Receiving Answers To Prayers

   In the past, I've heard some people say they feel their prayers are stopping at the ceiling and not quite making it to God. I wonder if from time to time each of us feels this way. We feel that even though our prayers are being said, they are not being heard, and more importantly they are not being answered.
   Each of us can take comfort in the words of Paul to the Romans "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
   I know that God loves each of us and hears our prayers, and if we do our part, He will answer our prayers. So the question is, what do we need to do to receive our answers?
   I came across a wonderful talk by Elder L. Lionel Kendrick called, "Personal Revelation."
   In the talk he gives a lot of counsel and I'd like to share just a short bit of it:
   "Receiving personal revelation is not a passive process. As we seek such revelations, we must prepare for these sacred experiences. President Spencer W. Kimball told us that “God reveals himself to [people] who are prepared for such manifestations.”

   The Savior spoke of this principle of preparing to receive personal revelation. He shed light on the things that we must do to properly prepare: “It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins [repents] and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name [prays], and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments [obeys], shall see my face and know that I am” (D&C 93:1).

   To properly prepare to receive personal revelation, we must repent, ask through prayer, be obedient, search the scriptures, fast, think pure thoughts, and develop a spirit of reverence."

   Elder Kendrick concluded his talk by saying, "It is a tender experience to petition our Heavenly Father in sincere, heartfelt prayer and know that He will respond with personal revelation. His promises are sure, but we must properly prepare to be receptive to the promptings of the Spirit in receiving this guidance."

   To see the full content of the talk and find more guidence on how to receive answers to your prayers and how to recognize them, please go to http://lds.org/ensign/1999/09/personal-revelation?lang=eng&query=receiving+answers+prayers and read "Personal Revelation."