Prayer in Families

The second principle listed as an important part of making successful marriages and families in the Proclamation is prayer.  What examples of this do we see in the scriptures?  The most obvious that comes to mind is that of Alma in the Book of Mormon.  The angel that visited Alma the Younger told him that his father had “prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth” (Mosiah 27:14).  Clearly Alma’s prayers had great power to bless his son and were the catalyst for Alma the Younger’s incredible change of heart.  Prayer was evidently something that was taught to the rebellious Alma in his home as we see in the fact that Alma reached out in fervent prayer when he was “in the memory of [his] many sins.”  He told his son Helaman, “I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me” (Alma 36:17-18).  Alma the Elder’s pleading prayers to the Lord as well as the fact that he had taught his son about the power of prayer made it so his son was able to change his life and repent of his sins.  Prayer brought the most important kind of success to Alma’s family.  Another example of how prayer has changed the course of a family comes from the familiar story of Samuel.  Hannah could not bear a son and so she “prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.  And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:10-11). That ardent prayer was answered by the Lord, and because of it Samuel had an enormous impact for good in the cause of the Lord among the Israelites.  Surely this brought extreme joy to Hannah and her family.  A similar story is found in the New Testament: Elizabeth and Zacharias also pled with the Lord to be able to have children.  We don’t know for how many years they prayed for children, but the angel told Zacharias, “Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son” (Luke 1:13).  The answer to their years of praying brought John the Baptist whose impact for good can’t be understated.  Again, the prayers of future parents brought the greatest kind of success they could have hoped for.  These and other examples confirm that powerful prayer will bless families.