Open the Universe

Jesus taught this amazing principle and promise about prayer in the Sermon on the Mount:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
--Matthew 7:7-8

With this promise echoing in my mind, I know everything of God's is available to me. It's up to me, though, to take the first step. I must ask, seek, and knock. I must learn how to approach the Father, trust Him, listen to Him, have faith in Him, and accept His will. 

Sounds easy, right? Well, it's not so easy when God doesn't seem approachable in the middle of a hard day or a sleepless night, when worry is overpowering and pain is unrelenting. It can be hard to trust a Father who allows suffering and sorrow, who apparently wants to polish me with 100-grit sandpaper. His voice, if He is speaking at all, can hardly penetrate my thick skull and ears tuned more to the world's shouts for attention than to the gossamer whispers of the Holy Spirit. Faith - the anchor of the soul - threatens to break loose in the storms that spring up like winter gales and beat on me with no care for my stamina or energy. And the divine Will runs so counter to my earthly logic that it boggles me.  

As the pounding and pummeling of life continues, driving me to my knees when standing gets too hard, I think of the joke, "The beatings will continue until morale improves." I wonder, is that what God is doing to me? Is He beating me until I finally learn to believe His promise?

I believe He hears every prayer, even my casual, mundane daily invocations. But while I may be satisfied with vain repetitions, He is not. He wants more from me, and so He gives me more - more trials, more challenges, more troubles, more afflictions, more pain, more suffering - more of everything that strips me of my expectations of life and leaves me raw and vulnerable and, dare I say, humble. And when I finally cry in genuine need, in total despair - in honest prayer - He answers. He sends the Comforter. He gives strength where there was none. He fans an ember of hope that was all but dead. Another day dawns, and life goes on. And I'm still here.

If I can ever quit trying to do things my way and let Him do things His way, the universe will open to me.

Use Not Vain Repetitions

Before giving the example we know as The Lord's Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, the most oft-repeated prayer in the Christian church, Jesus warned about repetitive prayers with these words:

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
--Matthew 6:7

Jesus loved to pray to communicate with His Father. It is written in several places that He went alone to pray. A few of His public prayers were recorded in the New Testament, and more of His prayers are found in the Book of Mormon. What I have learned from the above verse in particular about prayer is that to be effective, prayer must be heartfelt and meaningful. We may need to pray frequently and repeatedly as we seek a particular blessing or an important answer or as we face a long trial. Frequent, even constant, prayer is a balm to the soul. 

Prayers become vain (useless) repetitions, however, when we say the same things over and over without faith or real intent. We can find ourselves using vain and repetitious words and phrases if we are not careful. Bless the refreshments for our nourishment. Take us home in safety. Bless those who were not here this week that they will be able to come next week. When we repeat empty phrases, the Lord is not pleased. Nothing is wrong with blessing our food, asking for protection, or praying for the welfare of others. In fact, we are commanded to pray for such things. Effective prayers that reach the Lord's ears, however, must be thoughtful, intentional, genuine, and faith-filled.

I had such a prayer with my grandson just last night. His dad had been hurried to a local emergency room to attend to complications from a recent medical procedure. My grandson was home alone and feeling shaken and worried about what would happen to his dad. I was on the phone with this young man to keep him company as best I could from seven hundred miles away when he expressed his feelings of concern and sadness. I said we should pray for his dad, and he promised he would pray that night before going to bed. I suggested we could pray for him right then and there, even while we were on the phone together. He didn't need to wait for bedtime to pray.

He agreed, and I offered a simple, sincere prayer for healing for his dad, strength for his mom, and comfort for him at this stressful time. I had prayed for these things many times for this beleaguered family, but with my worried grandson present with me on the phone, it was a new and fresh prayer experience. 

After the prayer, we visited about school and other topics. A few minutes later, he said, "Papa, I think the prayer worked. I feel better now."

"Yes," I replied, "the Holy Ghost as the Comforter can help you feel better any time you are worried. You just ask, and God will send Him to help you."

His dad and mom came home a few hours later, the medical problem under control. Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers.

For God's Ears

Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount about prayer to help His disciples distinguish between legitimate prayer and false prayer.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
--Matthew 6:5-6

Public prayer in which we all participate is acceptable, but prayer for show is not. Our prayers are for God's ears, not for the ears of others. I am nevertheless guilty of this very practice. When asked to offer a prayer in Sacrament meeting, I get nervous. I become overly concerned with how those in the meeting will perceive my prayer. I consider what words would be most beneficial for the congregation to hear from me. How foolish! If my prayer were sincere, I would not pray to the people, I would pray to God on their behalf. I am the spokesman, not the speaker. I ask forgiveness of those who have heard my public prayers and have praised my fine words but were robbed of the presence of the Spirit because of my pride.

Properly framed, our prayers are not to impress others. They lift us to God and invite him to work on our hearts. The reward we seek is not the praise of men but the peace of God. He rewards us openly as a witness of His goodness, not of our piety or worthiness.

In My Distress

Chapter 18 of the book of Psalms is a magnificent testimony of God's strength. King David, having suffered many trials and afflictions in his younger years, speaks with great power in beautiful language of his love for the Lord:

I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
-Psalm 18:1-3

I love these words: strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, my buckler, the horn of my salvation, my high tower. And then, what does he say? I will call upon the Lord, and so I shall be saved. God has unfathomable power, but we have to call upon Him. He won't save me unless I ask.

Then David writes:

In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
-Psalm 18:6

In my distress, I too have called upon the Lord, and He has heard me. When I have been crushed by dark despair, He has lifted me and lightened my way. When I could see no way out of my trials, He walked with me. When I have felt alone, He has come to my side. But only when I asked.

In his Psalm David describes all the ways God has intervened for him with great displays of heavenly power, and then he concludes:

With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure. . . For thou wilt save the afflicted people. . . For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
-Psalm 18:25-28

God will be merciful to me and to all those who call upon Him. We just need to ask. A simple, sincere prayer. All that power is waiting to protect us and save us. Smoke, fire, hot coals like hail, hurricanes, thunder, brilliant light - it is all available, God's full power and glory - when we ask.

David ends his Psalm with these words of praise and gratitude:

Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.
-Psalm 18:49-50

God has shown mercy to me, David, though I am not a king. May He show great mercy to my children and all that come after me.

Essential

The kingdom of Judah was in dire trouble in the days of the prophet Joel. Severe drought and a plague of locusts threatened to wipe the people out. As the Lord's mouthpiece in this time of emergency, Joel delivered the message of repentance and assured the people of God's blessing. He summarized his call to repentance with these comforting words:

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

-Joel 2:32

Prayer is essential to deliverance from sin for salvation. Prayer reminds us of our constant reliance on God and our Savior. It draws us to the source of our deliverance and refreshes our hope of rescue. On those days when we feel buried by our trials, it reminds us of both our Advocate and our true Judge. And on those days when we think we have the world by the tail, it reminds us from whom our blessings come and the source of our comfort.