The Fruits of Prayer

In Alma 34:17-27, Amulek counsels us to pray constnatly both for ourselves and for those around us. The prayer that Amulek is speaking of is not simply I thank thee...., I ask thee.... type of prayer. Rather, he teaches us that we "must pour out [our] souls." I know that when we pray in faith, our Heavenly Father will hear and answer our prayers. But pouring out our souls is not the only thing we need to do in order for our "prayers to find access to [Heavenly Father" (Hymn #172, In Humility our Savior). In verse 28, Amulek teaches us a very important principle to prayer. He teaches that if we "turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart not of [our] substance, if [we] have, to those who stand in need....behold, [our] prayer is in vain and [we] are as hypocrites who do deny the faith." In other words there are two parts to our prayer. The first is speaking to the Lord in faith. The second part is to have charity for others by going forth and serving them. Amulek gives some great examples of how we can show forth charity, but I think there are many more. The most beautiful part of prayer is that as we pray in faith, the Lord will reveal to us the things that we should DO after we ASK. As we go forth and do those things, as Ammon we will be able to rejoice in the Lord because "we [will] be made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work" (Alma 26:3) which we have been called to do as holders of the Priesthood of God.