Prayer

Dear Son,
As a young boy Grandma Simmons taught me that if I asked for help, God would answer my prayers. I often asked God to teach me how to pray more effectively because I didn’t have confidence that my prayers would always be answered. Sometimes my prayers would be answered in ways that were easy for me to discern. Other times it seemed as if the heavens were brass above me and I didn’t know why. For much of my life, I did not pray with the confidence or certitude that I would necessarily receive answers to every prayer. Over time I have come to realize that the most important relationship any of us can have in life is the relationship we have with the Father wherein our confidence before Him waxes strong in prayer and wherein whatsoever we ask is answered or received. Over time, I have come to recognize what enables me to wax confident when I come unto the Lord and call upon His name. Allow me to share what works and does not work for me, in the hopes that you may be able to come to pray with greater certitude and so that your confidence will wax strong as you come unto the Lord and call upon His name. Let’s review the requirements the Lord has given to us in order that we might pray with confidence, certitude, and power:

1. Broken Heart: We are instructed to come before Him with a “Broken Heart". This does not necessarily mean that we are sad because of problems we face; although, there are times when we our very best is insufficient and it humbles to tears; we recognize our utter dependency upon the Lord. But there is another important meaning. As you children are aware, I’ve trained horses for much of my lifetime. The process of taming a horse is called “the breaking of a horse". What is a ‘broken horse” and how do I break it? First, I train the horse to accept my touch. From the moment the foal first hits the earth I begin to pick up its feet and pat him all over. I rub its ankles, its legs, and every spot upon its body until it trusts my touch implicitly. I also fit a halter to its head and attach a rope to that halter. I begin to lead the foal where I want it to go, but at first the foal fights the rope and struggles against it mightily. With gentle persuasion the colt begins to yield to the rope, just as it yields to the touch of my hand. I then introduce a saddle blanket, then a saddle, then weight upon the saddle. With each step the horse resists somewhat before it yields to the process I am putting it through. As I finally mount and ride the horse, it has learned that it can “trust” me and although tentative, it allows me to train it further until it yields to very gentle pressure of the reigns and even to pressure from my heals or to slight shifts in how I sit in the saddle. I can teach it to slide to a halt just by shifting my weight in a certain manner, or to spin left or right with the gentle touch of my heal. A broken and finished horse yields entirely to subtle cues I give it. A broken heart is not necessarily a sad heart at all, but a heart that yields to the softest and most gentle commands of the Lord and that trust Him fully. The Lord does not yank us here and there, but in order to respect agency, He entices us as gently as possible. A broken heart yields to the slightest enticings of the Lord and trusts the Lord implicitly to lead it. 
2. Contrite Spirit: What is a contrite spirit? Consider a child who has hurt her knee. She comes crying to mother who helps comfort immediately. Now consider the same child a few years later who begins demanding of the mother keys to the car and has no interest whatsoever to know why the mother is resistant to giving her the keys. The mother may know that the car is nearly out of gas, or the car’s radiator is in a failure mode, or tires may need to be changed, or anyone of a number of other things that causes immediate and real risks to car and child. Until the child’s heart is willing to hear more perfectly, all it understands is that Mother is ignoring her. Well, sometimes we approach God similarly when we come to Him for help and begin dictating conditions. In so doing, we use our agency to tell God what He can and cannot say to us because our hearts and spirits are essentially saying to God, “Don’t tell me anything but what I want to hear.” Our hearts are not broken and our spirits are not contrite as a little child’s spirit. Until we use our agency to submit our will to the will of the Father, God remains silent, according to our agency. In essence, we control completely the flow of revelation from God as our hearts and spirits trust and desire his perfect will, or if they are resistant to Him as the teenager. He has promised to send us light and truth just as fast as we will receive it. I know this to be true. Again, if our mind is “preset” or “predetermined", then our agency demands that God not give us His perfect answers. Therefore, He respects agency perfectly and remains utterly silent -- similar to Christ remaining silent before His accusers. By comparison, as we yield perfectly to His gentle enticings we receive answers to our prayers as fast as we can receive them. It’s all a matter of choice or agency to either silence Him up or to open Him up to us more fully. 
3. Faith: As we come to truly understand God’s characteristics, attributes, and perfections, we come to know that He will never ask anything of us but that which is for our greater good and eternal progression, and our faith in doing His will increases. We know that any sacrifices we are asked to make will be restored unto us, even an hundred fold. We know that He cannot err and that His judgment regarding what we can do is perfect. We know that He is no respecter of persons and that as we follow His will, it will always lead us to greater light, truth, and knowledge. We also know that He loves us perfectly and therefore, when it comes to our agency, our spirits contritely and eagerly submit fully to his gentle commands, or in other words, to His voice or will. We trust Him as would a little child who possesses a contrite spirit. We are not like the demanding teenager. In fact, we eagerly give our will to Him knowing that our best course is always the one marked by His will, as is the shortest path to our redemption. Sometimes He will challenge us greatly, as He did with Abraham. Because of Abraham’s great trust in God, he secured his exaltation, even as he prepared to sacrifice his only son. 
4. Obedience: Sometimes, the Lord speaks plainly to us, other times His communications are more insubstantial or subtle. At times He may send a messenger to bring us timely instruction, or to test us, or to warn us. We should not seek the spectacular in every communication with God, but trust Him to choose the level of inspiration and communication that is most appropriate for the need of the moment and to instruct in a manner that respects our agency and that enables us further in light and truth. Sometimes we may doubt that our thoughts are truly from Him. As we ask, He will help us to know. It is our responsibility to find out because if He does provide guidance and we do not act upon it, He will cease sending revelation to us until we repent and become more perfectly obedient. Conversely, as we act with certitude and exactness to fulfill His will, the frequency of inspiration received increases to just as fast as we will receive greater light, truth, and knowledge. 
5. Charity: As our hearts are filled with love towards God and all men, the nature of our prayers reflect our desire to consecrate all that we are and and all that we have toward turning others fully to God and Christ, who alone can guide anyone perfectly. While man may teach correct principles and do much good of his own free will, God alone knows each of us perfectly, including our temporal, physical, and spiritual needs. Neighbor can do much good for neighbor and is often the conduit through which God blesses us, but God alone is the perfect orchestrator and conductor of the flow of light, knowledge, and His timely and tender mercies. As we ask God daily what we can do today to serve our neighbor, He will employ us to do much good, and as we do so our hearts and souls will become increasingly filled with compassion, charity, and true love toward others. As this occurs the heavens open up to us and pure doctrines of the priesthood (God’s perfect knowledge) distill upon our souls as the dews from heaven. He literally answers every prayer and we know and recognize this pure flow of His guidance, light, and love. 
6. Forsake Sin and Become Virtuous: King Lamoni gave up all his sins to know God. His “real intent” to forsake “all sin” was known perfectly by God and Lamoni thereby qualified to be instructed more perfectly in the truths of the Kingdom. He met his Redeemer and his life was forever changed. We are each encumbered by sins that we commit through rebellion or in other words -- through personal choice. We also each suffer from iniquities. These are generational sins that are passed to us from our Fathers going back several generations. Their weaknesses pass on to us as we are born carrying the sins of the Fathers within us. Sound fair? It really is once you come to understand the promises made by the Fathers to the Children and the promises we made to the Fathers before our turn on earth. Consider the following: Isaiah describes seven levels of heaven, and to ascend to the highest level of heaven we must ascend one level at a time as we would ascend seven rungs of a ladder. Each rung consists of greater charity, greater virtue, and greater righteousness and truth and a greater knowledge of truth. Our fathers agreed to come to earth at a time when their fathers had only ascended the ladder partially. We are born with all the light and knowledge that our Fathers ascended unto. It is the sacred duty of the Children to continue to ascend the ladder by attaining even greater light, truth, righteousness and knowledge. Just as the Children are beneficiaries at birth of the efforts of the Fathers who preceded them and come to earth already ascended part way up the ladder, so too do the Fathers become direct beneficiaries as the Children ascend the ladder even further. Therefore, it should be our aim in life, to ascend the ladder of heaven to the uttermost level possible in our lives. As we do so, we wash clean our family line, backwards, forwards, and sideways, and each who has formerly done his or her part, by fulfilling former promises, is lifted to the level we achieve. We each have sacred missions to fulfill and we are to do all that we have promised to do. As we do our part, the whole is benefited thereby. We best ascend the ladder when, as King Lamoni, we too determine to forsake “all sins” and iniquities and we set a course in life that enables us to put off the natural man and to become perfected in Christ. As we do so, like the receiver on a radio, we become increasingly more perfectly attuned to the Father’s frequency and we are enabled to become increasingly filled with light, truth, and pure knowledge, even as fast as we are able to receive it into our lives. As we become increasingly pure, clean, and holy -- with clean hands and a pure heart -- we are no more strangers before the Lord but become like Him, and as His true children we come confidently before Him, eager to learn and to receive freely from Him. As our lives more perfectly reflect the Savior’s perfections, the doctrines of the priesthood flow to us ever increasingly without measure. The Holy Ghost becomes our constant companion and we receive an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth. What is this? It is God’s perfect knowledge, which enables us to walk the razor’s edge of truth without ever being deceived and without ever making mistakes. As we attain this unchanging scepter of righteousness, great power comes into our lives, in fact the very power by which God commands and the intelligences of the universe obey. He commands perfectly and without mistake and intelligences know that He only asks that which enables them to progress eternally. This scepter enables us to not only overcome all deception forever, and not only to walk the razor’s edge of truth perfectly forever and ever, but it enables us to receive an everlasting dominion, which flows to us without compulsory means forever and ever. We are blessed with everlasting health, strength, and the very power by which God operates in the heavens. 
7. Agency: This bears repeating. As we come unto the Lord and call upon His name let us always remember that Heavenly Father stands ready at all times to teach us and to guide us perfectly. Now remember, If I go before Him in a spirit that is somewhat insistent upon what I want and what I think, He allows me perfect agency to think, insist, and do as I will. And, when my heart is neither broken nor my spirit contrite, I do not yield to his perfect and gentle enticements. He then remains silent and respects the agency I demand. He permits me to have things my way until I desire to follow Him. Powerful prayer begins only as our spirits surrender our will (agency) to Him and our hearts yield perfectly to His enticements and invitations of the Spirit. Therefore, we literally choose, by our hearts and our spirits, whether or not our prayers will yield powerful results, or whether the heaven’s will be silent and as impenetrable brass. It’s our choice. I do not want to give the impression here that we are not to fully consider the topic which we bring unto the Lord. We are and we are to present to Him our best thoughts. He wants us to reason as He reasons, and to think soundly as He thinks soundly. But after we do our best and eagerly present it to Him, we must be even more eager to receive anything from Him that He might have for us. It’s a beautiful process. 

The Gospel, like the ocean, is vast and deep and is as deep as you are able and willing to receive. The Brethren teach the gospel basics, sufficient to enable you with the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation. Once you possess that, you will learn all that you need to know directly from God. This is as it should be for Joseph taught that exaltation is between you and God alone. To better appreciate how much you will learn consider some more words of Joseph Smith:

“I could explain a hundred fold more than I ever have of the glories of the kingdoms manifested to me in the vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive them. “ Joseph Smith, Jr.

“If I revealed all that has been made known to me, scarcely a man on this stand would stay with me." and "Brethren, if I were to tell you all I know of the kingdom of God, I do know that you would rise up and kill me.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

“I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all. How many will be able to abide a celestial law, and go through and receive their exaltation, I am unable to say, as many are called, but few are chosen.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

“Had I inspiration, revelation, and lungs to communicate what my soul has contemplated in times past, there is not a soul in this congregation but would go to their homes and shut their mouths in everlasting silence on religion till they had learned something.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

“If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven. What many people call sin is not sin; I do many things to break down superstition, and I will break it down.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

“It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind. Oh! how I would delight to bring before you things which you never thought of! But poverty and the cares of the world prevent. But I am glad I have the privilege of communicating to you some things which, if grasped closely, will be a help to you when earthquakes bellow, the clouds gather, the lightnings flash, and the storms are ready to burst upon you like peals of thunder. Lay hold of these things and let not your knees or joints tremble, nor your hearts faint; and then what can earthquakes, wars and tornadoes do? Nothing.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world."

"What did Jesus do? Why I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds came rolling into existence. My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt him in glory. He will then take a HIGHER EXALTATION, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself."

Conclusion 

I commend to you to learn and live by heaven’s laws just as fast as you are able to receive them. As you come unto Him, as the colt who becomes well broken and who easily yields to the master’s touch and as teachable as a child, He will instructs you and teach you perfectly.

And, never allow anyone, as the Prophet Joseph taught -- to come between you and the Father’s will in your life, not even me. It isn’t so much what you learn from the pulpit that will exalt you, but how well you enable the Spirit of Prophesy and Revelation in your daily life. 

Exaltation comes in and through our personal relationship with the Father. Prophets guide, instruct, warn, and in all things seek to lead us to become independent in receiving the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation. However, God alone knows you perfectly and He alone can and will enable you with perfect knowledge and faith sufficient for you to become exalted.

I love you and am so very pleased with your desire to serve the Lord. Dad