Nephi and Prayer

We generally recognize Nephi for his unwavering obedience to the Lord’s commandments, and rightly so.  1 Nephi 3:7 (“I will go and do”) is without question the most commonly cited verse about Nephi, and his devotion to following the Lord’s commands has been an inspiration to countless readers of the Book of Mormon.  Another way that he was an example to us that we shouldn’t overlook, though, is the faithfulness with which he prayed to the Lord.  Again and again we see his fervent, humble petitions to the Lord and how the Lord responded and granted him great power.  At the end of his writings he counseled us, “I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee” (2 Nephi 32:9).  His life showed that he indeed lived praying always to the Lord. 

               We see Nephi’s diligence in prayer from the very beginning of his record.  After his father taught his family the words of the Lord to him, Nephi recorded: “I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers” (1 Nephi 2:16).  Nephi was faithful in prayer in obtaining his own witness.  Later when he sought to understand more about his father’s visions, he turned again to the Lord: “For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord” (1 Nephi 11:1).  While he didn’t specifically say that he was praying, surely that pondering and earnest desiring to know spiritual things constituted heartfelt prayer to God.  Nephi also found strength to overcome his trials through prayer.  When they were journeying back from Jerusalem with Ishmael’s family, Laman and Lemuel rebelled and tied Nephi up to be left for dead.  He instinctively turned to prayer: “But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound” (1 Nephi 7:17).  The Lord gave him that strength because of Nephi’s faith in his prayers.  After crossing the desert, he gained instruction from the Lord through prayer: “And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord” (1 Nephi 17:7).  The Lord revealed to him the need to build a ship, and so that’s what he did.  He was able to accomplish the monumental task by earnestly seeking the Lord in prayer: “And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things” (1 Nephi 18:3).  Prayer was not a one-time even for Nephi but a constant source of revelation.  When they were on that boat crossing the ocean, Nephi was again tied up by his brothers and as his manner was, he turned to the Lord in prayer: “Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions….  And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm” (1 Nephi 18:16).  It was in response to his prayer that the Lord saved their company on the stormy sea.  Prayer got Nephi through the toughest times, and up through the end of his life he was earnest in his petitions to the Lord.  He wrote in the last chapter we have from him, “For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry” (2 Nephi 33:3).  Nephi’s life was filled with the power of prayer that he offered continually for his people. 

            We are blessed to have the very words of Nephi in a prayer that we sometimes call the Psalm of Nephi.  In it we see the great earnestness with which Nephi went to the Lord in prayer.  The Nephite prophet’s conclusion to that powerful petition to the Lord was this: “Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God” (2 Nephi 4:35).  Nephi was a man of prayer who showed us how to gain great knowledge and power from the Lord through heartfelt prayer, and we too should follow his example to “forever ascend up” our voices to God.