In My Closet

Recall that Alma and Amulek were trying to teach the Zoramites to pray. The two missionaries wanted to help the people of Zoram overcome their false traditions of vain public prayer. As part of Amulek's instructions, he included this statement.

But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
--Alma 34:26

When I am in my closet, I have removed myself from the distractions of the world. Closets are not always physical, and they don't always have walls and doors. Nevertheless, in my proverbial closet, I can be alone, quiet, focused, undisturbed, and unobstructed. I can say what is in my heart without anyone judging or criticizing. Though I may be physically restricted and restrained in my little closet, my soul and heart can be free to commune with my God.

Nothing Too Small

The two missionaries, Alma and Amulek, first taught the apostate Zoramites about Christ, and then they turned their attention to the people's perverted method of prayer. Rather than repeat a rote and mean-spirited public prayer once a week, they taught the Zoramites to pray sincerely and often. Speaking of the topics appropriate for a sincere prayer, Amulek taught:

Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening. Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies. Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness. Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them. Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
--Alma 34:21-25

Amulek's great discourse on prayer teaches that there is nothing too small, temporal, or mundane that we cannot pray about it and seek the Lord's blessing. When I think I have a problem too small to bother God about, I think of these verses. He is willing to help me in every aspect of my life. 

Does God want me to be hopelessly dependent? Ultimately, no. In the interim, however, while I am mired in mortality, Christ pleads with me to come unto Him, lean on Him, share His yoke, drink of His living water, let His light guide my feet, follow His example, learn of Him, and listen to His words. I am, in truth, in this life, hopelessly dependent on Christ. I can admit my true condition and take Him as my partner, or I can deny it and struggle through life alone. My mortal struggles don't change, but whether I face them alone or not is entirely up to me. 

Call for Mercy

Two great missionaries, Alma and Amulek, answered the call from God to preach repentance to an apostate group called the Zoramites. The first thing these two men observed was a form of false worship in which one person at a time stood on a tall stand so they could be seen by their fellows and shouted a memorized prayer, every worshipper saying the same words. The two missionaries wanted to correct this faulty prayer practice, and so they taught the Zoramites a mighty sermon on true prayer, ending with these words:

Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you.
--Alma 34:17

I may pray in many situations, at many different times, to offer up thanks for many blessings and to put forth many petitions. The most important prayer I can offer, however, is my personal, private prayer for mercy. If I could secure God's mercy, all else would take care of itself. Everything I need flows from God's mercy and grace.

Formula for Spiritual Growth

Behold a formula for spiritual growth through prayer:

But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering; Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.
--Alma 13:28-29

I see the following elements in this formula that apply to my life:

1. Humble myself. I must not wait to be compelled to be humble. I can choose to be humble. I can look for ways I am proud, resistant, and unteachable, and take positive steps voluntarily to surrender my pride and my weapons of rebellion.
2. Call upon God. This is more than trite prayer or a mindless postscript to an exhausting day. It is reaching deep into my soul to see what I am really made of and then offering it unto the Lord. It is acting as if I were coming into His presence.
3. Watch and pray continually. I must pay attention rather than drift mindlessly through the day on spiritual autopilot. Be thoughtful and deliberate in my actions, always guided by the Spirit, which shows me the Lord's will. And do things prayerfully. Undertake no task save in the first place I ask God to direct me and consecrate my actions for the benefit of my soul as well as the benefit of others. Just as calling upon God is a different level of prayer, praying continually is a different flow of prayer. There is no amen to a continuous prayer.
4. Let the Holy Spirit guide, which implies that I first ask for direction, then listen for it, note it when it comes, and obey it. Again, it is the surrendering of my will to God's and doing things His way.
5. Seek the following gifts of the Spirit: humility (teachable, open to direction, able to see and admit weakness, ready to accept help), meekness (accept others as they are and let them be right), submissiveness (give up my stubborn pride so I can follow the direction of the Spirit), patience (operate on God's timetable instead of insisting on my own), full of love and all long-suffering (care more about others than myself, bear with others' imperfections because I know they must bear with mine, see others through God's eyes).
6. Have faith on the Lord rather than in myself, knowing that I cannot save myself but am totally dependent on Christ as my Redeemer.
7. Have hope, which motivates me to continue in the face of constant and inevitable failure because I believe that in the end Christ will erase all sins, heal all wounds, and right all wrongs.
8. Have the love of God always in my heart. Be filled with charity, which is a gift from God for which I must pray diligently and with all my heart as if I were pleading for my very life—which, in fact, is exactly what I am doing.