"Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God."
Alma 6:6
Praying for others, and praying for others who don't know God, both seem like important things to do, since that is the work of the Lord, and helping him bring people to that entrance door where they can recognize God's Spirit in their lives and learn to make covenants with God to start them on his path of happiness, that's the ultra-important work of salvation, that we can help with.
Fasting is something that we frequently leave out of the equation, and I think that it is an important thing to add, not only to increase the efficacy of our prayers, but to help us as well. Fasting is something that helps us focus, putting our "fleshly lusts" (the desires of the body) in the background so that we can focus on and pull our spiritual selves to the forefront.
That doesn't mean that we need to go on a hunger strike or do anything dramatic that will harm our health, but fasting for 24 hours once a month as we are asked to do on fast Sunday (typically the first Sunday of the month) is something that can help us prioritize spiritual desires over worldly desires, and make our prayers more focused and heartfelt, and when we have something important to pray for, fasting and focusing on it with God and dedicating that time and attention to our prayers for a period of time can help us to break through that barrier of self-focus that we often find between ourselves and God.
Today, let's work on fasting and prayer, and joining together with others to pray for God's work to be done. Let's help others to find God, and pray to know God better ourselves as well.
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