Prayer and Temples

This week I read about Enos's big day of prayer and King Benjamin's speech before he died. I had a few thoughts while reading: I love reading of Enos's day of prayer. In verse 2 he says, " and I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins." I like the describing word, wrestle. To me that indicates something hard, took all he had to give, went back and forth. My oldest son was on his high school wrestling team so I had the opportunity to watch a lot of wrestling matches. I tell you, that is one tough sport. It takes every ounce of strength and every muscle in a body for those few minutes of each match. I think Enos ended up winning an entire tournament after his prayer wrestle before God. There are other examples of people praying and hearing the words that their sins are forgiven them and it does not seem like much effort was put into it, although I am sure that is not true. Enos, however, spends an entire day in prayer, really pouring out his heart and soul. Then he is rewarded with the forgiveness of his sins. Wrestle is a good term for what he went through. I love the example Enos gives us of praying for himself and then praying for his family and then his people and then his enemies. I understand how a prayer can move along like that. I have had some experiences lately that have filled my heart with gratitude for the blessings in my life and my heart aching for the trials of people around me. I have been the Relief Society president in my ward for a whole six weeks now. I hear of the struggles of the women and their families and my heart just aches. Sometimes there are things I can do for them to actually help solve the problem. There have been a few that I can not do anything about. But I can pray. I know that Heavenly Father hears those prayers. I know that he knows what is going on and what these people need. King Benjamin called his people together so he could speak to them one last time before he died. They gathered and pitched their tents toward the temple. This was a literal action for these people but I think we can all figuratively do the same thing by the way we live and what we focus on. We are lucky enough to live close to the only temple in our state. We have physically pitched our tent toward the temple. But this is not enough. Yes, I feel like we live in a great place and are blessed just by being here, but we actually have to do things to receive all the blessings of the temple. We also have to listen to the words of our prophet, just like the Nephites. We have to choose to be obedient to the commandments. We have to attend the temple, not just look at it as we drive by. My sons go to early morning seminary and our temple shares a parking lot with our stake center. They have all mentioned how nice it is to start their day looking at the temple. It makes them feel safe and like they can face the challenges of their day with that starting point. Mosiah 2:30 reads, " for even at this time, my whole frame doth tremble exceedingly while attempting to speak unto you, but the Lord God doth support me..." As I read these words I was reminded of the time in General Conference when Elder Wirthlin was speaking and began shaking so badly he could hardly stand, but he had something he wanted to share with us so he kept speaking. In a tender moment of love for his friend, Elder Nelson came and stood behind him, steadying him just enough. This last conference we watched as President Monson lost strength and was sinking further down that podium, afraid that he was going to fall. President Uchtdorf sat on the edge of his seat, ready to catch our prophet. President Monson was able to say the words he wanted us to hear. I think these moments will forever be burned in my memory. I know the Lord support his servants as they shared his word with us.

Game Plans

So, Brother Harper, since I am sure you are the only one who is going to read this I am going to write it just for you! This week's reading was so much easier to understand than last week's Isaiah chapters. In your notes from the instructor you asked us to look for Satan's tools and tactics and then to look for what Nephi tells us to do to win. So, as I was reading I made a list of the ways Satan would try to deceive us in the last days. There are many. Here are a few: false churches and false Christ's will be built up, churches and men will contend with each other, people will deny the Holy Ghost, people will deny the power of God, people will say that God is no longer a God of miracles. ' And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.' (2 Nephi 28:8) Pride will run rampant, people will persecute the meek and revile against that which is good. Satan will stir up men to anger. Others he will pacify and lull away. Many will be lured away by flattery. People will think that we do not need any other scriptures than the bible, that God no longer speaks to man. This is a long list. As I was reading I thought of how all of these things are happening right now in our society. It is a bit frightening to see the hold that Satan seems to have on so many. Satan wants as many of us as he can possibly get. It is work to not be deceived by him. In these verses in chapter 28 we get Satan's game plan. We have been warned about what he plans to do. Now that we know, we have an advantage in this game of life. We also get the game plan for Christ's team. Nephi tells us we need to pray always, to feast upon the words of Christ, to keep the commandments, to be full of charity, have faith, have hope, repent of our sins and as it reads in 2 Nephi 31:20 we 'must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.' There is such a difference in the feeling of the words between the tactics of Satan and the things followers of Christ need to do. Satan's game plan feels dark and frightening where Christ's plan feels light and happy. We are so blessed to have the words of ancient and modern prophets to give us a game plan for life, for the battle against Satan that began in heaven and continues on the earth. Christ's way really is easier. We get to choose who we follow. I choose to follow Christ. All I have to do is press forward and endure to the end. Not so hard, right?