“I’ll cast on [God] my ev’ry care and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!”1 We live in a time when drawing upon the powers of heaven through prayer is needed more than ever. So much about our lives can fill our days with worry and keep us awake at night with anxiety: we have health and family challenges, financial and career concerns, disquiet over daily difficulties, and fear over what could happen in the future. No doubt about it, we need heaven’s help.
A wise religious leader has said: “If you need a transfusion of spiritual strength, then just ask for it. We call that prayer. Prayer is powerful spiritual medicine.”2 Prayer can see us through to the other side of sorrow; it can buoy up our spirits when we feel like giving up; it can prompt us with inspiration and guidance about what to do and how to do it. Life is a process of maturation, and one of our most important opportunities is to learn how to pray and how to receive answers to prayers. Some answers come soon, some come later, but they do come to those who sincerely pray. It matters not how simple the words may be. If we come before the Lord with a humble heart, He will draw near unto us.
At any given moment, all around the world, prayers are ascending to heaven. One grandmother never hangs up the phone without telling her grandchildren, “I love you. I’m praying for you.” A farmer, the father of a large family, explained that prayer has always been a part of his daily life. But on occasion he has felt “an overwhelming need to go into the field at night or kneel by the haystack, look up into the heavens, and speak aloud to [his] Father in Heaven.” When he has prayed in this way, with real intent, he has felt the warmth of God’s love and known that his prayer would be answered in wisdom and for his best good.3 A young mother kneels to pray with her son each night, but then sometimes, after he has fallen asleep, she bows her head and prays over this
precious child. She prays to be a better mother; she invokes heaven’s blessing upon her son.
Life can change in an instant, but the one constant, the one thing we can always count on is the opportunity to turn to God in prayer—not just in petitions, but in praise and thanks.
Two thousand years ago the Apostle Paul spoke of the power of prayer. He urged us to “pray without ceasing” and “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let [our] requests be made known unto God.”4 Since the beginning, people have called upon the name of God for strength in suffering, for wisdom to understand, for peace as we struggle with life’s unanswered questions. This day and always may we “cast on him [our] ev’ry care and wait for [him], sweet hour of prayer!”
Program #3890
1. “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” Hymns, no. 142.
2. Boyd K. Packer, in Conference Report, Oct. 1987, 20; or Ensign, Nov. 1987, 18.
3. D. Rex Gerratt, in Conference Report, Apr. 2003, 96; or Ensign, May 2003, 90.
4. 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Philippians 4:6.