Good morning brothers and sisters, I am very grateful to have this opportunity to speak to you before I leave for two years to serve my mission in San Fernando, California. I want to thank all my friends and family and those who usually don’t come to church for coming out today and supporting me and to hear me speak. I have prayed this entire week and am currently fasting so that I may be able to teach by the spirit and to convey a message that will touch your hearts today.
The topic I was given to speak on today is prayer. I actually have a cute story about my little sister that just recently happened concerning prayer. While we were in California around a month ago we had the chance to go to Disneyland. My little sister Abby got a ring that was absolutely her favorite. Once we got home, Abby misplaced her ring and became very upset. She could not find it anywhere and neither could we. Abby then decided she needed to pray and ask for Heavenly Father’s help with finding her ring. After her prayer, a few days later, her ring appeared and she was so happy. She yelled out, Prayers really do work!
Prayer is one of the most important basic principles of the gospel since time began. We pray to God because He is our Father in Heaven and we are His children. He will answer our prayers. Our Father in Heaven is perfect and will flawlessly answer our prayers in His own time, not ours, because He loves us and knows perfectly what is best for us. We must recognize that He knows what is best for us better than we do.
Our true church of Jesus Christ was finally restored back to the earth through our first prophet, Joseph Smith, because He asked through prayer. He was inspired to ask with real intent after he read the scripture James 1:5, which reads, (If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all man liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him).
As we pray with faith, sincerity and real intent, we will see God’s influence in our lives. As we pray consistently, God will guide us to make good decisions and we will feel closer to Him. As we feel closer to Him we obtain great feelings of comfort and peace. We will know that He has forgiven our sins. He will also warn us of danger and strengthen us so that we will be able to resist temptation. All of these amazingly, wonderful blessings can be ours, as long as we simply and consistently pray.
Out of all duties, prayer is certainly the sweetest and most easy. Consistently praying will tremendously help each one of us in our daily lives. I want each of you to ask yourselves what it truly means to “consistently” pray? I believe that consistently praying means not only to pray before every meal, as well as morning and night, but to have a constant prayer in our hearts throughout the day. A silent prayer in our hearts that God will strengthen us with our responsibilities. A silent prayer asking for His help when in danger or during times of temptation. And lastly, a silent prayer showing our love for Him and His Son, our brother, Jesus Christ and the many sacrifices they have made for us. God is the Creator of all things and without Him, there wouldn’t be an “us”. The least we can do is live righteously and give thanks for everything He has provided us with. They say no man is taller than when he is on his knees. I would now like to read a short poem from my favorite little missionary book of inspirational stories that constantly reminds of the importance of prayer.
I got up early one morning
and rushed into the day;
I had so much to accomplish,
I didn’t have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me,
and heavier came each task.
“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered.
He said, “You didn’t ask.”
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn’t show me.
He said, “You didn’t seek.”
I tried to come into God’s presence;
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
“My child, you didn’t knock.”
I woke up early this morning,
and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I had to take time to pray.
I love this poem because it shows how great of an influence God has in our lives, as long as we invite Him in it. For me, I am so grateful for prayer and the impact it has in my life. I can totally notice when I forget to start the day out with a prayer. I have found that prayer will always uplift my spirit, as well as humble me, reminding me of the most important things in life. Once I focus more on eternal aspects of life and what really matters most, I begin to have a better attitude throughout the day. And my wordly issues and worries seem to fade away. Having a good attitude makes life so much better, as well as easier. It is your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude in life. My favorite scripture that I have chosen to put on my missionary plaque is Mosiah 2:17 (And behold I will tell you these things that you may learn wisdom. That ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God). This scripture has given me a whole new outlook in life. I know that when I am serving anyone in need I am also doing my service to God which is the best feeling in the world. I have found that all my good actions and behavior lately have all been inspired by starting the day out with a simple prayer, along with keeping a silent prayer in my heart throughout the day.
It is also said, that a man who says his evening prayers is a captain posting his sentinels, so he can sleep. When we prayer we should find a place free from distractions. Although, sometimes we may need to pray silently, we should make our best effort at times, to pray vocally. Remember, prayer is a two way communication. It is important that once we close our prayers, we don’t just walk away....we need to pause and listen. If we don’t listen we will never hear or feel what our Father in Heaven wants to say to us. At times, Heavenly Father will counsel, guide, or comfort us while we are on our knees so we should be there listening when He does. We should never, never feel unworthy to pray. This foolish idea only comes from Satan himself trying to get us not to pray. If we ever feel this way, we should pray until we feel like praying. Just like D & C 10:5 perfectly explains that we should.. (Pray always that ye may come off conqueror, yea that ye may conquer Satan, and that ye may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work).
In my own personal life, I feel I have received many blessings through prayer. I have always enjoyed going to the temple. I would go weekly to do baptisms for the dead. Recently, I had the opportunity to receive my own endowments and I feel I enjoy the blessings of the temple even more now. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to go clean the Draper Temple with my dad and Uncle Paul. The temple cleaning hours are usually around 11:00 pm. It was a fantastic experience. When we got there, there were three vacuums, 2 regular ones, and a backpack vacuum. I was quickly volunteered by the older men to use the backpack vacuum because I had supposedly the “strongest back”? Then our cleaning instructor said, you know you just volunteered him for the best job? I then didn’t want to pass up this opportunity, so I hurried and strapped on the vacuum. I could see the jealousy on my dad and uncle’s face setting in as I put it on, standing there in my white temple scrubs and my white scrunchy slippers with a tube vacuum on my back, holding a skinny gun looking nozzle, looking like a legit ghostbuster. I then headed off to perform my duties. I was assigned to clean some very sacred areas of the temple, and it was truly an amazing experience. As the night went on, I continued to vacuum different rooms in the temple, for about two hours, and yet it didn’t feel like I had been working for two straight hours or even labored at all. At the end of the night, around midnight, I found myself alone in the celestial room. I took the opportunity to sit down and offer a prayer. As I sat there for a couple of minutes in complete silence, I came to the profound conclusion that you can indeed hear silence. While looking around at the perfection in the celestial room, I felt a stillness and peace I had never felt before. I knew I was in a holy place.
Another moment in my life when I knew this church was true without a doubt was when I had the opportunity to receive my patriarchal blessing. I received this special blessing from Patriarch Anderson, who I had never had the opportunity to meet before. Once I arrived at his house, He invited us in and he began asking me questions about my life to get to know me better. After we resolved most of his questions, he asked my dad if he would give us an opening prayer to start my blessing. During the prayer I felt the spirit so strongly and I remember thinking to myself that I wanted to always remember that amazing feeling and wanted to know what I could do to always feel that way. I was as happy as could be at that moment. Then when the prayer ended, Patriarch Anderson stopped and looked at me and said, “I don’t know why I feel prompted to say this, but when you get home, you should write down these feelings you are having, and when you go back to re-read what you wrote, those feelings will always come back to you. I felt that my body went into shock and I couldn’t believe how fast and abruptly Heavenly Father answered that small prayer for me. I then began to cry and couldn’t compose myself. I was feeling great feelings of peace, comfort, joy, and satisfaction. It was unreal. He then came over to me and began the blessing. His words shot into my head so firm and clear that I knew it had to be Heavenly Father speaking directly towards me. It was an amazing experience. I am so grateful for Patriarchal blessings and highly encourage everyone who hasn’t received theirs to do so. You will not regret it. Whenever I am feeling down or have a question about something I love to be able to pull out my blessing and take some time to read it again, it always seems to fix everything.
In closing I would like to share one last story about prayer that was given by President Thomas S. Monson during the April 2009 General Conference.
Sister Daisy Ogando lives in New York City, home to more than eight million people. Some years ago Sister Ogando met with the missionaries and was taught the gospel. Gradually, she and the missionaries lost contact. Time passed. Then, in 2007, the principles of the gospel she had been taught by the missionaries stirred within her heart.
One day while getting into a taxi, Daisy saw the missionaries at a distance, but she was unable to make contact with them before they disappeared from view. She prayed fervently to our Heavenly Father and promised Him that if He would somehow direct the missionaries to her once again, she would open her door to them. She returned home that day with faith in her heart that God would hear and answer her prayer.
In the meantime, two young missionaries who had been sincerely praying and working to find people to teach were one day examining the tracting records of missionaries who had previously served in their area. As they did so, they came across the name of Daisy Ogando. When they approached her apartment the very afternoon that Sister Ogando offered that simple but fervent prayer, she opened the door and said those words that are music to every missionary who has ever heard them: “Elders, come in. I’ve been waiting for you!”
Two fervent prayers were answered, contact was reestablished, missionary lessons were taught, and arrangements were made for Daisy and her son Eddy to be baptized.
To those within the sound of my voice who are struggling with challenges and difficulties large and small, prayer is the provider of spiritual strength; it is the passport to peace. Prayer is the means by which we approach our Father in Heaven, who loves us. Speak to Him in prayer and then listen for the answer. Miracles are wrought through prayer.
(Testimony)
--I have one last message I would like to share with you.
A basketball in my hands is worth about $19
A basketball in Michael Jordan’s hands is worth about $33 million.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A rod in my hand will keep away a wild animal.
A rod in Moses’ hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A sling shot in my hands is a kid’s toy.
A sling shot in David’s hands is a mighty weapon.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
Two fish and five loves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches.
Two fish and five loves of bread in God’s hands will feed thousands.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.
Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands will produce salvation for the entire world.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
As you see, it depends whose hands it’s in - so put your concerns, your worries, your fears, your hopes and dreams, your families and relationships in God’s hands because
IT DEPENDS WHOSE HANDS IT’S IN!!!!
