I Need Thee Always

The next step to study for Step Three is Prayer. The April Ensign has several interesting articles about prayer, which is very convenient for this step. I really enjoyed the article "I Need Thee Every Hour" by Elder Brent H. Nielson.  He says:

I observed that as we become casual in our relationship with Deity and as we minimize the importance of constant communication through prayer, we may begin to feel overwhelmed, become confused, and even be deceived, finding ourselves doing things that are not in accordance with God's will.

I know that has happened to me many times. He then gives us four reasons that we should pray.

1. The Lord has commanded us to pray.
2. We pray for forgiveness, to avoid temptation, and to conquer Satan. (Luke 22: 31-32) (D&C 10:5)
3. We pray to give thanks and to request temporal and spiritual blessings. The Bible Dictionary says about prayer's purpose: "The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are  made conditional on our asking for them."  I like this. He wants us to come to him.
4. We pray to receive personal revelation.  "But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation" (Alma 17:2-3)

Then a question he asks at the end which I think is my thought for today. "If the Savior of the world felt the  need for constant prayer, how much greater is our need?