Be humble and Be prayerful

(President Hinkley) The Lord has said, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee
by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.” (D&C 112:10). What a tremendous promise
is given in this statement. If we are without conceit and pride and arrogance, if we are humble
and obedient, then the Lord will lead us by the hand and answer our prayers. What greater
thing could we ask for? There is nothing to compare with this. The Savior, in the great Sermon
on the Mount, declared, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). I
believe the meek and the humble are those who are teachable. They are willing to learn. They
are willing to listen to the whisperings of the still, small voice for guidance in their lives. They
place the wisdom of the Lord above their own wisdom. You need His help, and you know that
you need His help. You cannot do it alone. You will come to realize that and recognize that
more and more as the years pass. So live that in good conscience you can speak with the Lord.
Get on your knees and thank Him for His goodness to you and express to Him the righteous
desires of your hearts. The miracle of it all is that He hears. He responds. He answers—not
always as we might wish He would answer, but there is no question in my mind that He
answers.

(Russell M. Nelson) Recently while visiting a nursing care facility, I spoke with a woman about
her family. She told me that she had three sons, two of whom visit her regularly. “What about
your third son?” I asked. “I don’t know where he is,” she replied tearfully. “I haven’t heard
from him for years. I don’t even know how many grandchildren I have.”

Why We Pray

If such a mother yearns to hear from her sons, it is easy to see why a loving Father in Heaven
wants to hear from His children. Through prayer, we can show our love for God. And He has
made it so easy. We may pray to Him any time. No special equipment is needed. We don’t
even need to charge batteries or pay a monthly service fee. Some people pray only when
confronted with personal problems. Others don’t pray at all. A scripture makes this
observation: “Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed
you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord … for them.” Prophets
have long told us to pray humbly and frequently.

When to Pray

When should we pray? The Lord said, “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all
things shall work together for your good.” Alma said, “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings,
and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord,
that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart
be full of thanks unto God.”

Personal Experience with Prayer

Many of us have had experiences with the sweet power of prayer. One of mine was shared
with a stake patriarch from southern Utah. I first met him in my medical office more than 40
years ago, during the early pioneering days of surgery of the heart. This saintly soul suffered
much because of a failing heart. He pleaded for help, thinking that his condition resulted from
a damaged but repairable valve in his heart. Extensive evaluation revealed that he had two
faulty valves. While one could be helped surgically, the other could not. Thus, an operation
was not advised. He received this news with deep disappointment. Subsequent visits ended
with the same advice. Finally, in desperation, he spoke to me with considerable emotion: “Dr.
Nelson, I have prayed for help and have been directed to you. The Lord will not reveal to me
how to repair that second valve, but He can reveal it to you. Your mind is so prepared. If you
will operate upon me, the Lord will make it known to you what to do. Please perform the
operation that I need, and pray for the help that you need.” His great faith had a profound
effect upon me. How could I turn him away again? Following a fervent prayer together, I
agreed to try. In preparing for that fateful day, I prayed over and over again, but still did not
know what to do for his leaking tricuspid valve. Even as the operation commenced, my
assistant asked, “What are you going to do for that?” I said, “I do not know.” We began the
operation. After relieving the obstruction of the first valve, we exposed the second valve. We
found it to be intact but so badly dilated that it could no longer function as it should. While
examining this valve, a message was distinctly impressed upon my mind: Reduce the
circumference of the ring. I announced that message to my assistant. “The valve tissue will be
sufficient if we can effectively reduce the ring toward its normal size.” But how? We could not
apply a belt as one would use to tighten the waist of oversized trousers. We could not squeeze
with a strap as one would cinch a saddle on a horse. Then a picture came vividly to my mind,
showing how stitches could be placed—to make a pleat here and a tuck there—to accomplish
the desired objective. I still remember that mental image—complete with dotted lines where
sutures should be placed. The repair was completed as diagrammed in my mind. We tested
the valve and found the leak to be reduced remarkably. My assistant said, “It’s a miracle.” I
responded, “It’s an answer to prayer.” The patient’s recovery was rapid and his relief
gratifying. Not only was he helped in a marvelous way, but surgical help for other people with
similar problems had become a possibility. I take no credit. Praise goes to this faithful patriarch
and to God, who answered our prayers. This faithful man lived for many more years and has
since gone to his eternal glory.

Inquire of the Lord

When we pray, we should not presume to give counsel but should inquire of the Lord and
hearken to His counsel. Joseph Smith’s first prayer ushered in the Restoration of the gospel. In
1833, he received the Word of Wisdom after asking the Lord for counsel. The revelation on the
priesthood received in 1978 by President Spencer W. Kimball came after intense inquiry.
Inspiration regarding the construction of smaller temples came after the pondering of
President Gordon B. Hinckley.

President Packer (conference talk) - When Oliver Cowdery failed in an attempt to translate,
the Lord told him: “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it
unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. “But, behold, I say unto you, that
you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will
cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. “But if it
be not right you shall have no such feelings” (D&C 9:7–9). That principle is illustrated by the
story of a little girl. She was upset with her brother, who built a trap to catch sparrows. Unable
to get help, she said to herself, “Well, I’ll pray about it.” After her prayer, the little girl told her
mother, “I know he is not going to catch any sparrows in his trap because I prayed about it. I’m
positive he won’t catch any sparrows!” Her mother said, “How can you be so sure?” She said,
“After I prayed about it, I went out and kicked that old trap all to pieces!”Pray even if you are
young and wayward like the prophet Alma or have a closed mind like Amulek, who “knew
concerning these things, yet . . . would not know” (Alma 10:6). Learn to pray. Pray often. Pray
in your mind, in your heart. Pray on your knees. Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The
lock is on your side of the veil. And I have learned to conclude all my prayers with “Thy will be
done” (Matthew 6:10; see also Luke 11:2; 3 Nephi 13:10). Do not expect to be free entirely
from trouble and disappointment and pain and discouragement, for these are the things that
we were sent to earth to endure.

Someone wrote:

With thoughtless and impatient hands

We tangle up the plans
The Lord hath wrought.
And when we cry in pain He saith,
“Be quiet, man, while I untie the knot.”11

Answers to Prayers

Not all of our prayers will be answered as we might wish. Occasionally the answer will be no.
We should not be surprised. Loving mortal parents do not say yes to every request of their
children. We should pray in accord with the will of our Heavenly Father. He wants to test us, to
strengthen us, and to help us achieve our full potential. When the Prophet Joseph Smith was
held in Liberty Jail, he pled for relief. His prayers were answered with an explanation: “All
these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” It was the Lord himself
who taught us by His own example how to find peace when the answers we receive are not
what we asked for. On the eve of His crucifixion, with “soul … exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death,” Jesus knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed to the Father, saying, “O my
Father, if it be possible [and he acknowledged ‘all things are possible unto thee’], let this cup
pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:38–39; see also Mark
14:36.) We can only try to imagine the anguish the Savior felt when we read in the Gospels
that He was “sore amazed and very heavy” (Mark 14:33), that He “fell on his face” and prayed
not once, but a second time, and then a third (Matt. 26:39, 42, 44). “Father, if thou be willing
remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42.) We
cannot imagine the anguish of a loving Father, who, knowing what had to be done, accepted
His Beloved Son’s willingness to suffer for all mankind. In this agony Christ was not left alone.
As if the Father were saying, “I cannot take it from you, but I can and will send you strength
and peace,” “there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.” (Luke
22:43.) If we, like the Savior, have the faith to put our trust in our Father in Heaven, to submit
to His will, the true spirit of peace will come as a witness and strength that He has heard and
answered our prayers. If we resist the inspiration of God and turn from His promptings, we are
left to our own confusion and lack of peace. Sometimes, when our prayers are not answered
as we desire, we may feel the Lord has rejected us or that our prayer was in vain. We may
begin to doubt our worthiness before God, or even the reality and power of prayer. That is
when we must continue to pray with patience and faith and to listen for that peace.

Elder Richard L. Evans wrote. “Prayer is not a matter of asking only. It should not be always as
the beggar’s upturned hand. Often the purpose of prayer is to give us strength to do what
needs to be done, wisdom to see the way to solve our own problems, and ability to do our
best in our tasks. “We need to pray … for strength to endure, for faith and fortitude to face
what sometimes must be faced.”
(Rex Pinegar) Our Father in Heaven has promised us peace in times of trial and has provided a
way for us to come to Him in our need. He has given us the privilege and power of prayer. He
has told us to “pray always” and has promised He will pour out His Spirit upon us. (D&C 19:38.)
Thankfully, we can call upon Him anytime, anywhere. We can speak to Him in the quiet
thoughts of our mind and from the deepest feelings of our heart. Our Heavenly Father has
told us He knows our thoughts and the intents of our hearts. (D&C 6:16.) President Marion G.
Romney taught, “Sometimes the Lord puts thoughts in our minds in answer to prayers. … [He]
gives us peace in our minds.” The peace God speaks to our minds will let us know when
decisions we have made are right, when our course is true. It can come as personal inspiration
and guidance to assist us in our daily life—in our homes, in our work. It can provide us with
courage and hope to meet the challenges of life. The miracle of prayer, to me, is that in the
private, quiet chambers of our mind and heart, God both hears and answers prayers. Perhaps
the greatest test of our faith and the most difficult part of prayer may be to recognize the
answer that comes to us in a thought or a feeling, and then to accept or to act on the answer
God chooses to give. Consistency in prayer, along with searching the scriptures and following
the counsel of living prophets, keeps us in tune with the Lord and enables us to interpret the
promptings of the Spirit more easily. The Lord has said; “Learn of me, and listen to my words;
walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.” (D&C 19:23.)

When sore trials came upon you,

Did you think to pray? …
Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day.
So, when life gets dark and dreary,
Don’t forget to pray.
(Hymns, 1985, no. 140.)