Prayers of the Righteous

I learn so much from the sweet, sincere prayers of my little four-year-old primary kids.  Yesterday, one of the boys prayed, “Please help me to be rich when I grow up,” (a few smiles and snickers—yes, I was peeking, thinking about the conversations that must take place in their house), pause, “so I can buy a house someday.” 

Oh—of course! This is California, after all.  I realized maybe I better start praying for the same thing for my own children.  At the rate things are going here, they’re going to have to be rich in order to buy a house here, or anywhere, for that matter.

I forget sometimes how important and powerful prayer is.  It suddenly struck me today, there were times when the only thing that saved an entire people were the “prayers of the righteous” (Alma  62:40); and times that no righteous were even found in cities that could have saved them. 

So, I had to ask myself, how often do I pray in such a way that my prayers could save our city, or even my town, or neighborhood, or even family?  Are my prayers sincere and full of enough faith that I could call on the Lord for miracles?  Or just everyday blessings? 

I want to be sure I have the kind of relationship with the Lord that comes from daily, sincere prayer, so that when I do have great need for miracles (and as my kids grow older, those needs seem to come more and more often), I can ask with faith.

We are taught to pray in any place over any thing we need.  So, why not pray to figure out school plans, or to overcome temptation, or to save a nation, or to be able to buy a house?