This week in my Book of Mormon class, we've been studying the second half of Alma. One of the chapters that really stuck out to me was chapter 33. In this chapter, Alma talks about Zenos's prayer. In this prayer that Zenos offered, he gave several examples of where God has heard his prayers and answered them. I couldn't pick just one example that I liked, so I just inserted the whole prayer below. :)
4 For he said: Thou art merciful, O God, for thou hast heard my prayer, even when I was in the wilderness; yea, thou wast merciful when I prayed concerning those who were mine enemies, and thou didst turn them to me.
5 Yea, O God, and thou wast merciful unto me when I did cry unto thee in my field; when I did cry unto thee in my prayer, and thou didst hear me.
6 And again, O God, when I did turn to my house thou didst hear me in my prayer.
7 And when I did turn unto my closet, O Lord, and prayed unto thee, thou didst hear me.
8 Yea, thou art merciful unto thy children when they cry unto thee, to be heard of thee and not of men, and thouwilt hear them.
9 Yea, O God, thou hast been merciful unto me, and heard my cries in the midst of thy congregations.
10 Yea, and thou hast also heard me when I have beencast out and have been despised by mine enemies; yea, thou didst hear my cries, and wast angry with mine enemies, and thou didst visit them in thine anger with speedy destruction.
11 And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son.
Zenos's prayer and testimony of prayer really helped me to strengthen my own testimony. God is with us, no matter where we are. We are taught, as Latter-Day Saints, to prayer unto Him anytime, anywhere. I feel like a lot of us don't take this to heart and we think that we have to be in a certain places or only at certain times. But that's not the case at all. Zenos has proven to us through the words of the scriptures that it doesn't matter where we are or what we're doing. God is always going to there for us if we are reaching out to Him and desiring that our words be heard.
It's an amazing thing to have scriptures filled with all of these amazing examples. I am forever grateful and blessed to have the words of God literally at my fingertips, and that I am able to feast upon those words to give me insights and knowledge.
4 For he said: Thou art merciful, O God, for thou hast heard my prayer, even when I was in the wilderness; yea, thou wast merciful when I prayed concerning those who were mine enemies, and thou didst turn them to me.
5 Yea, O God, and thou wast merciful unto me when I did cry unto thee in my field; when I did cry unto thee in my prayer, and thou didst hear me.
6 And again, O God, when I did turn to my house thou didst hear me in my prayer.
7 And when I did turn unto my closet, O Lord, and prayed unto thee, thou didst hear me.
8 Yea, thou art merciful unto thy children when they cry unto thee, to be heard of thee and not of men, and thouwilt hear them.
9 Yea, O God, thou hast been merciful unto me, and heard my cries in the midst of thy congregations.
10 Yea, and thou hast also heard me when I have beencast out and have been despised by mine enemies; yea, thou didst hear my cries, and wast angry with mine enemies, and thou didst visit them in thine anger with speedy destruction.
11 And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son.
Zenos's prayer and testimony of prayer really helped me to strengthen my own testimony. God is with us, no matter where we are. We are taught, as Latter-Day Saints, to prayer unto Him anytime, anywhere. I feel like a lot of us don't take this to heart and we think that we have to be in a certain places or only at certain times. But that's not the case at all. Zenos has proven to us through the words of the scriptures that it doesn't matter where we are or what we're doing. God is always going to there for us if we are reaching out to Him and desiring that our words be heard.
It's an amazing thing to have scriptures filled with all of these amazing examples. I am forever grateful and blessed to have the words of God literally at my fingertips, and that I am able to feast upon those words to give me insights and knowledge.