11/16/14 Review

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith

Chapter 22: Prayer – a Commandment and a Blessing

President Joseph Fielding Smith’s prayers revealed the depth of his testimony and his love for his Father in heaven and his Savior.  President Boyd K. Packer, who was called to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when Joseph Fielding Smith was President of the Church, said: “It was an experience to hear President Joseph Fielding Smith pray.  Even when he was past ninety he would pray that he would ‘keep his covenants and obligations and endure to the end.’”

President Smith reminds us that it is a “commandment from the Lord that we seek him constantly in humble prayer.”  He asks then answers these questions:  “I wonder if we ever stop to think why the Lord has asked us to pray.  Did he ask us to pray because he wants us to bow down and worship him? Is that the main reason? I don’t think it is. He is our Heavenly Father, and we have been commanded to worship him and pray to him in the name of his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  But the Lord can get along without our prayers. His work will go on just the same, whether we pray or whether we do not….Prayer is something that we need, not that the Lord needs. He knows just how to conduct his affairs and how to take care of them without any help from us.  Our prayers are not for the purpose of telling him how to run his business. If we have any such idea as that, then of course we have the wrong idea. Our prayers are uttered more for our sakes, to build us up and give us strength and courage, and to increase our faith in him.”

He further said, “Few things in life are as important as community with Deity in prayer. The Lord has drawn over our minds a curtain of forgetfulness so that we do not remember him and our association with him as members of his family in the premortal life. Prayer is the avenue of communication which he has provided for us to commune with him again. Thus, one of the chief purposes of our mortal probation is to see if we can learn with the spirit of prayer always in our hearts so that when the Lord chooses to speak, we shall hear his voice in our souls.” 

Question to ponder: Reflect upon your personal approach to prayer. What can we do so that our prayers will help us draw nearer our Father in Heaven?

The season for prayer is always.  We read in Alma 34:18-28 of the doctrine of prayer.  President Smith promises us that “…if a man will pray as he is commanded to do in this passage of scripture…then he more than likely will be found in all things righteously keeping the commandments of the Lord.”

President Smith counsels us that we …”should not pray merely with our lips; but in every act, in our conversation, in all that we undertake to do, we should try to carry out the expressions of our prayers, and be in harmony with the thoughts that we declare to the Lord in our daily supplications.”

Question to ponder:  How has prayer caused you to modify or improve your actions, your conversations, or any other aspect of your life?

President Smith reminds us to express our gratitude in prayer.  He said, “I believe that one of the greatest sins of which the inhabitants of the earth are guilty today is the sin of ingratitude, the want [or lack] of acknowledgment, on their part of the Lord and his right to govern and control.” 

Question to ponder: How can we better express our gratitude to the Lord for all he has given us?

We should plead with Heavenly Father for all our righteous desires.  President Smith directs us to “…plead with [Heavenly Father] for faith and integrity and for every godly attribute, for the triumph and success of his work, for the guidance of his Holy Spirit, and for salvation in his kingdom.  We should pray for our families, for our wives and children, for food and shelter and clothing, for our business concerns, and for all our righteous desires.”

Question to ponder:  When was the last time you had a prayer answered?