Jesus' disciples clearly saw the effect that prayer had in His life. He spent large amounts of time in prayer, often by Himself. The disciples soon realized that the demonstration of God's power and wisdom flowing from Jesus' life directly resulted from the intimate fellowship He enjoyed with His Father. When they asked Him to explain more to them about prayer, Jesus told them this story: "Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before...

I never remember, in all my Christian course, a period now of sixty nine years and four months, that I ever SINCERELY and PATIENTLY sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of the Word of God, but I have been ALWAYS directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes.