Prayer

President Spencer W. Kimball:

“Prayer is such a privilege—not only to speak to our Father in Heaven, but also to receive love and inspiration from him. At the end of our prayers, we need to do some intense listening—even for several minutes. We have prayed for counsel and help. Now we must ‘be still, and know that [he is] God’ ( Ps. 46:10 .)...

"Learning the language of prayer is a joyous, lifetime experience. Sometimes ideas flood our mind as we listen after our prayers. Sometimes feelings press upon us. A spirit of calmness assures us that all will be well. But always, if we have been honest and earnest, we will experience a good feeling—a feeling of warmth for our Father in Heaven and a sense of his love for us. It has sorrowed me that some of us have not learned the meaning of that calm, spiritual warmth, for it is a witness to us that our prayers have been heard” ( “Pray Always,” Ensign, Oct. 1981, 5 ).

The Prophet Joseph Smith said:

“The Lord deals with this people as a tender parent with a child, communicating light and intelligence and the knowledge of his ways as they can bear it” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 305).

Elder Henry B. Eyring, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, wrote:

“If I listen humbly, with the expectation that what matters most will be clear even to a little child, then I will be both meek enough to be quiet inside—and therefore able to hear the still, small voice—and humble enough to take correction easily” ( To Draw Closer to God [1997], 33).

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve:

“How great and continuing is our dependency upon the Lord, which is one of the first and fundamental facts of life, never to be forgotten, even when we are making genuine progress.

“No wonder Jesus prayed so to the Father. And oh, how He prayed, never forgetting to call upon the Father. In this, too, Jesus was unique. Even the very righteous brother of Jared, a truly remarkable man, once was chastised during a visitation from the Lord because he ‘remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord’ [ Ether 2:14 ]. How vital prayer is, therefore, for all of us! How vital it is that even our ‘busyness’ in doing His work not crowd out our prayers to our Father” ( Even As I Am [1982], 67).