"Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Bible Dictionary,
King James Version
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I am a believer in prayer. The reassurance that comes from knowing, knowing!, that I can go to my Heavenly Father and pour out my soul to Him, that He will not only hear me, but respond to my supplication with comfort and answers, is to me the greatest tool we as children of God have been given. We live in environments of worldly desires and influences, and yet available to every human being on the planet is the opportunity to connect in a personal one-on-one way with the Divine.
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The past two months I have been praying earnestly to know God's will in a specific part of my life. I'm almost there--I feel I have the beginnings of an answer but I'm not there yet. I'm not to the point where I feel sure proceeding in any one certain direction, not until I can trust myself to believe I have received full confirmation of the Lord's plan for me. But I have faith that if I keep praying, keep seeking opportunities where His spirit can pour out upon me, I'll eventually know what it is I should be doing and I'll be able to do so having complete confidence. As I read the Book of Mormon this morning, I prayed that the words I was going to read would somehow reassure me that the Lord knows my heart. I'm so grateful -- so very, very grateful -- for the scriptures. Any time that I have started my reading with a prayer, asking for understanding, asking for a way to apply it in my life, my requests have always been granted. Today was no different, as I read in Helaman 6:37:
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"...the Lord began to pour out his Spirit...because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words."
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I know the Lord is ready (and probably trying) to answer my specific questions in full right now, but I also believe that He knows that although I am doing my best to seek His Spirit and have a desire to know and follow His will, I am human and therefore through my weaknesses struggle to interpret the feelings I get as I pray, and that I do not always have "easiness" in doing so. How blessed I am to have a Heavenly Father who is patient with me and continues to give me answers no matter how long it takes me to understand them.
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