My Grandma shared with me something that I needed to hear. She said, "We tend to think that ME + MORE = CHRISTLIKE. We believe that it is up to us to change and if we work hard enough, do more, be more, we could actually be more Christlike." I think that this is something that can really bring you down. We need to understand that we don't have to be something that we are not to be more Christlike. What we have to do is make space for Christ in our lives. I think that having faith is trusting in Christ enough to take things out of your own hands and turning it over to Christ. Christ has the power to change us and do anything He wants through us. We just have to trust Him enough.

There is a scripture in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." I believe that this is true but I think that there is a caveat. There is no temptation that we cannot handle without Christ. If we try our very hardest to overcome every temptation we will still fall short. We need Christ to help us.

Overall, being like Christ is not just trying harder. It is taking a step back and trusting Christ. Believe in yourself and in Christ. Christ will change you and help you accomplish things that you never could think possible. I think that we all want to improve and be better than we are now. However, just trying harder doesn't always work. We need to be patient and trust in Christ to move you there.

God's view on prayer is profound. Jesus taught "your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." However, God still commands us to pray. He already knows what we will pray for. He knows how best to help us. He knows our needs way better than we ourselves even know. So why does he command us to pray?

The Bible Dictionary says that "Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence." When we pray, we should not try to convince God to do what we ask of him. We are not trying to show him that we deserve the blessings we are asking for. We are not trying to check off a box on our list of things to do. We are trying to join our will with our Father's. And we know that God's will isn't changing so we are the ones that need to be changing. This is why two crucial aspects of prayer are humility and listening. Christ is our perfect example of this. In the Garden of Gethsemane, as he was feeling the weight of all the sins of the the world, he cried out "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." At this unimaginable moment our Savior turned to prayer. He poured out his soul to God and his soul was filled with humility. His prayer allowed him to be able to turn his will over to God's.

Our prayers need to be the same. We need to bare our souls before God. We cannot hide. This means we need to remove our pride and be filled with humility. An important part of humility is not always asking for things that we need or want, but asking God what he needs from us. Once we are humble we need to listen. God answers our prayers in different ways. We need to take time after our prayers to listen. As we pray humbly and listen to the promptings we receive, our desires will begin to correspond with God's desires for us. We will have a closer relationship with our Father and we will be much happier.