The Reach and Power of Prayer

“There is no limit to the reach and power of prayer.”¹ Everyone needs help, no one is self-made, no one is self-sufficient, no one, in a sense, is safe, for all are subject to accident, to illness, to temptations, to sorrow, to the difficulties of making decisions. All of us receive much discipline as we move though life, no matter how old or young we are, no matter how much we have or haven’t. All of us are searching, seeking. No one of us is able to go his way alone in life. There are so many unanswered questions, so much that is beyond our control, beyond our ability. We do what we can, sometimes well, sometimes not, but we all need help from sources beyond ourselves, and help from a Higher Source — for there are problems and people that cannot be reached or touched at times with other means we have at hand. Even with our own children (and other loved ones), we have much need of help, to teach them, to keep them close — and when loved ones are away too late at night or in far places, or in unknown or possibly unsafe situations, we know that our best hope has been to “teach them correct principles,” and then reach out for them with love and earnest pleading prayer. Sincere prayer is not a mere, or a self-answering process, but communication with the Personage and power who sustains life, who orders the seasons, who keeps creation in its course, even as our Savior prayed to the God and Father of us all: “Our Father which art in heaven…”² And there is comfort in knowing that our children are also His children. Thank God for the privilege, the power, the strength and comfort and guidance and peace-giving assurance of prayer, without which life would be emptier and lonelier and much less livable. “There is no limit to the reach and power of prayer.”