To Call Upon God

In the previous two posts I introduced the Prophet Joseph Smith as my "prayer hero," the young man who set the model for my prayer life. Now I want to go back to the beginning--not my beginning, but the scriptural beginning. Back to Genesis in the Bible, when men first began to pray.

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.
--Genesis 4:26

So, how did Seth and Enos know to call upon God in prayer? Seth's father Adam taught them about prayer as he learned it directly from God Himself:

Wherefore, thou [Adam] shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.
--Moses 5:8

To call upon someone can be interpreted two ways: either to visit them or to request or demand something of them. To call upon the Lord is perhaps a combination of both.

When we pray in faith and with real intent, we approach God and try to come closer to Him. We visit Him, albeit by long distance, in His realm in heaven. We attempt to transport ourselves to His thrown, which we approach boldly, according to Paul (see Hebrews 4:16). In other words, we don't belong there, but we go there anyway in hopes of being received by grace and mercy.

While God is always aware of us, we may not be always aware of Him. Thus, we must make an effort to connect with Him, open our end of the portal, lift the receiver on our end of the line, and put ourselves in position to commune with Him and hear Him. Prayer is not for God, it is for us, to put us in touch with the Being who already knows us, knows what we need, and is anxiously waiting to bless us. He is calling upon us constantly. He stands at the door and knocks all the day long. When we call on Him, we are really just answering His call. We complete the circuit and open the door, and there He is, where He has been all along.

The other meaning of "calling upon" is to make a request or demand. We certainly do not demand attention or blessings from God in an arrogant or haughty manner. But we do make requests, and in faith our requests may be quite direct and forthright. We acknowledge our weakness and our dependence. We ask for what we cannot supply or do for ourselves. Thwarted constantly by our limitations, we call upon our limitless God to enhance and expand our efforts and to accomplish in us and through us what we could not possibly do on our own.

Through our calls to Him, we open ourselves to the unleashing of His power in our lives. Our calling on Him is the key. Respecting our agency, He will not act openly in our lives unless we invite Him. He will not show us His hand unless we ask for it. He will not reveal His face unless we seek it. But when we do, stand back, get out of the way, and watch Him work! "Be still, and know that I am God," He says (see Psalm 46:10). The battle is His, the trouble is His, our enemy is His enemy, and He will put all enemies under His feet.

We need not fear when we call upon God, for He is always and forever on our side when we are on His side.