To Pray like Nephi

This week I undertook to change a weakness in my spiritual armor: prayer. I pray, morning and night, but those prayers often feel to me superficial, self-centered, and distracted because of my worldly preoccupations -- school, money, etc.

I was reading in The Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi chapter 4, trying to figure out how Nephi was able to pray with so much power. Nephi was a prophet, and it seemed like he always knew exactly what the Lord wanted him to do. One of his gifts seemed to be asking God questions and gaining answers. But in 2 Nephi 4 I learned what attributes he had that led him to such powerful prayers. Nephi tells us, “my heart sorroweth because of my flesh [or sins], my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities [or wrongdoings]. I am encompassed about because of the sins which do so easily beset me.” Nephi recognized how easily he gave in to little sins – being angry or frustrated with a family member, becoming self-centered or impatient.

I doubt that Nephi’s sins were anything huge, but I believe that he recognized his weaknesses better than most of us do. I think that when he went before the Lord to pray, he felt truly burdened down, but went with confidence – knowing that calling on God, God would help him. In my life, I want to follow Nephi’s example, and examine my life more fully, to discover the mistakes I make and let myself be humbled by them. By going to pray with more humility, I know that I can be more prepared to receive the counsel that God would like to give me.

I think that by doing so, I will be more focused on how I am doing at being a disciple of Jesus Christ. As my prayers become focused on improving my discipleship, I hope my perspective will change and become more focused on the most important things – my relationship with God and the people around me.