I wrote The Power of Habitual Prayer in the mindset of having intentional prayers. Today, I experienced another one.
A Typical Day
I felt overwhelmed by a few things (just day to day life, parenting, working, making sure I get that insurance policy and that bill figured out, etc, etc, etc.)
I decided to see if prayer could help me get out of my funk.
During my prayer, I felt something happen. I decided I would pray until I felt a change. And I did. I felt a change. More hope entered in. (“It’s all gonna be fine!”) I felt more grateful for the help I failed to fully appreciate just moments ago.
We get into moods. And bad moods are hard to get out of. But this is life. Life is full of bad moods.
What do you do to fix your bad mood?
This quote came to mind while I was praying:
As you think celestial, you will find yourself avoiding anything that robs you of your agency. Any addiction—be it gaming, gambling, debt, drugs, alcohol, anger, pornography, sex, or even food—offends God. Why? Because your obsession becomes your god. You look to it rather than to Him for solace.
“Think Celestial!”, Russell M. Nelson
You don’t need an addiction to appreciate the sentiment here: where do you turn when you’re struggling?
Do you turn to social media? Phone calls? News? The internet? TV? Anger? Food?
I’ve tried all those things. They’re all wonderful (except anger lol), especially calling a friend. But am I doing that before taking the issue to the Lord?
He has invited us to take all things to Him. Every thought even:
Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
Doctrine and Covenants 6.36
And we take all things to Him so He can consecrate them to us:
ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.
2 Nephi 32.9
Yes, the Lord blesses us even when we don’t pray. But the promise is in the prayer: pray in all things. Pray in every thought. Do all things for Good reasons.
And he didn’t qualify what “labor” means here:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11.28–30
Perhaps He wants us to decide what our labor is, bring it to Him, and consecrate it and ask His help. This seems aligned with Him wanting us to be agents:
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
Doctrine and Covenants 58.28
(This comes after “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;” Doctrine and Covenants 58.27)
Let God Prevail
So: get an idea of some good cause to be engaged in (parenting, providing for family, etc), pray for support in it, ask Him to consecrate it, watch for miracles.
I think we find reasons for why we shouldn’t pray.1 Because we think we need to do it on our own. There’s a constant balance between “how much do I rely on God and how much should I just get up and do it myself”. I think the balance is rather not a balance at all. Just pick a plan, ask for help, then go and do what’s in your power. The scriptures are full of examples of people who did this.2
He loves us. He wants us to succeed. He cares about our daily labor, whether that’s in a field or in the barn that a home turns into. If you’re still wondering, Read this cool story on David Whitmer and how the Lord helped him with his crops and how the Lord is aware of all our needs, temporal and spiritual.
I got up from my prayer feeling “I can do this!” And the impression came “we can do this”.
“And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.” (2 Nephi 32.8)↩︎
Nephi and the broken bow, Nephi and the material for the ship, brother of Jared and the stones, etc.↩︎
_________________________
Bryan lives somewhere at the intersection of faith, fatherhood, and futurism and writes about tech, books, Christianity, gratitude, and whatever’s on his mind. If you liked reading, perhaps you’ll also like subscribing: