Prayer Saves

A key purpose of prayer is to build a relationship with God. Now, I first acknowledge that a relationship with our Father is not new. In fact, it is as old as eternity. In the book of Job we read:

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
--Job 38:4-7

Like Job, we were all "morning stars" who "shouted for joy" at the creation of the earth. Though our mortality has hidden the memory from us, we will not remain separated from our Father forever. President Ezra Taft Benson taught: “Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us.” (“Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations,” in Speeches of the Year, 1974, Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1975, p. 313.)

For the meantime, however, our relationship with Heavenly Father is clouded by distance--not physical so much as spiritual. Elder Henry B. Eyring spoke about our long-distance relationship with God in these terms: "If you want to stay close to someone who has been dear to you, but from whom you are separated, you know how to do it. You would find a way to speak to them, you would listen to them, and you would discover ways to do things for each other. The more often that happened, the longer it went on, the deeper would be the bond of affection" (General Conference, April 1991).

The speaking and the listening of which Elder Eyring spoke is prayer. Our Father wants to close the gap between Himself and us. He wants to make the reawakening of our ancient relationship as easy as possible. So, He made prayer easy and universally available. No rules, no regulations, no specified forms. Just speak and listen. If we open some space in us, into the void the Father will come.

This is the start, but it is not the end. We are not finished when we start to pray. The cloudy distance is still real. The prophet Nephi taught, "no unclean thing can dwell with God" (see 1 Nephi 10:21). And we are all unclean before our perfect and spotless God, as the Apostle Paul wrote:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
--Romans 5:12

We want a relationship with our Eternal Father, and He wants a relationship with us. But we are stuck by our own mortal weakness. What do we do? Paul had the answer, and it is still prayer:

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
--Romans 10:13

Christ through His atonement pierces the cloudy distance and bridges the cavernous gap between us and our God. And how do we get the atonement to work for us? We pray.

Paul said that a prerequisite to salvation is calling upon God and acknowledging Him as the Savior. As much as God loves us with an unfathomable love, He will not swoop down out of the heavens and take us by surprise. We must build our relationship with the Father through His Son. Christ can save us. From what? From being eternally separated from God.

Thus, we are instructed to call upon God in the name of the Son (see Moses 5:8). We will not be saved by a stranger. To build a relationship with the Father, we must also cultivate a relationship with the Son--sooner or later. Sooner is better. The more frequently and regularly we call upon the Father and the Son in this life, the richer our relationship with them will be and the more natural we will feel when we enter their presence. If we call upon God daily, He can save us daily.