Sunday, October 31, 2010

THE QUESTION OF PRAYER – CONCLUSION

Over the last few weeks we have discussed the universality of our curiosity concerning prayer and the self-generated blockages which we constantly throw up between ourselves and our Heavenly Father. This week I would like to treat the final two thoughts I have at this time about prayer. First, we have a Father in Heaven who, like most concerned fathers, desires to counsel and communicate with his children. Second, there are some behaviors which we can modify in order to broaden the bands and clear the signals being sent in our direction.

The most often repeated admonition from the Lord is that we should ASK, SEEK and KNOCK with the corresponding declarations that IT WILL BE GIVEN, WE WILL FIND and IT WILL BE OPENED. We are then quickly reminded that the Master Teacher is in charge of the curriculum and will make the assignments according to His schedule and His understanding and not according to our elementary guesses. There is no doubt that His attempts at gathering us have been far more numerous than our gestures toward Him as we have scurried about the yard dodging His loving embraces with our heads under our own wings. One of the most powerful declarations of Heavenly Father’s love and dedication to the welfare of his reluctant children was given to Moses as he was conversing with God on a mount. The lord declared, ‘this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.’ (Pearl of Great Price – Moses 1:39) It is overwhelming to contemplate that He who can number and name the stars has as His main concern helping me maximize my potential. I therefore become dumbfounded with the thought that such a being would leave me to struggle during mortality without whispering His wise counsel to me at those moments when they are most needed. Larry King once said, ‘Prayer is to go home to God while still on earth.’

One of the great blessings the Lord has given me during my life was the privileges of serving as a missionary in Mexico as a young man and then serving with Kathleen in Colombia when I was not such a young man. It didn’t take me long to realize that the peoples of Mexico and Colombia were much more sensitive to the vibrations between heaven and earth than I had been during my youth. A native North American, Chief Black Eagle said in his autobiography that religion was much more important and real to his people than to the white man. As I wondered upon this seeming gap between their spiritual sensitivity and what I had experienced it seemed to me that at least a partial answer could be found in the difference of demands made in different cultures. The manana attitude has received a lot of bad publicity, but there seem to be some definite benefits to having a less cluttered and demanding lifestyle. Because our culture is what it is I really believe if we are going to have more two way communications with a Heavenly Parent we must find time and space where we can shut out the noise and worries of the world. The Catholic Chapels are always open where one can find retreat and become open to the promptings of the Spirit sent from above. Many religions have reading or meditation rooms where a person can find escape from the clammer and become more open to the light of the Lord. Whether we must find refuge in a Temple or Synagogue or in a closet in our home, for our own mortal maximization, we must find time and space where we can separate ourselves from the cares of the world and seek the comforting still small voice.

Elder Eyring suggests that whenever we can, as we go before the Lord in prayer, after we have gone through our expressions of gratitude and our pleadings, we remain in the attitude of prayer as a listener just in case the Lord may have some counsel or just want to let us feel His love for a few seconds. I really believe that the most important thing we can receive from Heavenly Father is the assurance of His inexhaustible love which will never be withheld if we but open our hearts and let it flow into our souls.

The story is told of Brigham Young passing through a town in southern Utah and being asked to leave them some instruction. He told them to paint their barns and mend their fences. When he next passed through this town he was once again asked to bless them with some counsel. He said he had nothing to give them. When asked why, he responded, ‘because you have given no heed to my previous counsel, your barns are still unpainted and your fences are still in need of repair.’ Elder Scott has taught that in order to reassure ourselves of a more constant flow of communication from the Lord it would be well for us to consciously hearken to those instructions we have previously been given.

If Lehi was right when he declared the purpose of our mortality to be to have Joy and the achieving of Joy is dependent upon our ability to draw closer to God, then I can think of no more compelling reason why we would seek more meaningful communication with Heavenly Father. In order that we might more fully embrace the joy which we were sent to earth to experience we would be wise to diligently strive to clear the commotion and other blockages from our lives so that when the glory of the Holy Spirit is showered upon us we will sense the presence and hear the whisperings of the still small voice.

14 comments:

  1. Thanks Bill and Kathy! Always enjoys your thoughts!
    xoxo
    Barbara Townsend

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  2. Bill Riley,

    I am greatful for the companionship of your work. I did not know how you got my information but nonetheless I am happy it was availible I have been meaning to write you for some time, to thank you for all you do. Dedication, time and commitment to the passing of rightcheousness on this earth. As The adversary continues in attempts to calculate and pervert man. I am humbly inspired.

    GOD bless you and your wife kathy In the name of JESUS CHRIST

    Raymundo R. Rodriguez

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  3. GRACIAS presidente, este domingo me puse a leer estos mensajes suyos y me siento muy agradecida por poder tener como amigos a personas especiciales como ustedes, en verdad no habia tenido mucho tiempo y npor esto no hbia leido los otros mensajes pero le prometo ahora los leere todos un abrazo a su esposa y reciba todo nuestro amor
    JAIME Y ANGELA CHAPARRO

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  4. Hermano Bill Riley: Gracias por sus pensamientos, son muy utiles para meditar sobre la oracion y comunicacion con nuestro Padre Celestial.
    Los amamos y recordamos siempre.
    Saludos a la hermana Kathy.
    Armando & Graciela Gomez

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  5. Thanks once again Bro. Riley for this thoughtful message. One of our sons served in Veracruz, Mexico and another one served in Guayaquil, Ecuador. As a family we were fortunate to return and visit their missions and I agree that we, in the U.S., have a lot of clutter in our lives. It's as though the more material things we have, the more we insulate ourselves from our H.F. and yet I have this very human side of myself that loves the comforts I enjoy and I surely missed some of them when traveling in other countries....air conditioning comes to mind immediately, followed closely by clean and cold drinking water, because it was so hot and humid in Mexico & Ecuador!! I enjoy the pondering that comes from reading your messages.
    Lynda Morris

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  6. Thank You so much! Hope you have a great Sunday.
    Martin Garff

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  7. Dear Bro. Riley,
    Thank you for your thoughts on prayer. So many things you said have caused me to stop and think about my prayers and recognizing the answers to them.

    Sue Daly

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  8. Dear Bishop Riley,

    Thank you for including me on your list!! I really enjoyed your epistle.

    Cynthia Dotson

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  9. Bill,

    You are such a joy to have along with us on this trip through mortal life. You make me think of things far too important to pass by in the hurry of "every day". Now how do I get you assigned back to sealing on Tues. and Thurs. so I can bask in your "son-shine"?

    Thanks again for being "just you",

    Dick Anderson

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  10. I don't think I know you. However, I look forward to receiving your thought provoking and spiritual thoughts each Sunday. You cannot imagine the impact they have!

    Many thanks,

    Tracy Drivas

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  11. Getting, getting, getting! Getting from God! Getting more (for me)! Life more abundant (for me)! Maximize me! Isn't that His promise? The promise of prayer?
    Do I get your drift correctly? :)

    Paul Maddox

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  12. Hi Bill,

    Thanks for this spiritual thought, It has set the right spirit for me on this Sabbath day.

    Thanks

    Bob Wood

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  13. Gracias Hno. he leído tu último mensaje. Es cierto, estamos tan absortos en esta maravillosa creación y todas estas bendiciones que recibimos a diario. Yo me atrevería a decir: nos "regodeamos" hasta la saciedad. Lo que a pocos(que son muchos), nos diferencia de otros muchos( que son más muchos), y muchos más, es que nosotros tenemos el privilegio de tener a Quien agradecer y Quien escuche nuestras gracias.
    Tenemos la humildad de reconocernos hijos, y, de reconocer en todas nuestras oraciones, la amorosa expiación de Nuestro Redentor y Salvador. Cuando conquistamos esa "mayoría de edad", en nuestro evangelio restaurado y nos esforzamos por cultivarnos en él, disfrutamos con paciente y amorosa expectativa, de lo simple, de lo bello y de lo bueno.
    Gracias a ti y a tu Kathleen que traduce tan bellamente las impresiones de tu espíritu. Saque un tiempo para darte las gracias por lo que haces.

    Rito Artero Veloza Marcias

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  14. HOLA HERMANO:MI NOMBRE ES KEREN MELENDEZ , Y SOLO DECEO EXPRESARLE EL INMENSO AGRADECIMIENTO POR SUS PENSAMIENTOS, LOS CUALES E RECIBIDO, Y AN LLEGADO EN MOMENTOS EN QUE MI HOGAR Y MI VIDA ESTAN PASANDO POR PRUEBAS MUY DURAS, AVECES SIENTO QUE MAS FUERTES QUE YO MISMA Y CUANO LOS LEO VUELVE AMI LA CONVICCION DE QUE PARA DIOS NADA IMPOSIBLE ES. TENGO 37 ANOS UN HOGAR CON 2 HIJOS. PERO SOY HUERFANA DE PADRE Y MADRE, Y ES EN ESTOS MOMENTOS DE MI VIDA, CUANDO MAS NECESITO EL CONCEJO SABIO DE UN HOMBRE DE DIOS COMO SE QUE LO ES USTED. MIS MAS SINCEROS RESPETOS PARA USTED Y SU HERMOSA FAMILIA LE ESCRIBE ......

    HERMANA KEREN MELENDEZ

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