“Ye Must Pour Out Your Souls in Your Closets and Your Secret Places, and in Your Wilderness”

D. Kelly Ogden, Andrew C. Skinner

This is the third chapter in a row in which we read of mighty prayer—one of the keys to appreciating and personalizing the Atonement in our lives. These verses detail where and when and how to pray. “Closets,” “secret places,” and “your wilderness” all suggest places to which we may go for private, quiet introspection (contrast that personal setting with the vain, public praying of the Zoramites on their Rameumptom). Verse 27 encourages us always to have a prayer in our hearts; to be “drawn out in prayer” means praying for an extended period of time or repeatedly praying over an indefinite period of time. We pray for ourselves, and we pray for others, specifically, by name. And always we express gratitude.

Verse by Verse: The Book of Mormon: Vol. 2

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