Paisley: Hi everybody, Paisley imperfect here with another
message. Today we're talking about prayer. Somebody asked me
in a quote, in a quote, in a comment last week about my
thoughts about sincere prayer. So I wanted to I wanted to share
my thoughts.
I want to start by just kind of just saying that it works. Okay.
Prayer works. We have a lot of evidence of that in the
scriptures. I have a lot of evidence that of that in my
life. I just, I want to, I want to say that first, I want to say
that prayer works.
Then I want to, I kind of want to start with a little bit of a
story. In my early 20s, I'm talking like 2021, I was called
to teach this primary class, I wasn't interested in going to
the ISA Ward yet. And so my bishop asked me to teach this
class of nine year olds, I had one girl, that poor girl, I had
one girl in this class and four Super rowdy boys. They're still
great. They're still great boys. They're grown men with families
of their own now, but we spent that year I had them for the
whole year. And we spent that year focusing on the articles of
faith, they got a giant candy bar at the end of the year, if
they memorized all their articles of faith, at least one
of them did. So cute.
Anyway, the other thing that we focused on was prayer. And we
talked about the kind of the three like the three key parts
of a prayer, if you will. And I'm not talking about like, you
asked for things, you say thank you for things. I'm not talking
about that. I'm talking about how you know who we pray to. So
I would say on Sunday, I would say Okay, guys, pop quiz. And
they would all go, oh, and I would say, we pray to and then I
would look at them. And they would say Heavenly Father, and I
would say in the name of and they would say Jesus Christ. And
then I would say and were answered by or were answered
through and they would say the Holy Ghost. And give me kind of
a hard time about it. But you know, that was something like
even in my 20s. That was something that stuck with me
later on. And then in my 30s, probably mid 30s, I was teaching
seminary teaching early morning seminary, and I remember going
over it with my kids, one with my seminary kids one morning and
doing the same thing we pray to and they said Heavenly Father,
it took us a little while to get there like it. The whole lesson
was about prayer. It was just like a one day thing. But I said
we pray to they said Heavenly Father and I said in the name of
and they said Jesus Christ. And I said, I were answered through
and they said the Holy Ghost. And then once we got there like
this thought came into my brain about how important prayer is.
It's so important that all three members of the Godhead are
somehow involved. Let that sink in for just a second.
Elder Scott in 2007 gave this talk in general conference the
Saturday morning session in April of 2007. He gave this talk
called using the supernal gift of prayer. And one of his
opening paragraphs says prayer is a superb final gift of our
Father in Heaven to every soul. Think of it, the Absolute
Supreme Being the most all knowing, all seeing all powerful
personage encourages you and me as insignificant as we are to
converse with him as our father, actually because he knows how
desperately we need his guidance he commands, thou shalt pray
vocally as well as in thy heart, yay before the world as well as
in secret in public as well as in private. Prayer is so
important that all three members of the Godhead are somehow
involved. And Heavenly Father himself has commanded us to talk
to him.
So now let me ask you this If Heavenly Father has commanded us
to talk to him, doesn't matter what we say. Doesn't matter how
we say it. So I mentioned I can't Well, episodes ago, I
think that I was asked to speak on Mother's Day, which is an
interesting thought, when you realize my history with
motherhood. And I remember during that talk, I spoke about
how, throughout that experience throughout that experience of
infertility and trying to have kids, I would get so mad. So
hurt, I would just I felt it hurts so bad. I don't know how
it's just I don't I don't know how else to describe it. I felt
forgotten. I felt denied, rejected, and not just not by
the world, by my heavenly Father, the person who was
supposed to love me more than anything. I just I felt
forgotten and abandoned. And there were a couple of times
when I just got really upset. And I went into my closet or
into my room, and I just yelled, just like I did when I was a
teenager, and I would yell at my parents. I just I went into my
closet, and I just yelled, and I just let God have it. I told him
everything. I told him ever, how I felt about all of the stuff
that I was having to go through how unfair I thought it was that
these teenagers were pushing baby strollers on their way to
high school, when I had a gospel centered home, I had a house
ready to put a kid in and I didn't get one. But she did. And
I would just would go into my closet and just yell at him.
And so I mentioned this during my mother's day talk, and my
brother in law. I love my brother in law, my brother in
law texts me. And he was like, Dude, I don't know if yelling at
God is a good idea. Personally, couldn't have done it. I
couldn't. I couldn't do that. But if that's how, if that's how
you roll, that's how you roll.
So I'm going to another experience. I don't remember how
old I was, I don't remember. I I was not a child, I was either a
teenager or a young adult. And I remember just feeling the need
to pray. It was before I was yelling, yelling at God in my
closet. But I remember feeling the need to pray. And so I got
down on my knees one day and it was just like Heavenly Father, I
have been told that I should be addressing you with thee's and
thy's and thou's. And I don't know how I don't know how to use
that language. Also, it feels disconnected for me. So would it
be okay, if I just said, you and your and just kind of got to
know you a little bit better first. And I can't say that the
feeling was like this overwhelming warmth or anything
like that. But it felt fine. And so I took the opportunity. And I
that's how I started saying my prayers. And I just talked to my
Heavenly Father as though he were a friend. as though I were
having a conversation with somebody who was kneeling next
to me or sitting next to me.
In the car, sometimes I would talk out loud and I would just
pretend like I had my phone hooked up to my phone or hooked
up to my car, you know, and just talk out loud and just seemed
like I was talking to myself but I wasn't really I was it was a
prayer to me. So when I say that my feelings on sincere prayer
have evolved over time. It's because I have evolved over
time. And so what started as you and your has since evolved into
thee and thy, because my relationship with my Heavenly
Father has evolved and because I have grown. now that does not
mean that you need to start from thee and thy. I hope that you're
actually getting the opposite from that, that you can start
wherever you are and it doesn't matter. Elder Scott actually
says in like his fifth paragraph it says don't worry about your
clumsily expressed feelings. Just talk to your compassionate
understanding father, you are his precious child who he loves
perfectly and wants to help. As you pray recognize that Father
in heaven is near and he is listening. Don't let the
language stop you from getting started. Now I will say with
that in mind if you look under topics, topics and questions on
the gospel library and you Go to prayer.
There is a quote in there from President oaks that says because
prayer is the way this is that there's a, this is a paragraph
that quotes elder crow. My goodness, excuse me. This is a
paragraph that quotes President oaks, who also quotes Joseph
Smith. So bear with me for a second it says, because prayer
is the way we approach God the Father, we try try to use words
that demonstrate sincerity and reverence. President Dallin H
oaks explained, quote, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, so
here we're quoting Joseph Smith, it is a great thing to inquire
at the hands of God, or to come into His presence, the special
language of prayer. That's the end of the quote from from
Joseph Smith. But elder oaks continues, the special language
of prayer reminds us of the greatness of that privilege.
With the sacredness of prayer in mind, we should use pronouns of
the scriptures when we address God, the thou thy and zine,
rather than the more common pronouns you your and yours as
appropriate. Okay, two things.
Try as appropriate.
If you don't know how to use thee, thy, thous and thine,
that's fine. I am a firm believer that Heavenly Father
would rather hear from you no matter how you address him, then
not hear from you at all. That is my own personal opinion.
However, I will also say again, don't worry about your clumsily
expressed feelings. Just talk to your compassionate understanding
father.
Okay. Alma 37. Alma chapter 37 says, counsel with the Lord and
all thy doings, and He will direct the for good counsel with
the Lord in all thy doings to counsel with someone needs to
have a conversation with them. It's a little bit more difficult
to have a conversation with our Heavenly Father, when he's not
sitting there responding directly to everything that
comes out of our mouths, right? So how do we counsel with God?
Let's finish the verse council with the Lord and all thy doings
and He will direct the for good yay. When thou liest down at
night, lie down unto the Lord, that He may watch over you in
your sleep. And when thou rises in the morning, let thy heart be
full of thanks unto God. And if you do these things, you shall
be lifted up with the last day.
To counsel with God means to talk to him, and then to listen.
So let's go back to those three things. We pray to Heavenly
Father in the name of Jesus Christ, and we are answered
through the Holy Ghost. So we start our prayer, kind of like a
letter right directly, Father, we finish it with the closing,
which is in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Suggesting that we
are aware that we are the thing that we have taken upon
ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, that He is there with
us, trying to help us get better, and going through this
whole process. And then we're answered through the Holy Ghost.
Now. I don't want to get too much into the answers of
prayers. In this particular episode, we can do that another
time. But the answers when they come from the Holy Ghost, first
of all, you have to be in a place to be able to hear the
Holy Ghost. And we all know where those places are for us.
I'm not here to judge your place. You're not judging mine.
Get to a place where you can feel the spirit. Be thinking
about the questions that you've asked or the guidance that
you're looking for. And then those answers will come. I'll
share an experience related to kind of the infertility thing. I
was pregnant with my first daughter, finally, right. Three
miscarriages, finally pregnant. But I was freaking out about
everything. Like every time we went to the bathroom, if there
was any hints of things maybe not going well, I was I was a
mess. And the answers came twice. That I remember, answers
came way more times than that. But there are these two very
distinct times that I remember. One time I was on my way to
work, and I was freaking out a little bit. And I was trying to
calm myself down. And I remember exactly where I was on the
freeway. There was driving north up in Orange County, and I I was
driving through Camp Pendleton and it was kind of freaky. out a
little bit and I was crying a little bit and I got this very I
want to say loud voice but it's not like somebody was sitting in
the car shouting at me. i This like Heart to Heart voice this
voice in my heart said, Did I not speak peace to your mind
concerning the matter? Now I know that the scripture in the
Doctrine and Covenants was given to Oliver Cowdery. I read that
somewhere in all of my studies for today, but I needed at that
moment, and I'm not kidding, it felt like a not a sauna. But it
felt like a heater turned on in my car, like I just, it felt
warm and comforting. And everything was going to be okay.
Did I not seek peace to your mind concerning the matter the
second time, and I don't, these might be flip flopped.
The second time, also in my car, and I was freaking out a little
bit. I was getting in my car to go somewhere, I wasn't going to
work. This time, I was going somewhere else. I don't remember
where it was going. And I turned on my music. And I can't
remember the girl's name or first name is Rachel, but it's
called fight song. And this song came on my music. Use Pandora
came on. And I had it up really loud from the last time that I
had been in the car. And I just got this very, like I got I had
I felt like it was my babies song. Like it was it was her
fight song. And she was going to fight and she was going to be
okay. I did get the experiences flopped, that one happened
first. And when that one happened, I was like, Oh, she's
gonna be okay. And I just got this, like I just knew. But
Satan works on us. And he works hard. And so by the time I got
that second winner, but by the time I needed that second one,
some weeks had gone by. And that's why I got that that
response, did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the
matter? I had already been given that peace. Again, not going to
get into the whole answers to prayers thing. But I use that to
show examples of how we are answered through the Holy Ghost.
So we pray to our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus
Christ were answered through the Holy Ghost. There are, let's
see, there's 2, 1, 2 there are two more quotes that I want to
leave you with. This one comes from a talk given by President
Kimball in 1974, called ocean currents and family influences.
He's talking about just kind of the mess that the world is in in
the 70s. So I mean, it's worse now. But he's talking about that
mess. And he says, It is not enough just to pray, it is
essential that we really speak to the Lord, having faith that
He will reveal to us what we need to do. I'm sorry, what we
need to know and do for the welfare of our families.
Families look different. It might just be you. That's okay.
You're a family. Have faith that He will reveal to you what you
need to do, and know, for the welfare of you, of your family.
So there's that one.
And then actually, in the addiction recovery program.
Someone that I love very much had a substance abuse problem.
And so I was attending addiction recovery classes with them for
with them for a while, almost a year. And so that's how I know
that this quote is in here. But it says you can pray that the
Lord will help you see yourself and your life as he sees it with
all your divine potential. So I have two tags. In my gospel
library, I have prayer and I have things you can pray for.
And this is one of the things that I tagged as things that you
can pray for. You can pray that the Lord will help you see
yourself and your life as he sees it with all your divine
potential. How incredible is that? I think you know we spend
some time some of us we spend some time I haven't done it in a
while it probably should. We spend some time praying to be
able to see others as our Heavenly Father sees them. When
was the last time that you prayed to see yourself as
Heavenly Father sees you? And all your divine potential? How
cool is that? Who wouldn't love to see themselves as God sees
them? With all of that divine love?
Okay, you guys. Those are my thoughts on sincere prayer.
That's how I feel about it. I know that it works. I know that
not getting the answer that you want, or the answer that you
think you need is hard, really, really hard. But I also know
that God is there and he's listening and he hears you, and
He wants to give you everything that you want. But he has to
give you what is best for you. Sorry, I'll quote I'll leave.
I'll close with this one quote from going back to elder Scott.
It is so hard when sincere prayer about something your
desire very much is not answered the way you want. It is
difficult to understand why your exercise of deep and sincere
faith from an obedient life does not grant the desired result.
The Savior taught whatsoever he asked the Father in my name, it
We have to learn to look for answers to our prayers, obey the
shall be given unto you that is expedient for you. That times it
council and just keep going, don't let your don't let your
anger get the better of you. Leave it with him, give it to
is difficult to recognize what is best or expedient for you
him. That is also using the atonement. That's part of saying
it in the name of Jesus Christ, right? Using the atonement,
over time, your life will be easier when you accept that what
leaving it at his feet, allowing him to take the anger and the
God does in your life is for your eternal good. There's a
hurt and the frustration. And maybe we can dive in a little
bit more on that another time when we talk about answers to
great big picture that we just can't see. Because we don't
prayers. Anyway, thank you guys. Thanks for being here. This. I
remember everything that happened before we came here. We
enjoy doing this more and more every time. This one is probably
really long. I haven't been keeping track of how long it is.
don't remember being with our Heavenly Father, and how much
But thanks for being here with me. I appreciate all of your
love there was in that space. Someday, we will remember that.
time and all of your effort and your comments. So keep them
coming. And I will talk to you again later this week. Thanks
And right now it's just a matter of trust.
everybody. See you later.