were thankful for, then to ask what they want, then when they report being done with these, tell them the next step and so on leading them through the whole process; Tell them to pray to tell God all the things they like, then all the things they don’t like, and to ask Him to help there be less of the things they don’t like, then tell Him who all their friends were, and to ask Him to bless them, then to tell Him who all their enemies were, and to ask Him to bless them all. Then tell God what they want to be when they grow up, and what they don’t want to be. Then they are to pray telling God all of their sins. When they reported being done, ask them to think harder, there are more, and let them kneel a while on that. Tell them to listen to what Heavenly Father has to say to them. They can kneel a while saying nothing only listening. When they report being done with this, they are to kneel and listen longer. When all is finished, they are to close in the name of Jesus Christ, and record their experience and impressions.