Farewell Sermon and Farewell Post

As Nephi approached the end of his life, he chose to conclude his written record with the words of a powerful sermon to his people about the Messiah, the Holy Ghost, and prayer. Near the end of his sermon, he gave this warning to his hearers and to his eventual readers:

And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the devil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.
--2 Nephi 32:8

When I have opened my heart to the influence of the Holy Spirit, He has inspired me to pray. Prayer has become a natural response. Indeed, I yearn for prayer. It is not a chore or duty to which I force myself and rush through to get on to more important things. Rather, prayer has become a refuge and a refreshment I look forward to with anticipation and which I leave with reluctance. Itis the highlight of each day, an awe-inspiring interlude in which I commune with my Maker and Father. 

The scripture says the Spirit will teach us that we must pray. We cannot hope to build a relationship with God in any other way. Our prayers open the conduit of communication. God wants desperately to teach us, direct us, and bless us. He offers an eternity of good things, but we hold the key that unlocks all the good He wants to share with us. The key is to ask. And we ask in prayer. We must pray, or we will never know what our Father has in store for us. 

And thus, the devil knows how critical it is to keep us from praying if he has any hope of drawing us down to hell. He is happiest when we ignore God all together. He is just as pleased, however, when our so-called prayers are merely vain rituals full of empty phrases dashed off in a thoughtless stupor at the end of a busy day. One really good, sincere, thoughtful, faith-filled prayer can throw off his entire game plan for our destruction. For once we start to pray by the Spirit and open a genuine channel of communication with God, we will want more and more of the sweet peace and joy meaningful prayer brings, and we will slip inexorably from Satan's grasp.

It has been my privilege and joy over the past two years to have shared some of my thoughts and experiences with prayer. I undertook this project primarily to strengthen my own commitment to prayer. If the words of this blog have lifted or inspired you somewhere along the way, I am humbled and honored to have been an instrument in the hands of the Lord to spread his message of faith and prayer. My final encouragement to you who have followed along with my ramblings is, to use a popular meme on billboards, bumper stickers, and the internet: Be calm, and pray on. I know God lives and loves me, Jesus is the resurrected Christ, the Holy Ghost speaks, and prayer works. 

Praying with the Tongue of Angels

In the prophet Nephi's final sermon recorded in the Book of Mormon, he spoke extensively on prayer and the role of the Holy Ghost. He taught the following about the ability of the Holy Ghost to give us the language of angels:

Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?
-- 2 Nephi 32:2

The Holy Ghost enables me to speak the language of angels, which is the language of God. This promise certainly applies to the speech I use in prayer. I do not have to be limited to my imperfect mortal language as I speak to God if I let the Holy Ghost help me in my prayers. I find it interesting that I use prayer to invite the Holy Ghost to be with me, and the Holy Ghost invites me to pray in a better way to Heavenly Father. 

With the help of the Holy Ghost, I can speak God's language, which may require no words at all. C. S. Lewis spoke of wordless prayer, of communing with God without language, as perhaps the purest form of prayer. Maybe praying by the Spirit with the tongue of angels was what he was trying to describe. 

A Need and a Question

The Prophet Joseph Smith began his recorded account of the visitation to him of an angel with the following description of a prayer:

In consequence of these things, I often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when, on the evening of the above-mentioned twenty-first of September, after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one.
--Joseph Smith - History 1:29

Joseph approached God with a need and a question. He knew he needed forgiveness for having given in many times to weakness and temptation. He felt he had not lived up to God's expectations of him following the supernal revelation of the First Vision. He had certainly not lived up to his own expectations. So, his need, acutely felt, was forgiveness. 

I have this same need. I know I do not live up to God's desires for me, and as I strive imperfectly to keep the commandments and my covenants, I am not meeting my own expectations. Whether I recognize and feel godly sorrow for my imperfections is determined by my humility and my attenuation to the Holy Spirit. Because I am serious in my desires for discipleship, my imperfections drive me to prayer.

Joseph's question was about his standing before God. He wanted to know, despite his mistakes, if he was still acceptable to God and if God still wanted to use him. Had he messed up so bad and procrastinated so long that God had turned away from him? Had he lost his chance to build a lasting relationship with God? This was not a passing curiosity. It was not just one of a hundred things Joseph thought about each day. It had become his primary focus, the question that vexed him the most. He needed to know more than anything else if he was lost or still salvageable. 

My quest for faith and spirituality is faltering but sincere. Thus, I am also vexed from time to time with a question similar to Joseph's. For all my efforts and despite all my failures, how am I doing? Am I at least on the right path and leaning in the right direction? Have I made so many mistakes that I am lost? Am I broken beyond repair? Have I made so many wrong turns that I can never reach the goal God set for me in the beginning? Have I wasted my life? That's a tough question for a seventeen-year-old. It is an excruciating question for a sixty-nine-year-old.

One other thing to note about this prayer experience of the young prophet-to-be: unlike his experience in the grove where he was alone and could speak out loud, he was not alone in his attic bedroom with his brothers sleeping peacefully next to him only inches away. He could not pray vocally. He did not say whether he knelt by his bed or simply stretched out under his comfy quilt. Yet his heartfelt, silent prayer penetrated the heavens just as effectively as had his spoken prayer three years earlier.

Joseph showed that the form of prayer is not as important as the content and intention of prayer, supported by faith and confidence in God's ability to hear and answer. Joseph's narration indicated his expectation of an immediate response. He was not being impatient (although what seventeen-year-old has an abundance of patience?), but he felt that an answer would be forthcoming. 

He humbly and sincerely recognized his shortcomings and did not try to hide them. He desired to repent. He understood his need for forgiveness and grace. And he had a legitimate, burning question, the answer to which he was fully committed to obey. He seemingly had no other plan, no alternative strategy, no fallback position. He was willing to be all-in if God still wanted him.

I can pray the same kind of prayer if I put in the same kind of preparation and exercise the same kind of faith. Vocal or silent, alone in a lovely grove or surrounded by a crowd, if my heart is right, if I am humble, if I am willing to confess my faults and truly want to change, if I will accept God's grace and stop trying to save myself, if I bring to God my most burning, fundamental question, and if I cry to Him with the full intention of accepting and obeying whatever His answer for me is—if I am all-in with my faith and hope—God will hear and answer. Immediately. Instantly. Unequivocally. Directly. Unmistakably. And to my total satisfaction. I will know what I need to know. 

It is up to me, then, to act on that knowledge. 

Vocal Prayer: Singing with the Music

In 1838, Joseph Smith wrote in his own words a description of the events that led to what has become known as his "First Vision". In this vision, Joseph saw and spoke with God the Father and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. It was the opening of a new dispensation of the Gospel of Christ and eventually led to the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

The Prophet Joseph's miraculous experience began with a question and a prayer. His question was: Which church should I join? After attending several churches and listening to the preachers contradict each other, he decided his only course was to pray and ask God. He wrote:

So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
--Joseph Smith - History 1:14

The inference in this statement is that Joseph had prayed silently, perhaps many times, for an answer to his question about religion, but this was his first audible, vocal prayer. He does not say why he had not used vocal prayer before, not does he explain why he decided to speak out loud this time. What we know, however, is that the results were different for his vocal prayer than for his previous silent prayers. 

From the narrative, we can assume that the urgency and sincerity of this latest prayer was intensified. Perhaps Joseph had heard ministers and others offer powerful vocal prayers in the various congregational meeting he had attended. Or perhaps the power of the emotions in his heart simply could not be contained but could find full expression only in his audible voice.

I have wanted answers desperately enough to cry aloud to the heavens and raise my voice to break the silence around me. God does not need to hear my voice. He knows my every thought and hears every silent prayer. But sometimes I may need to hear my own voice. While I can hear songs in my head and play the music in my ears, sometimes there is no substitute for singing along. 

In the Name of the Son Forevermore

After Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and were driven out of the Garden of Eden, God taught them to offer sacrifices as a religious ritual. Determined to be obedient, Adam built an altar of stone and offered sacrificial animals upon it on a regular basis for "many days." 

An angel eventually appeared to Adam and Eve and asked them if they understood the significance of this ritual. "Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?" Surely, Adam and Eve must have asked themselves that same question many times. To the angel's question, Adam's answer is a perfect example of submissive obedience. "I know not, save the Lord commanded me" (see Moses 5:6).

Satisfied that Adam and Eve would be obedient no matter the logical reason, the angel explained the significance of the blood sacrifice. It represented the sacrifice that would be made by the Only Begotten Son of God to atone for the sins of the world.

Because of the Atonement of the Son of God, the conduit to the Father was opened, with Christ as the Advocate and Mediator. The angel then delivered this commandment to Adam and Eve: 

Wherefore, thou 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

All I do, including prayer, should be in the name of Christ, meaning I do it as He would do it, under His direction, and to honor Him and glorify Him. I shine a light on Christ's goodness when I do something good. I honor, acknowledge, and glorify Christ's perfect relationship with the Father when I exercise my own relationship with the Father in Christ's name. 

I rely on Jesus's atonement and grace when I approach the Father in Jesus's name. He washes me, clothes me in spotless apparel, and accompanies me to the Father's throne when I pray in His name. He advocates my cause, takes my imperfect prayer, polishes it, and represents it perfectly to the Father. 

God hears every prayer, but when I include Christ as my Advocate, Counselor, Champion, and Tutor, my prayers can become powerful indeed. 

Jesus testified during His earthly ministry that the Father heard Him (see John 12:41-42). When I pray in His name, I tap into His power and claim the same privilege to always be heard. 

It is the height of arrogance to do good and to approach the Father in my own name, for I am never good enough or worthy enough on my own to fully satisfy Him. However, when I do my best and come to the Father totality dependent on Jesus in the depths of humility, Jesus satisfies the Father for me, and I please Him. 

Jesus makes it possible for me to have a relationship with the Father. To cut Him out of the equation is to seriously diminish my opportunity for grace and divine approbation. 

Turn the Key with Prayer

Before Moses documented his account of the Creation, the Fall of Adam and Eve, and all that followed, he recorded his encounter with God Almighty that gave him the knowledge he wrote about in the book of Gensis. As described in his preface to his first book in the Old Testament, Moses saw God face to face and talked with Him, and God showed Moses the earth and everything about it. 

After this glorious vision, God left Moses to ponder the things he had seen and learned. Seeing an opportunity to catch Moses at a potential moment of weakness, Satan appeared on the scene. The devil commanded Moses to worship him, claiming his own version of divinity. 

Moses instantly saw through Satan's lie and told the deceiver to depart. Undaunted, Satan redoubled his efforts to convince Moses to accept him as the "only begotten." When Moses saw the ferocity of Satan's bogus claim and felt the power of darkness embodied in God's most virulent enemy, the record says:

And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.
--Moses 1:20

Like Moses, when I need strength to resist or overcome adversity in my life, I can call upon God, who is Strength and who gives strength. It is in my moments of supreme weakness that God can show His supreme power. 

I cannot fight the devil alone without God's power. Because I fight Satan everyday, I need God's strength every day. I receive power when I pray. So, to skip prayer is like forgetting to turn the key in the ignition and then wondering why the car won't go. 

Gratitude Creates Rich Prayers

Having been driven by violent mobs from Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, and their prophet murdered, the Saints were fleeing to the Rocky Mountains where they could once again start over. Brigham Young, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, had been sustained as the leader of the people. In preparing the people to begin an orderly exodus west to their intended new homeland, President Young received a revelation about how to organize the thousands of faithful Latter-day Saints who followed him. Within that revelation is the following admonition:

If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
--Doctrine and Covenants 136:28

Prayer takes many forms and is inspired in many ways. While some prayers (perhaps most) are petitions for blessings or requests for knowledge, others can be genuine expressions of gratitude for the blessings and knowledge we already have. 

God's blessings flow to us continually. He showers us daily, hourly, even moment by moment with gifts and grace, most of which we take for granted or assume as our entitlement if we notice then at all: Life, breath, agency, animation, the immutable laws of nature and physics, sunshine, water, raw materials and finished goods, the opportunities to work and serve, people to love and who love us, and spiritual gifts of faith, repentance, forgiveness, hope, testimony, assurance, knowledge, power, and the crowning gift of redemption through Christ and His atonement leading us to eternal life. 

When we awaken from time to time from our stupor of entitlement and recognize the abundance of God's continuous and bounteous gifts, He likes to hear from us. No one likes to be taken for granted. We all enjoy moments of recognition and appreciation. We want to rejoice together. 

Our Father likewise wants to rejoice with us. He gives us everything for our happiness and progression. We are His joy and His glory. When we recognize and share in His joy, He reflects it ten-fold in our lives. 

Our relationship with Him is enriched and deepened through gratitude. We see Him for the loving, generous Parent He is, and we become better children. 

Gratitude is an essential element of our prayer life and our relationship with God. We must cultivate it, nurture it, and express it often. The more gratitude we feel, the more blessings we will recognize and the richer our prayers will be.

The Dynamic Duo

Section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants is a wide ranging revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith meant to bring insights and messages of peace to the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Among the instructions contained in this revelation is the following:

Also, I give unto you a commandment that ye shall continue in prayer and fasting from this time forth.
--Doctrine and Covenants 88:76

Prayer and fasting are a dynamic duo in my arsenal of spiritual tools. They go hand in hand, working together to increase my ability to draw closer to the Lord. While I can pray without fasting, to fast without praying is simply going hungry. Fasting is the symbol of my sacrifice, reminiscent of the ancient Israelites' sacrifices. God no longer wants animal sacrifices on stone altars, however. Christ taught that after He fulfilled the Law of Moses, my sacrifice is to be a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Fasting lays my inner animal on the altar of my heart.

Fasting is a turbo charger for prayer. When I fast, I subjugate symbolically the appetites of the natural man to the desires of my spirit. In my humbled state, I can more easily receive the impressions and whisperings of the Holy Ghost. My prayers can be more inspired and in tune with God's will for me, which is the whole purpose of prayer.

The Season of Prayer

In the fall of 1831, four men asked Joseph Smith to inquire of the Lord for them concerning what God would have them do. Joseph received a revelation in response. The Lord took the opportunity to instruct not only the four men who originally asked but the entire Church. Among the instructions directed at the Church at large is this statement:

And a commandment I give unto them—that he that observeth not his prayers before the Lord in the season thereof, let him be had in remembrance before the judge of my people.
--Doctrine and Covenants 68:33

Regular prayer is a commandment, and to refrain from prayer is a sin. The season to pray is when the Holy Ghost prompts me to pray. If I ignore that prompting from the Spirit, I am disobedient and rebellious. The Holy Spirit will withdraw from me as I further withdraw myself from God. 

Now, I can certainly pray even when the Spirit is not urging me to do so, but to resist the Spirit is a sin of which I must speedily repent when I catch myself. It is in those very times when I feel least inclined to pray that God reaches for me with the most compassion.

A Call For Prayer: The Beginning of Change

Disclaimer: This post is a departure from my usual sermonettes on prayer. I hope you see this statement, not as political, but as patriotic. If you agree with my sentiments, I ask you to share this post with your friends of faith who love God and love liberty.

To those who believe in personal, God-given, inalienable rights and who want to honor the founding principles of the American nation—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—the government of the United States is out of control and has been for many decades. I refer to no party or individual but to ideologies and philosophies. The Constitution has been trampled and shredded, burned at the stake of avarice and greed. The national government that rules our lives today would be wholly unrecognizable to the framers of the nation. 

At the top of the list of egregious offenses of the American government is the attempt to remove God from the public consciousness. The Bill of Rights called for the protection of freedom of religion, but it did not advocate freedom from religion. To remove all references to a Supreme Being and His laws from the public forum was not in the minds of the founders, nor was it the agenda of our leaders for the first four score and seven years after the nation's formation.

With the gradual and insidious adoption of progressivism and socialism, however, as political tools to solve social issues at the expense of individual rights, our government is mimicking the godless philosophies of the atheistic nations of communism. 

It is time to call our national leaders to repentance. They cannot ignore God and expunge Him from public debate and expect to continue to receive His grace and mercy. 

It was by God’s grace that this nation was founded and the tyrannical oppressors were thrown off. It was by Divine blessing that this country became prosperous. 

Now that we have reaped the benefits of faithful men and women who honored God and prayed for His beneficence, we are foolish to turn our backs on the Giver of all good things. We as a nation have become proud, haughty, arrogant, selfish, self-sufficient, and self-indulgent. Our leaders, regardless of political party, for generations have forgotten where we came from and how we got here. They think they are rich enough and powerful enough that they don’t need God anymore. They can solve the world’s problems with money and machinery and weapons of mass destruction. 

They refuse to see the weakness that is creeping into the fibers and sinews of the country. They wish to sit on the laurels of past glories and fail to acknowledge the disdain and disrespect that is growing around the world at our fat and flabby image of smug superiority. We are, in fact, hardly better off than our third-world neighbors. We have lost the will to be righteous and to be free.

WE THE PEOPLE have access like never before to the eyes and ears of our government leaders through social media and electronic communications. We must use this access to send a message to those who are in power in the government today and those who hope to attain to power in the future. 

We as a people and as individuals must repent, return to God, and honor the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. And that repentance must begin at the top. 

Let God, whose right it is to reign over the human family, participate in the public forum. 

Reinstate public prayer. 

Acknowledge and thank the Giver of all blessings and ask for His blessings to be renewed. 

Enthrone again the laws of God as the founding principles of truth and justice. 

Plead with God to work again among this people and in our national and personal lives. 

Plead for forgiveness for having strayed from the truth that all men and women are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator, not by our government, with certain inalienable rights, and that the role of government is to secure and protect these rights, and nothing more.

Let us return to the first two great commandments for all mankind—love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength; and love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us not get these commandments out of their heaven-prescribed order or think we can keep the second commandment without first keeping the first commandment. 

Let us pray for our national leaders in all branches of government—and in the administrative state that has usurped power and authority from the Constitutionally authorized branches—that their hearts will be softened  and righteous wisdom will prevail. Let us pray for a change of heart and a new spirit within our country, beginning with our leaders. Let us pray for our leaders to lead in righteousness. 

And if they choose not to repent, let us pray that righteous, good, and wise people will come forward and be recognized. Let us pray for people we can trust, who embody the virtues of integrity and honesty and faith. Let us pray for God-fearing men and women in whom the public trust is warranted and who will look to God for inspiration. Let us pray for people who are accountable to God ahead of political parties and special interest groups. And when such people are found, let us support and sustain them with our allegiance, our votes, and our continued prayers.

God will not allow a wicked people to occupy this land, speaking of people as a nation and not as individuals. It is only by the faith and prayers of the righteous citizens of every religious persuasion and sect that we have been spared thus far. As a nation, America has violated—and continues to violate—every one of the Ten Commandments that form the basis for Western civilization. We cannot hope to break every law of God and have Him turn a blind eye forever. 

Let us petition our leaders to reinstate the laws of God and look to the rule of the Almighty as the overarching premise for good government. Let us plead for our rights as defined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We grew strong and independent as a people when these principles were the supreme law of the land. We grow weak and dependent today when we ignore them. 

Pray for strength of character and virtue and faith in God to prevail in our leaders and our government. Pray that God will look with favor again upon this nation. Pray for a rebirth of freedom and faith before both are taken from us, with the rest of our rights, and we plunge into an era of darkness as black as the darkest of the Dark Ages of the past.

Prayer is the beginning of change.

A Pattern for Acceptable Prayer

At a conference of the Church of Jesus Christ in June of 1831, Joseph Smith inquired of the Lord to know what missions the elders of the Church should perform following the conference. He received instructions for a number of men to preach the gospel.

But then the Lord gave instructions about a "pattern" by which the elders could avoid being deceived in spiritual matters. Part of the pattern included this statement about prayer:

Wherefore he that prayeth, whose spirit is contrite, the same is accepted of me if he obey mine ordinances.
--Doctrine and Covenants 52:15

To be contrite is to feel exceedingly sorry for having committed a sin. So, to possess a contrite spirit is to recognize my failures to live up to God's standards and to experience sincere sorrow for disappointing Him. I must know I have done wrong and I truly wish to do better.  

"Spirit" in this context means my character and disposition. A contrite spirit, therefore, is a deep seated characteristic of ongoing sorrow for ongoing sin. I recognize my imperfections and the distance they create between me and my perfect God, and I am sorry I cannot live up to His standard of perfection. I genuinely desire to be better, and I strive for improvement, even in the face of inevitable failure. 

Though I know I won't achieve perfection in this life, Christ gives me hope that I can at least improve. He washes away my repented sins so that my improvements are not smothered by the weight of my past failures. 

It is in this spirit, then, of contrition and hope that I pray. And this kind of prayer is acceptable to God.

Promises and Conditions

And if ye are purified and cleansed from all sin, ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done. But know this, it shall be given you what you shall ask.
--Doctrine and Covenants 50:29-30

The commandment and promise to "ask, and ye shall receive" is repeated many times in the scriptures. The promise comes, however, with a condition. I must first seek to be forgiven and purified, and then I may seek all else that is needful. Justification and sanctification are most needful in my life if I am striving to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. Everything else in mortality is secondary. If I am in God's grace, the rest will fall into place or will fall away.

Note, however, that the Lord warned the Prophet Joseph and the members of the early Church to be careful about what they asked for, for the promise is sure that they would receive what they asked. I must be in tune with the Holy Ghost so that my asking is aligned with God's will. Sometimes God's benevolent answer to a selfish prayer is No, but sometimes the answer is Yes—to my detriment and learning.

The Role of the Holy Ghost in Prayer

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not yet a year old when Joseph Smith sought revelation about how church services were to be conducted. He also wanted to know concerning the use of spiritual gifts in worship services, which were mentioned in the Bible and were prevalent among some denomination is his own day. Among the revealed responses from the Lord are these words about praying by the Spirit:

He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God; wherefore it is done even as he asketh.
--Doctrine and Covenants 46:30

The Holy Ghost can reveal to me the mind and will of God. If I align my petitions with His will, answers will come readily. 

Herein, however, lies the hard work. Receiving revelation through the Holy Ghost is not as simple as flipping the light switch. It requires preparation through righteous living, constant repentance, humility, sincerity, faith, and practice. 

And where do these attributes come from? Prayer! It is a cycle through which I grow and rise. It is sometimes one step forward and two steps back. It is like a toddler learning to walk. I seem at first to spend more time on my face than on my feet. The steadying Hand that stands me up keeps letting go, and I teeter and stumble, and I whine and cry, and eventually the helping Hand lifts me again, and I hopefully take a few more steps. 

The sad part is that it has taken me my whole life to realize I still don't know how to walk. I'm still a toddler sitting in my wet diaper on a slippery floor, thrashing about ineffectively to get a foothold to hoist myself up. I want to do it by myself instead of reaching up for the Hand ready to lift me. Maybe with enough bumps and bruises, I'll figure it out.

Invite the Spirit through Prayer

Section 42 of the Doctrine and Covenants was revealed to Joseph Smith in the early part of 1831, less than a year after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, and was identified by him as the "law of the Church." It specified principles by which the holders of the priesthood were to administer the Church and operate within it. 

The first principle of administration set forth in the revelation directed the Elders of the Church to preach the gospel to the world. This general commandment to teach and preach included the instruction to teach by the Spirit, meaning to teach as the Holy Ghost prompts and dictates. Within that instruction is the following injunction: 

And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach.
--Doctrine and Covenants 42:14

We typically emphasize the second part of this verse. But I want to draw attention today to the first phrase. Before I can have the Holy Ghost's direction in what I teach, I must know how to acquire the presence of the Holy Ghost in my life.

This verse states clearly that I access the power of the Holy Ghost through prayer. Though I may have received the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands following my baptism, I activate His influence in my life by asking for it. In other words, the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Ghost affords me the opportunity to have the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit, but the ordinance does not ensure that I will always retain that companionship.

The Holy Ghost resides with me only by my invitation. He honors my agency. He is easily offended by sin, both physical and mental. Hence, I must be constant in my repentance to resolve the offenses I give to the Holy Ghost through impure actions and thoughts. But I should not assume, simply because I have repented, that the Holy Ghost automatically takes up residence with me again. According to this revealed principle about how the Spirit operates, I must ask in faith for Him to return and abide with me.

I cannot take the Holy Spirit for granted. I must pray to the Father that He will send the Spirit to be with me, not only when I teach, but in all things. Only by asking and inviting can I experience the privilege of the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Unity through Prayer

In June of 1830, Joseph Smith and a few elders of the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ were preparing to convene a conference of the Church, the entire membership of which could squeeze together into a single room. Joseph sought revelation from God for direction and received what we now have as Section 29. 

In this revelation, Christ sets forth His agenda for gathering scattered Israel as "a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." The prerequisite to being gathered, says Jesus, is to "hearken to my voice and humble themselves before me, and call upon me in mighty prayer." The Lord encouraged these newest members of His restored Church to be glad, for he was in their midst, and was their Advocate with the Father. He then gives this commandment to the little troop:

And, as it is written—Whatsoever ye shall ask in faith, being united in prayer according to my command, ye shall receive.
--Doctrine and Covenants 29:6

Unity is a key to powerful faith and powerful prayer. We are put on this earth together for a reason. If it were better for us to live our mortal lives in isolation, God could have created seven billion planets and placed each of us in our own garden of Eden. 

Perpetual solitude, however, is apparently not the best plan for our growth and development into people who will live in the celestial kingdom and receive exaltation. We need to learn to be together and draw strength from each other. 

We are like little embers. Our glowing is short-lived and weak all by ourselves. But combined together in a pile where we touch each other, we can produce powerful energy that lasts a long time. Learning to work together, love together, pray together, and believe together in mortality prepares us for the kind of life we will live in eternity.

Praying together builds unity, and God wants a united people. "If ye are not one, ye are not mine," Christ says in another revelation (see Doctrine and Covenants 38:27).  

God commands his people to be united in prayer. As a congregation and as a church, we are to pray for the same things. This means not only in public prayer but in our private prayers. 

How do we unite if we don't know each other, and how do we know each other if we do not meet together and listen to each other? Our councils are crucial to the unity of faith and prayer the Lord asks of us. 

Guidance of the Holy Ghost is also a vital component. The Spirit can inspire us to pray for each other and for common goals. The prayers offered in the prayer circles in the temple are example of unified prayer. While the actual words are not prescribed, the general topics are always the same and represent the things our prophet has asked us to pray for.

I have participated in many group prayers, but known have been more unifying than when our ward has come together in special meetings to prayer for a young boy who was dying of a rare brain disease and a wife and mother stricken with cancer. We felt the power of God among us, and Jesus was surely in our midst, when we as a ward family united in a single purpose to petition God for blessings according to His will. I have been in few more sacred moments than during those prayers.

The Song of the Heart

Shortly after the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially organized, Joseph Smith received a revelation directing his wife, Emma Smith, to create a hymnbook to use in the worship services of the Church. Christ explained why hymns are important and how they figure into the worship practices of the Saints.

For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.
--Doctrine and Covenants 25:12

Prayer can take many forms. I can pray silently or vocally, in private or in public. I pray when I listen to and participate in the prayers of others. 

Music can also be a form of prayer. Beautiful words and melodies can express my faith and feelings to God, which is a good definition of prayer. 

Art in almost any form can be a prayer. Even my daily work and service can be a form of prayer if they are directed towards God and fulfill His will.

I will never find myself on the stage of American Idol or The Voice, but when I sing my prayers to God, I can still get the golden ticket. 

Giving Voice to My Prayers

Joseph Smith had completed the translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery acting as scribe. The manuscript was ready for publication. Joseph had located a printing establishment in the nearby town of Palmyra, New York, under the proprietorship of E. B. Grandin. The printer was dubious about the project. If the book did not sell, Grandin would not make a profit. And so, he asked Joseph to put up the cost of the printing as surety. Grandin would have his money for the job regardless of the sales potential of Joseph's "gold bible." 

Joseph turned to Martin Harris. Contemplating mortgaging his farm (over his wife's vehement protests) to raise the money, Martin wanted assurance that Joseph's request was a commandment from God. Joseph received the revelation now known as Section 19 in the Doctrine and Covenants as God's reply. Martin got more than he bargained for, but it is a marvelous gift to the Church of Jesus Christ. The revelation speaks of the power of Christ, the requirement for all people to repent, Christ's suffering that accompanied the Atonement, a commandment to preach the gospel to the world, and a specific directive to Martin Harris to stop coveting his own property and provide Joseph with the money for the printer.

Among the general commandments given to Martin and applicable to all is this verse about prayer:

And again, I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well as in thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private.
--Doctrine and Covenants 19:28

Prayers in all forms and in all places are not only acceptable to the Lord but are a commandment. Praying with others is as much a part of our prayer life as praying alone. Leading others in prayer is a form of sharing our faith. Our prayers may be instructive to those who hear us when we are sincere, humble and honest, practicing no hypocrisy. Those who are weak in prayer may be strengthened by our prayers.  

The combination I struggle with is private vocal prayer. I am satisfied that God hears the prayers in my heart, which I speak aloud in my head but not with my mouth. I live in my head, and that is where my prayers resonate. I have not been able to get comfortable with sending them out into the still air around me. Yet, I have been told that additional power is to be found in speaking private prayers out loud. 

I can only assume God wants us to speak aloud for good reason. Perhaps I just need to take this principle on faith and watch for the fruits. This may be one more piece to the puzzle of why I feel like I have not fully given my whole heart to God. Perhaps the piece I have never been able to let go of is vocal prayer.

Conqueror

The exact timing of the first part of Section 10 of the Doctrine and Covenants is sketchy, but it was during the period of the translation of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith had loaned the first 119 manuscript pages of the translation to Martin Harris to show his wife and try to win her support. Martin subsequently

lost the manuscript. Joseph was inconsolable over the loss, not only because he had let the sacred writings out of his hands, but because the Lord had warned him twice not to let Martin have the pages. When it was evident that the one and only copy of the manuscript would not be recovered, Joseph inquired of the Lord what he should do. 

In response, Joseph received this revelation from God. The young prophet had an important lesson to learn about men and about Satan through this experience. A part of this heaven-sent lesson included this commandment about prayer:

Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.
--Doctrine and Covenants 10:5

Because Satan is unrelenting in his attacks upon us, we must we constant in our defenses. Prayer is the link that holds the whole armor of God together for us. 

When I fail to pray, for whatever reason, I give the devil an opening, an unprotected place where he can slip in a thin blade of temptation, a barb of jealousy, a dart of greed, an arrow of anger. Constant prayer cinches up my armor and closes any gaps. 

The devil hates to hear me pray because he knows I am prepared to meet him, and I am forcing him into a corner. He has no problem overcoming me alone with the natural man ever at work from the inside on my defenses. It is quite another thing, however, when he has to face me and the Lord. I cannot conquer Satan by myself, but with God's help—His enabling grace—we can together defeat the adversary and come off conqueror.

Prayer's Preparation

Oliver Cowdery wanted to do more than simply take dictation from Joseph Smith as the prophet translated from the gold plates. Oliver wanted to be the one to translate and let Joseph be the scribe. Christ gave Oliver the opportunity to try. The results of his attempts disappointed Oliver. Joseph inquired of the Lord for Oliver what had gone wrong. The answer, in part, follows:

Behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
--Doctrine and Covenants 9:8

The usual interpretation of this verse is that Oliver didn't go about the translation process correctly. He should have studied the engravings on the plates, come to a decision about what he thought they meant, and then pray and ask God if his translation was correct.

While I don't dispute this rendition, I think the Lord was also talking about something more generally applicable regarding prayer. In the preceding verse, God said:

Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.
--Doctrine and Covenants 9:7

In other words, Oliver had made no preparations to translate other than to simply ask God for permission. Joseph Smith had prepared himself for four years since he first learned that the plates existed. He was tutored by a heavenly messenger. And Oliver thought he could just jump in and start translating?

Further, Oliver hadn't really thought about his request. Verse 8 says that he should have studied his request out in his mind, counted the cost, and determined if this was really a good idea before taking it to the Lord for confirmation. Had he prepared better to make his request, the Holy Ghost could have revealed to him whether his desired course of action was in harmony with God's will.

Effective prayer requires preparation. We must do our homework. God has given us agency, intelligence, judgment, and the Light of Christ. One of our purposes in mortality is to learn to use these faculties. 

If the Lord handed us everything with no effort on our part, we would not develop the capabilities He wants us to have. When we have expended our efforts, He will tell us when we have it right or nudge us in a better direction if we have it wrong. We will know we have it right by the unmistakable feeling of assurance and peace that comes in answer to prayer.

Be Careful What You Ask For

Shortly after beginning his service as scribe to Joseph Smith in the work of translating the Book of Mormon, Oliver Cowdery wanted to take a turn at translation. He asked Joseph to inquire of the Lord, and the following is part of the answer he received:

Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not.
--Doctrine and Covenants 8:10

Oliver surely thought his request was righteous. He wanted to be a greater help to Joseph and to be even more directly engaged in the work. I suspect, however, that a bit of pride may have also been a motivation for Oliver's wanting to translate. He was an educated man, a school teacher. He may have thought that his command of the English language would enable him to provide more beautiful and fitting language in the translation than the nearly illiterate farm boy Joseph could produce. 

Part of Christ's answer to Oliver was this warning. Make sure you are coming from a place of faith and not pride. And be careful what you ask for. 

So, how do I know what to ask for, and what not to ask for? I start by praying to know what to pray for. The Holy Ghost can reveal to me the prayers I should pray.

I do not (or should not) pray to change God's mind. Rather, I pray to align my mind with His. He has blessings He wants to give me, but He gives only in accordance with my agency and desires. If I can learn what God plans to give me, and ask for that thing, He will gladly grant it to my profit. 

If I am stubborn and self-willed and ask for what I want with my short-sighted and imperfect perspective, God may still answer my petition, but to my deficit instead of to my profit. Mercifully, He usually dismisses my wayward pleas with a gentle No.

Prayer Initiates Personal Revelation

Shortly after Oliver Cowdery began his labors as scribe while the Prophet Joseph Smith translated the engravings on the gold plates into the Book of Mormon, Oliver wanted a witness from God that the translation was true and that Joseph was a true prophet. Oliver had already received an answer to prayer about the authenticity of the plates and Joseph's mission before he had met the young prophet. Now that he was fully engaged in the work, however, Oliver wanted more divine reassurance. Joseph inquired of the Lord through the Urim and Thummim and received an answer. Jesus Christ, speaking through Joseph, gave Oliver the following promise:

And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways.
--Doctrine and Covenants 6:11

God is willing to reveal great and marvelous truths to His children. He is not trying to hide anything from anyone. God does not work in secret. To initiate the revelatory process, however, we must inquire of the Lord. In other words, I must ask a question before God gives an answer. If I don't ask, He doesn't speak. God's mysteries don't have to remain mysteries to me, provided I really want to know something. 

I am aware, however, that God is economical. He won't reveal something to me that He has already revealed to ancient or modern prophets and they have written it down for me to study. I must do my homework. If I get to the end of the road in my study and find the answer has not yet been revealed, and if it's important to my salvation for me to know, God will reveal the knowledge I need. But only if I first ask. If I do not invite revelation, God will not force His knowledge upon me.

Humble and Sincere

In March, 1829, while Joseph Smith was working on the translation of the engravings on the gold plates that would be published a year later as the Book of Mormon, Martin Harris, Joseph's friend and benefactor, wanted to see the plates for himself. He had already given Joseph money to support him in the work, and he would soon invest even more money in the printing of the book. Not only did Martin have doubts about the authenticity of Joseph's claim to have gold plates, Martin's wife Lucy was bitterly opposed to her husband's involvement with Joseph. Martin wanted an unassailable witness that he could bear to his accusing wife. Martin asked Joseph to inquire of the Lord whether he (Martin) could be granted a glimpse of the plates.

God's response to Joseph's inquiry is recorded in Section 5 of the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of revelations received primarily by Joseph Smith, and considered scripture by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. God explained to the young prophet what Martin needed to do to receive what he wanted:

Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself and does not humble himself sufficiently before me; but if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see.
--Doctrine and Covenants 5:24

The response to Martin was simple. The answer is still simple today to me and anyone who wants an answer to prayer. 

A month later, Martin humbled himself sufficiently, and together with David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery, the Angel Moroni showed Martin the plates of the Book of Mormon, and the voice of God pronounced Joseph's translation true and correct.

Answers to prayer come when we are humble and sincere.

No Greater Witness

Moroni, son of Mormon, has received the compiled history of the Nephite people from his deceased father. Alone and hunted by the enemy that has wiped out the entire Nephite nation, Moroni spends precious time to record a final message to the future readers of the book he is charged to protect. In the remaining space on the gold plates, before he bears his final testimony of Jesus Christ, Moroni engraves these words:

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
--Moroni 10:4-5

If Joseph Smith, the translator of the Book of Mormon, was a fraud, this promise of a witness from God would be the most audacious, outlandish, bold-faced lie ever perpetrated on the public. Joseph was either a lunatic or a prophet. 

The author of these words lays it all on the line. He invites us not to take his word for it nor to rely on the words of any other human. He says we should go to God and put it in His hands. He was confident of the outcome. 

Millions have put this promise to the test and have found it to be true. I have tested the Book of Mormon, and in answer to my sincere prayers, God has told me it is true. What greater witness do I need than from God?

Love Endures by Diligent Prayer

As the war against their enemies raged on, Mormon and his son Moroni became separated for a time, fighting on different fronts. In the midst of fierce battles, Mormon took the time to write a letter to Moroni. Though distance and circumstances separated father and son, Mormon wanted to encourage Moroni to keep the faith and to remain diligent in following Jesus. Mormon reminded his son about the importance of prayer with these words:

And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.
--Moroni 8:26

Praying with diligence is to be steady, persistent and energetic in prayer. Effective prayers are not flashes in the pan. 

Prayer is specifically required to receive and maintain charity, the pure love of Christ. Without diligent, constant, effective, Spirit-guided prayers, Moroni could not have charity, and neither can I. 

Why is the connection between praying and charity so vital? Because charity is based on revelation. Charity is Christ's pure love, exercised according to His will. While I may do some good things of my own free will, the best good is accomplished when I relinquish my will to God and do as He wants instead of as I want. 

I see many circumstances around me that cry out for help, but only God knows what needs to be done in each case. I may see a thirsty man, and since I have two bottles of water in my pack, I think I should give him one. What I don't know, however, is that a person right behind me has a stingy heart and has only one bottle of water, and God has put the thirsty man in that person's path to teach him about sacrifice. So, if I give my water, I have thwarted God's plan and robbed another person of an important lesson. Without the guidance of the Holy Ghost, my altruistic acts may be exactly what God doesn't want. 

Prayer is the means to attune me to the Lord and His will. If I do not talk to God, He will not talk to me. Thus, without prayer, I cannot have true charity.

All Energy of Heart

After the great prophet and historian Mormon was killed following the destruction of his people, his son Moroni inherited the responsibility to finish the record of his father and protect the writings. As Moroni completed his own contributions to his father's book, he included a record of a sermon Mormon had preached before his death. It's amazing that, in the midst of a war, commanding an army faced with annihilation, and surrounded by his own people falling deeper into apostasy and wickedness, Mormon  maintained the spiritual sensitivity to preach a powerful sermon to the few who still followed the Christ. 

Near the close of that sermon on the Christian principles of charity, Mormon exhorted his hearers to pray: 

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
--Moroni 7:48

To pray with all energy of heart is to pray like nothing else matters. We hold back nothing, put it all on the table, be all in. If we could pray just one prayer, ask for just one blessing, receive just one boon from the hand of the Lord, what would it be? 

Mormon encourages me and all of us to pray for charity. From God's perspective, that is the best gift in mortality, for it encompasses everything else good in life and fits me for soul-changing service. 

The trick is to let the Spirit work on me until I want what God wants. When my desires align with His desires, the energy of my heart will be single with God's mind. Such a prayer will surely penetrate the Lord's heart.