Prayer!

I am very grateful for prayer and my understanding of it. It can be tough at times to pray unto our Father in Heaven. Life gets busy and we get tired and forget to pray or get very lax in what we say.
2 Nephi 32:8-9
8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the ^aSpirit which teacheth a man to ^bpray ye would know that ye must ^cpray; for the ^devil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must ^apray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall ^bpray unto the Father in the ^cname of Christ, that he will ^dconsecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the ^ewelfare of thy soul.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the power of prayer and praying with Faith. Sunday, we learned about praying with greater faith. A talk titled "Ask in Faith" by Elder David A. Bednar Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was our topic of discussion in Elder's Quorum.

Elder Bednar reviewed three examples of asking in faith in meaningful prayer with our Heavenly Father.
They are:
1. Ask in Faith and Act
2. After the Trial of Our Faith
3. Not My Will, but Thine, Be Done

All 3 examples highlight very essential elements to heartfelt prayer. We must ACT and not wait to be acted upon...Faith is an action word. Answers come after we are tested of our faith. And most importantly I believe is seeking to do the will of the Lord rather than our own. Too often we can get caught up in just asking and giving thanks for the same old things day in and day out. I find my prayers most meaningful when I seek to learn the will of the Lord for me. With elections coming up and the race drawing a near this country needs the prayers of her citizens.

May we all pray for the leaders of this free country and beautiful nation!