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.