It Is Easy To Let Prayer Slip

"In the hectic, pressure-filled schedules you face, I . . . know how easy it is to let prayer slip. Some of you hit the snooze button on your alarm clocks, thinking you can eke out just another minute or two of sleep, then jerk awake realizing that you are going to be late for school or work. On such mornings, prayer gets pushed aside, perhaps with a feeble promise to yourself that you will do better tomorrow. Put the alarm clock where you can't reach it from bed; that will solve this problem. Sometimes you return home late at night, exhausted and eager to collapse into bed. You may go through the motions of prayer in a perfunctory and superficial manner, but that is not the kind of prayer that helps us conquer Satan.

"I know many of you live in apartments where you have four or five roommates. The television or stereo may be on day and night. People talk loudly enough that even in your bedroom you can hear them clearly. There is laughter, noise, interruptions. In such circumstances it is a challenge to find a time and a place where you can be alone with your Heavenly Father. The Savior spoke of entering our closets to pray (see Matthew 6:6), suggesting the importance of privacy and quiet when we talk with God. For most of you, your closets will not allow this to happen, so you need to find a time and place where you can be alone with the Lord and pour out your heart to Him, that you might add strength and power to your spiritual lives."
M. Russell Ballard, "Be Strong in the Lord, and in the Power of His Might" (CES fireside for young adults, March 3, 2002), 2–3