Ether 1

THE POWER OF PRAYER

I was touched as I read in the account of Ether today about the power of prayer. The brother of Jared continuously instructs his brother to ask of the Lord, and each time--the Lord answers. I was first impressed with the faith to seek the Lord, and second impressed with power of prayer. I keep thinking that because they first had the faith to seek the Lord, they must have had complete trust that the Lord would direct and answer.


Faith in the Lord is a powerful thing. There is a difference between believing in the Lord and believing that the Lord will direct our path. Many times in my life I lean more on the simply believing in the Lord, and then I go about my activities trying to accomplish all that I must without the Lord's divine intervention. It requires great faith to stop and realize how much better we would be with the Lord directing our path, and then to trust that He can and He will. It seems to me to be a circle of faith: to first have the faith to stop and counsel with the Lord, to then listen for His direction, and then to move froward with faith.

For me, I have the faith that this pattern in life works; however, I don't often use it. When I have exhausted all other scenarios, I then seem to turn to the Lord. Why not begin with the Lord? Why must I struggle on my own? I do believe the Lord trusts us in orchestrating our lives, but I don't think that means that we can't counsel with him in all things. In fact, in Nephi we are instructed to ...counsel with the Lord in all dealings...(1 Nephi 37:37).

At the end of this chapter two powerful messages seemed to cap off my original impressions. First, in verse 42 it states, "I will go before thee." This simply promise of the Lord reminds me that the Lord is willing to be with us. However, we must first seek Him in order to have that companionship. The second phrase that hit home was in verse 43 it states, "And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me." The Lord here tells us that He will bless us when we seek Him. When we choose to allow Him in to our lives, He will make things happen to our benefit, but WE MUST trust in Him enough to first ask.

Helaman 3

Because the people turn to God in sincerity, the Church grows immensely, and their hearts are full of joy. And through the studying of scriptures, Satan was literally pushed aside.

Helaman 3:26-29 reads:

26. And it came to pass that the work of the Lord did prosper unto the baptizing and uniting to the church of God, many souls, yea, even tens of thousands. 
27. Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name. 
28. Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all , even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. 
29. Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked--

My mind often works in formulas. In verse 27, it tells us that the Lord is merciful to those who will call on the Lord with sincerity of heart. But, not only that--we learn that the gates of heaven can be open to those who will believe (verse 28). And then finally in verse 29, we learn that through studying the scriptures, we can stay on the course to eternal life. Therefore, through prayer--which brings forth faith--and scriptures study, we will be led to Christ, and not be tempted by Satan.

Another part of this chapter, which speaks to my heart is in verse 35 when it says, "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility , and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."

A formula for this scripture could look something like this:
Fast & Pray Often=Humility & Firmer Faith=Joy=Purifying & Sanctification of Heart

And all this came because they yielded their hearts to God.

So, it begins with prayer, and as we turn our hearts through prayer to God, we change our hearts to His will rather than our will, and as we do so, we will have joy and sanctification.

I want to be all that He desires me to be. I want to go where He wants me to go. I want to do what He wants me to do. I truly believe it begins with prayer, and continuous seeking of the things that are most important. I plan on doing this in my life. I plan on giving my all. I know that there are times when I am falling short; however, I truly believe that as I continue in prayer and reading my scriptures--I will be led.

Alma 31

What Matter's Most

In Alma 31:27, Alma describes the awful wickedness of the people when he said, Behold, O God, they cry unto thee, and yet their hearts are swallowed up in their pride. Behold, O God, they cry unto thee with their mouths, while they are puffed up, even to greatness, with the vain things of the world."

I wonder how often I allow the things of the world to overshadow the things that matter most. I think it is easy to see these people in the scriptures and think it was their sin, and not relate it back to our day; however, the scriptures for our day. I think the world is is in our lives more than we realize. As I look at my phone, am I crowding out the things that matter most? I often try to remind myself to stay off social media sites while my children are with me, so that I might give them my full attention, or to do the "most" important things prior to indulging in social media. Richard G. Scott said, "Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!" (Richard G. Scott, "Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority", General Conference 2014).

There are other things in the world that can overshadow the most important things. I think we have to be constantly diligent in putting God first in order to stay on the straight and narrow. I know that Satan is aware, and he will stop at nothing to tempt us away from the things that matter most. I don't think these people are much different from us. If we are not careful, we will find ourselves indulging in the same sins they found themselves.

At the end of this chapter, Alma offered a prayer on behalf of these people, and the scriptures say that it was "according to the prayer of Alma" (Alma 31:38). To have the faith of Alma, and to pray with such power is my ultimate goal in life. Because of Alma's faith, many of these hardened people came to the knowledge of God.

Mosiah 27

THE FAITH OF A PARENT

I love that an angel comes to Alma because of others' prayers. To think that I may pray for something so momentous, to think that a faith of a parent can truly make an impact on our children gives me reassurance. Our parenting doesn't have to be one sided. The Lord wants us to be in partnership with Him. I think too often I feel alone in my parenting, or for that matter--anything else. When I turn inside myself, I am somewhat alone. Sure, the Lord is always there, but unless we access Him in our lives His influence isn't as strong. As we pray to Him, we become a partnership with God. He can then help us in all of our endeavors--no matter what our struggle might be (a wayward child, patience...).

Right now my little guy is struggling in school. He has started a learning program, which takes an hour every single day practicing drills. This program is suppose to help him process better--it's suppose "fix" all of our struggles. In the process of "fixing", my patience is often at the surface. These drills are not easy. They take a lot of time, and they quite often have to be simplified, and broken down. On top of that, we just started school, and Jacob is required to do a lot of homework. Last night we spent two hours on homework in addition to Jacob's learning technics. What would take some kids only an hour to complete--takes Jake double. He tries extremely hard, and his heart is in it--he just can't process as fast. By the end of our two hour homework scenario, I was done for the night; however, I was staring into an hour of learning technics as well. It was 8:30 pm--his bedtime, and we were not done. My mental sanity was definitely shaken. I needed the Lord more than ever. I needed Him to help me stay sane, but more importantly to help me remain calm with a beautiful child that was truly trying his best. I wish I could say that I was the ultimate example of patience. I can't. I wasn't. After I tucked Jacob into bed, I went into his room to love and kiss on him. I told him how proud I was of him, and how sorry I was that I was frustrated. I let him know that I really do love him. As I was pleading for forgiveness, and looking into my beautiful son's eyes, I knew I needed God. I knew I couldn't do it alone. My prayers last night were prayers of pleading. They were prayers that ache. I want more than ever to be that mom that is so awesome. To be honest, I am not even sure what "that mom" entails. If I could list a few of "that mom's" talents, I would list a mom with ultimate patience, a mom with a listening ear, a fun mom, a caring mom, an in tune mom, a spiritual mom... Some of these things, I feel I am accomplishing; however, I am definitely  not accomplishing all of it. The thing is: we don't have to. I think we must do our best, and then we must pray like it will make up all the difference, because I honestly believe it will. It did for Alma.