I have lived long enough and had such a variety of experiences that I hardly think I can be called naïve on the subject of prayer. The struggle of my adult life has been to come to know and love and trust God. The God of my childhood was a god of vengeance, a being I somehow always knew was there but who was also terrifying. There have been issues—important issues– I have prayed about for years, sometimes being reduced to tears and flailing about. However my present view is simple and for some of you it may even appear simplistic.
I would say now that my prayers have been answered throughout my life even when I didn’t always recognize it at the time or when some issues took years (or even decades) to resolve. I have been healed, if not always cured. There is still an issue of great concern to my soul that may never be resolved as I would wish, because other people’s agency must also be honored. (But I do keep praying about it.)
I believe there is a “formula†to prayer—quite simple really—but often not easy. Here it is— We must pray—
In the name of Christ
In faith believing
If it is “right†(It is quite possible that we don’t see the big picture. We must come to a place where heart and soul we are willing to say, “Thy will be done.â€)
Consistent with the agency of others. (Both Laman and Lemuel and Alma the Younger saw an angel in response to the prayers of other righteous people, but the long term results were quite different.)
We often receive not because we ask not. (We may think our concerns are too trivial—or too big.)
So, I would like to bear witness to a very recent event. Tomorrow night our fourth children’s exhibit, I Am a Child of God, opens at the Museum. Openings are always fun and sparkly, but this one carries an added piece of my heart.
We did our first children’s exhibit 13 years ago in the face of a lot of opposition—”We have never done a children’s exhibit, we don’t know how to do a children’s exhibit, and besides no one will come. ” Or so we were told. Craig R. and I have always been the core team producing these and it really was true we had never done such a thing before and didn’t know what we were doing. We prayed almost every day over the project, not just perfunctory prayers, but the “Oh, Help!†kind. And over and over we felt our own ideas and even strength and ability extended. We knew we were living a miracle. Although far from perfect this first exhibit succeeded far beyond our wildest dreams. We have freely acknowledged heaven’s help in every children’s exhibit we have done to date.
This exhibit opening tomorrow night has had its own challenges, mostly from a bureaucratic process that is being revamped and sometimes changed, even as we have tried to work through the process. Sometimes it has been like trying to run in a dream or with great weights attached.
Two weeks ago, despite our very best efforts we knew we were in trouble and we couldn’t see a way out. We closed the door and said a prayer of thanks for past and miraculous help received, but also pleaded for help in the here and now. We specifically asked for “angelic†help, such as we knew we had received in the past, to somehow extend our efforts. We had no preconceptions of how this might happen, only a prayer of faith that it would.
A short time later I walked out into the gallery to see five young women (three staff—but not on our team—and two interns) beavering away on the most labor intensive part of the job remaining. They had descended like angels. We had not asked them to come, they had just decided among themselves to come and see if they could help. In fact given the new bureaucratic setup we did not think we could have asked to have them help. I literally saw angels. I also saw seagulls. They beavered away on one part and then came immediately back for another. Thanks to our angels we are in very good shape for tomorrow night.
We have been working very long days, but once again heaven has been in the process with us.
Elder Maxwell taught that God will eventually ask all disciples to do the very thing which is hardest for them to do. I agree with your notion that the purpose for prayer, ultimately, is to help us prepare to be submissive when such a wintry invitation comes. Prayer is much more about the alignment of wills–having ours swallowed up in His–than it is about getting what we want.
Marjorie and Paul – added to your comments may I add a couple of notes for consideration. Despite my unsuccessful attempts to make daily prayer part of my life, I have found the Lord’s blessings are still available even to those of us who have a haphazard record of communication with Him. Oh, I certainly say the regular blessing on meals and take that opportunity to pray for my family and others and I always am quick to “volunteer” to pray in meetings and other venues associated with church. But I’m afraid my morning prayers to simply give thanks for another day of life and ask for His guiding hand are not so consistent.
Two circumstances when I have felt a particular strength from prayer include the prayers of others on my behalf and a dedicated prayer of thanksgiving. A few years ago I had the privilege of serving as Bishop of my ward and I think I can point to some successes during that time, especially in missionary work and a greater fellowship within the ward. I know in my heart that those successes came about, not because of anything I did, but because the members of my ward prayed for me each day. I felt their love and support each day while I served and when I was released I felt a definite void in my life.
Additionally, without going into detail, I remember occasions when I remembered (and I don’t always remember) to give thanks to the Lord on a day when I felt especially blessed by his benevolence. My prayer was nothing more than acknowledging his hand in my life and giving all glory to Him and giving thanks. I have never felt closer to the Lord than I do on those occasions.
Thanks for posting that, Lamonte, I needed to hear that.
I love those behind-the-scenes miracles! Nice to know the Lord cares about our concerns. We look forward to coming to the exhibit on Sunday–the Church Museum (especially those kids exhibits) are a great way to spend Sunday afternoon, and it usually isn’t very crowded then. If this is anywhere near as wonderful as the family history one, it will be a huge success!
Those five young women who showed up without being asked may be an example of what I call “implanted desires”. Those times when God doesn’t directly command/inspire/prompt us to do something, but he “implants” in us the desire to do it, and we just do it. It feels like our own idea, but the idea/desire came to us from the outside, and welled up in our heart as if it were our own.
It does not violate the person’s agency. They can still choose whether or not to follow that desire.
If God can therefore righteously “meddle” with the desires of others in response to our prayers, then I’m led to believe that I can ask God to “meddle” with me: to remove the unholy desires I have in my heart, and to give me the desire to do the things which are right.
It just dawned on me this morning that it doesn’t “cost” God anything to bless us or answer our prayers. Jesus already “paid” for everything that needs paying for. And neither Jesus nor Heavenly Father are diminished, their assests are not decreased, when Heavenly Father blesses us, heals us, or in anyway answers our prayers.
I often think I’m not worthy of blessings, but also that it’s not “worth it” for Heavenly Father to “bother” or “go out of his way” to bless me. But realizing it doesn’t “cost” him anything, and that he has infinite capacity to monitor and interact with all his children simultaneously, hopefully I will no longer feel like I’m “imposing” on God in asking for his blessings.
Of course I’m unworthy. We all are. But hopefully I’ll stop thinking that I’m somehow “costing” God extra by asking him to “spend” his blessings on me.
Earlier this week, I chose “prayer” as something I want to understand better, something I need a stronger testimony of, something I want to tap into the power of. I have spent the last few evenings reading all the scriptures listed in the index about prayer and writing down impressions. And I spent a few hours yesterday listening to GA talks about prayer. This is meant to try to get into a place where perhaps the spirit can more easily reach me.
So I appreciate this post and the comments, especially Bookslinger’s very perceptive observations. Thank you!
I have appreciated, enjoyed, and agreed with all of these thoughtful responses. I have never used the term “implanted desires” but I certainly understand the concept.
I would like to reiterate that somehow, our asking does seem to be important. Even the advancement of the Restoration seems to always be in answer to questions. (Albeit most of the answers must have been startling to Joseph Smith. I think it is a miracle he kept asking, given the answers he was getting!) Perhaps many of the “great and important things pertaining to the Kingom of God” yet to be revealed (see the 9th Article of Faith) are at least somewhat continguent on some critical mass of Latter-day Saints asking the questions that would bring about a specific new revelation. (Such as the Priesthood revelation in 1978.) Although I will admit that “critical mass” seems to have little to do with the revelations of the Joseph Smith era–but nevertheless, somebody was asking the questions.