Mighty Prayer

One of my great prayer heroes is the prophet Enos in the Book of Mormon. Enos was a good man raised by a good father. As he grew up in a righteous home, Enos surely said his daily prayers, read the scriptures, and attended worship services. Yet, he felt he was missing something in his life. He wanted to be more than an "active" believer, he wanted to be truly converted. And so, he turned to prayer. But not the simple, standard, run-of-the-mill prayer he was used to.

And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.
--Enos 1:4

God heard Enos's mighty prayer and answered it in a direct and inspiring way.

Mighty prayer is powerful prayer. Mighty prayer taps into the power of God to change me in profound ways—ways that I could never accomplish on my own under my own power. 

In mighty prayer, I turn myself, my problems, my weaknesses and my failures over to God. I reach up to put my puny hand in His mighty hand. I stop trying to do it myself, run my own life, achieve my own goals. I admit that I are powerless to accomplish the impossible things God expects of me. 

In mighty prayer I hold nothing back, make no excuses, blame no one but myself. If I can put everything on the altar, including and especially the natural man with all his pride and selfishness and stubbornness and rebellion, and beg and beseech God in genuine sincerity to take it all away and do with me what He will, I am offering a mighty prayer. 

I do not just whip out a mighty prayer in five minutes before I fall asleep at the end of the day or in a brief, rote recital of repetitious 'thanks' and 'pleases' before I rush out the door in the morning. Though God wants to hear from me daily and is pleased with my efforts to communicate with Him, He yearns for mighty prayer to open the door to His real power. 

He is a mighty God who wants to use His might in my behalf. Mighty prayer is the key to unlock God's power in my life. If I want to change, mighty prayer is the mechanism to engage the power I need. God will change me if I cry to Him in mighty prayer.

God Hears

The prophet Nephi foresaw the destruction that awaited his people. The picture was bleak indeed. In many ways, what Nephi saw in his people's future parallels the challenges we will face in the "last days." Nevertheless, Nephi offered a ray of hope to the faithful followers of Christ, even amidst the trials to come:

After my seed and the seed of my brethren shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about, and shall have laid siege against them with a mount, and raised forts against them; and after they shall have been brought down low in the dust, even that they are not, yet the words of the righteous shall be written, and the prayers of the faithful shall be heard, and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten.

--2 Nephi 26:15

Despite everything that may seem to go wrong in my life, and though I feel abandoned and alone, if I stay faithful, my prayers shall be heard. My Father never ignores me. Although He might seem unreachable in the midst of my toughest trials, I remind myself that during a test in school, the teacher remains silent. But that doesn't mean the teacher is unaware of me or of the challenges of the test. God helps in times of trouble. Of that I am sure, of that I testify.

Have You Inquired of the Lord?

The prophet Lehi had received a marvelous vision about God's plan of salvation for the human family. He described his vision to his sons, Nephi believed his father, but Lehi's other son's, Laman, Lemuel, and Sam, struggled to understand. While Nephi went off and prayed about what he had heard, his brothers argued and bickered over the possible meanings of the vision. Nephi received his own revelation from God to enlighten him, but the others were stuck in their intellectual reasoning.

Nephi found his brothers bitterly disputing with each other. He asked them, "Have you inquired of the Lord?" Their answer was, "No, God doesn't talk to us. He won't respond to our questions." Nephi then taught his brothers a truth about prayer that he had learned for himself:

Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.
--1 Nephi 15:11

In his response to his brothers' quandary, Nephi provides us with a formula for receiving revelation as an answer to prayer. 

The first step is to not harden our hearts. A hard heart is one that denies the possibility that God will hear and answer. Such a heart denies the need for God. It's closed in on itself, becoming impenetrable and unyielding. A hard heart is a willful decision to reject God and His spirit. It is the stony ground on which any seed of truth withers and dies before it has a chance to take root. To get an answer to our prayers, our hearts must be soft, pliable, open, accepting, willing to take what comes and consider the possibility that God has something to offer. We prepare our hearts through diligent searching of the word of God and nurturing the seeds that land within us. When we choose God, He cultivates our hearts and prepares them to be expanded. 

The second step is to ask. Asking is a commandment. We must ask to put ourselves in a position to receive consciously and with thanksgiving. Learning what to ask attunes us to the revelatory process. We learn what God wants to give us, and we know what to expect so we recognize the answer when it comes. The asking is not for God, who already knows our needs; it is for us to identify our true needs as God sees them in His infinite wisdom and goodness. Asking shows our willingness to receive and exercises our agency in alignment with God's will. If we don't ask, we won't receive. 

The third step is to exercise faith. Faith is to act on an unseen outcome. It is moving forward even when the path is not clear with the assumption that clarity will come when we need it. It is confidence and trust in an answer that has not yet been granted but will surely come. It propels us into the unknown with the assurance that it will be knowable at the right time. Faith is trusting in the goodness of God and the wisdom of His timing. 

The fourth step is believing that God will deliver on His promises. Believing is patient waiting. It is not wishing. It is hopeful expectation, an extension of our faith. We sincerely and honestly anticipate the answer we asked for. Believing enables us to wait without despair, to watch diligently, to be ever ready. 

The final step is to diligently keep the commandments. When we obey what we already know, we show our readiness to receive and obey more. We keep ourselves attuned to the Holy Spirit. Our receiver is dialed in and ready to accept the answers when they come. We align ourselves with God's will and make room in our hearts to receive more of His will and wisdom. Thus, the answer we receive will be a step in the direction we are already headed rather than an abrupt about face. 




 




When we follow Nephi's formula, the promised blessings of knowledge and revelation will come just as surely as combining hydrogen with oxygen produces water.