THE SOUL'S SINCERE DESIRE

 

Hymn 145 in our Hymnal tells us that prayer is the soul’s sincere desire.

Our prayers reveal so much about us: our humility or our pride, our submissiveness or our possessiveness, our progression or our regression, but most especially they reveal where we are in life in regards to our overall desire. Consider the following scripture:

“Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you.” (D&C 88:63,64)

There is a word in this scripture that is of vital importance for us to understand and that word is ‘expedient’. The dictionary defines this word as ‘tending to promote a desired objective or a means of attaining an end’. In considering the importance of prayer as a communication with the Divine, this  means that God is giving us help through prayer with immediate situations in this life that will be advantageous for our ultimate desired objective and that is to become as God is. Therefore, it reveals His will for us and it affirms our purpose for being here.

Prayer itself is a process of progression. On one end of the spectrum is a prayer of a child through which the child is taught about faith: you pray to Heavenly Father and you have faith that He will hear you and answer your prayer. On the other end of that spectrum is a prayer of a spiritually evolved adult who prays with the ‘true order of prayer’:

“We pray to our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost. This is the true order of prayer.”  (Russell M. Nelson, CR April 2003, Ensign May 2003, p 7)

“When we pray unto the Father in the name of Jesus for specific personal things, we should feel in the very depths of our souls that we are willing to subject our petitions to the will of our Father in heaven….The time will come when we shall know the will of God before we ask. Then everything for which we pray will be ‘expedient’. Everything for which we ask will be ‘right’. That will be when as a result of righteous living, we shall so enjoy the companionship of the spirit that he will dictate what we ask.” (President Marion G. Romney, in CR Oct 1944, 55-56)

So often I am reminded of President Nelson’s advice that we will not be able to survive these last days without the guidance of the Holy Ghost. He is crucial in all the guidance we get as a result of our petitions to God. The prayer circle in the Temple teaches us the role the Holy Ghost plays in our communication with the Divine. The officiator represents the Holy Ghost in telling those gathered what to say, they in turn repeat the words of the prayer directing them to Heavenly Father in the name of His Son.

If you pray this way, you are well and truly on your way to achieving the purpose of your mortal probation. If the purpose of your journey is to become like God, prayer is the path to know how to travel it. May you receive your heart’s sincere desire and may we in the end meet at Jesus’ feet. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: My Prayer by Danny Hahlbohm)