A Child’s Prayer
There is a beautiful children’s hymn for young Mormons called, “A Child’s Prayer.” The song is written for an adult and child to sing together. In the song, a child asks God if he’s really there, and if he’s really listening to and answering the prayers of children. The child notes that many people feel Heaven is too far off, but when he prays, he feels heaven is very close by. With that, the child remembers that Jesus Christ said to bring the children to Him, referring to the story in which the disciples tried to send away a group of children who came to see the Savior late in the day. The Savior stopped them and invited the children to come to Him to be blessed and to talk with Him. Reassured, the child in the song goes to Heavenly Father in prayer.
This is followed by an adult verse. The adult shares his testimony of God with the child, reassuring him God is listening, because the child is God’s own child, and is loved. The adult encourages the child to pray and promises he will be heard.
This is a lovely song which addresses an important issue for both adults and children. Sometimes it can be hard to keep our faith strong when times are hard.
When we left God’s presence, He created a way for us to stay in touch with Him through prayer. Prayer allows us to talk to God, but it isn’t a one-way communication. He also arranged for us to be able to “hear” his answers to us. The answers aren’t really a voice, most of the time. Usually, it’s more of a feeling, an impression in our minds, or a strong feeling of good or bad in our hearts. This comes to us through the Spirit of Christ or through the Holy Ghost.
Each person has the Spirit of Christ available to Him. We can also receive visits from the Holy Ghost, which is the only source of truth. Once we’re baptized, we can receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost from a priesthood holder with the proper authority. This gift can be with us around the clock if we live worthily.
However, it takes practice to learn to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I first felt it when I was ten years old and was listening to a missionary at a Mormon temple visitor’s center talk about the Book of Mormon. I was not Mormon and didn’t attend church regularly, so I had no idea what I was experiencing. Over the next several years, I felt the same feeling, and gradually began to notice it always occurred in religious settings, and most often in situations where Mormons were involved. When I began to visit the local Mormon church, a friend explained to me this was the Holy Ghost.
Even then, it took time to recognize it as an answer to specific prayers. I learned to first study out the issue in my mind, and then to ask God if I had made the right choice. When I’d done my share of the process, God always did His. I learned to recognize the warm, peaceful feelings as being signs of confirmation or approval from God, and the confused, uneasy feelings as God’s way of warning me I was on the wrong track, and needed to think it through more carefully.
Every talent requires practice. No one expects to pick up a paint brush for the first time and paint a masterpiece. The same is true of prayer. If we want to recognize God’s “voice” in our lives, we need to train and to practice. When we live the way God teaches us to live, study the scriptures, and spend time praying, we are training. When we resist the temptation to pray and then leap up and run off without waiting for an answer, we’re improving our ability to receive the answer. When we trust the answers we receive and act on them, we demonstrate our faith in God. The stronger our faith, the better able we are to recognize His presence and understand how He guides us from day to day. As the song says,”Pray. He is there. Speak-He is listening.”
Listen to A Child’s Prayer.
Articles of Faith Series: Part 7
The Articles of Faith are thirteen statements of basic belief for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (referred to as the Mormons). They were written as a part of a document called the Wentworth Letter, which Joseph Smith wrote in 1842 to John Wentworth of the Chicago Democrat. Later, these brief statements were set to music by American composer Vanja Watkins. In this series, we will examine the truths presented in the Articles of Faith.
Article of Faith 7:
We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
A sign of a living Church is that gifts of the Spirit are present therein. The Lord gives these gifts to build up those who have faith, and they are generally not used simply to persuade others that God exists, but to bless those who already believe. In the words of Mark, “…these signs shall follow them that believe…” (Mark 16:17-18)
Let us explore a few ways in which the spiritual gifts mentioned in the seventh Article of Faith are present in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today.
Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues
Although the gift of tongues is sometimes defined as speaking in some unknown language, it is much more commonly used for purposes of meaningful communication. Missionaries of the Church are called to serve in many countries around the world. They teach and preach in the language of the people where they serve. The Church’s Missionary Training Center provides intensive training in many of these languages, and the acquisition of language is based as much on spiritual principles as on linguistic study. In a matter of only a few months, thousands of missionaries each year learn to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a new language. This is the gift of tongues in action.
Prophecy, Revelation, and Visions
Since before the Church was organized, the roots of Mormonism have been in revelation. God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in the Spring of 1820. With this visitation, a new era of revelation from God to man was initiated. God speaks to modern prophets, such as Thomas S. Monson, the current President of the Church. As a prophet, he exercises the gift of prophecy as he instructs the members of the Church around the world. However, the Lord also speaks to individuals who seek guidance from Him. Personal revelation is an important principle of the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church is led by revelation.
Healing
The power to heal the sick is the same power by which the Lord runs the Church. It is the priesthood, or the authority to officiate in the name of God. He authorizes worthy men to exercise this power to bless others. the Church, the sick are anointed with oil set apart for that purpose, and then men who hold the priesthood authority give a blessing as the Spirit directs. I have personally seen the effects of these healing blessings, and I have been healed.
A true and living Church must contain gifts of the Spirit. They are not given for the purpose of showing off or proving a point, but they are fruits of belief in the Living Christ. I testify that these gifts are in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today as they were in the ancient Church of Christ.
MP3 Recording of The Seventh Article of Faith children’s song
Why I Love Primary Songs
Of all the places I could find myself on Sunday, one of my favorites is the children’s Primary. Now, don’t get me wrong. Primary is not exactly the most relaxing way to spend the Sabbath, but for all their energy and antics there is something pure and beautiful about a child learning the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You see, the times I spend in the Primary are the times that I hear the gospel in its simplest and pure form. They don’t question, they just see Jesus Christ and love Him. Before all of our analytical brains of adulthood get to it, the gospel is actually very simple and straight forward. It’s all about loving and being good.
If you want to hear the clearest testimonies of what the gospel and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is all about listen to the songs those sweet children sing. When children sing it comes from the heart, they don’t worry about whether they’re singing the right note (which means they usually do), or even if they know all the words, they simply look for the joy in the experience and show their love of the gospel in their energetic voices. When the Savior asks each of us to become like a little child I think of Primary children singing. Becoming like a little child means humility, love and the pure faith to sing with all your heart.
Many years ago I had a poster. It was one among many that followed the then popular “All I Ever Needed to Know” theme. This one talked about the Primary Songs. Now I can’t recall all of the titles it listed. But I still carry the testimonies I’ve gained through my own experiences in Primary as a child and those that have been flown into the deepest parts of my heart and soul on the wings of children singing.
Here are some of my favorites.
I Am a Child of God
My Heavenly Father Loves Me
I Feel My Savior’s Love
I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus
Dare to Do Right
Kindness Begins with Me
“Give”, Said the Little Stream
Families Can Be Together Forever
Fresh Courage Take
Recently, I have pondered the second verse of the classic hymn, sung by early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (referred to as the Mormons) as they journeyed across the plains.
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
’Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—
All is well! All is well!
(Come, Come, Ye Saints, Hymns 1985)
MP3 Recording of Come, Come, Ye Saints
Courage is a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is perhaps an overlooked virtue. In a modern world in which we have challenges less physically demanding than our ancestors, we have a greater need of courage. Yet we seem to have a less sure view of what true modern courage is.
We can agree that great acts of faith require courage, like crossing the United States on foot for the freedom to worship without persecution. We can also look back at the acts of early Christian martyrs and admire their courage. However, these great things are not asked of all of us, and they are perhaps less important than the little courageous ways we demonstrate our faith daily.
The refrain of another popular hymn by noted Latter-day Saint composer Evan Stephens (1854-1930) proclaims:
Fear not, courage, though the enemy deride;
We must be victorious, for the Lord is on our side.
We’ll not fear the wicked nor give heed to what they say,
But the Lord, our Heav’nly Father, him alone we will obey.(Let Us All Press On, Hymns 1985)
MP3 Recording of Let Us All Press On
Perhaps courage does not consist so much of heroic acts as it does obeying God. Of course we will improve the world, sometimes in seemingly heroic ways, as we keep the commandments of the Lord. However, seeming brave is not the goal; living as He would have us live is enough. As Elder Richard G. Scott, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said:
True, enduring happiness, with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the greatest difficulties, will come as you center your life in Jesus Christ. Obedience to His teachings provides a secure ascent in the journey of life. That takes effort. While there is no guarantee of overnight results, there is the assurance that, in the Lord’s time, solutions will come, peace will prevail, and happiness will be yours.
(”The Atonement Can Secure Your Peace and Happiness,” October 2006)
May we each take fresh courage through obedience to God’s commandments.
The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
On 1 March 1842, Joseph Smith wrote a defining document for John Wentworth, a newspaper man from the Chicago Democrat. The Wentworth Letter, as it has come to be called, included thirteen concise statements of basic belief for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (referred to as the Mormons). These Articles of Faith are often memorized by members of the Church around the world, because they summarize many of the most plain and precious truths we know through the restoration of the Fullness of the Gospel. Composer Vanja Watkins set each of these statements to music to aid children and adults in memorizing them and understanding their messages.
The sixth Article of Faith states:
We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
Modern Apostles function in a similar role to those in ancient times. They are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency (the President and his two counselors) are all ordained as Apostles. We sustain them as prophets, seers, and revelators. The senior Apostle is the President of the Church – a modern Prophet who leads the Church.
At this time when we mourn the death of the President of the Church, Gordon B. Hinckley, we can also feel confident about the future of the Church. The Lord has set in place a procedure for succession in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
As other LDSBlogs bloggers have mentioned, when the Prophet dies, the other ordained Apostles return to their positions in the Quorum, in order according to their time serving as Apostles. Since the Church was restored, the senior Apostle has become the next President of the Church, but the Apostles must come to a unanimous decision. Then through prayer and revelation, they determine the man who will serve as the next Apostle.
As in Biblical times, the Church of Jesus Christ is built upon a foundation of solid leadership:
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
(Ephesians 2:19-22)
The plain and precious things revealed as the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored are not limited to doctrines only; the organization of the Church is dictated by revelation from God. I am grateful to know that the Lord calls Apostles today to witness of His divinity as in times of old.
MP3 Recording of The Sixth Article of Faith, set as a children’s song
Testimony of a Prophet
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons, are mourning the passing of a mighty prophet, Gordon Bittner Hinckley, on 27 January, 2008. He was truly a witness of Jesus Christ, and he pioneered the use of various media formats in sharing the Gospel. He was an extraordinary man with a gift for words. We sing a hymn in which he bears simple testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ:
I know that my Redeemer lives,
Triumphant Savior, Son of God,
Victorious over pain and death,
My King, my Leader, and my Lord.He lives, my one sure rock of faith,
The one bright hope of men on earth,
The beacon to a better way,
The light beyond the veil of death.Oh, give me thy sweet Spirit still,
The peace that comes alone from thee,
The faith to walk the lonely road
That leads to thine eternity.
Like Moses, Noah, and all the prophets in ancient times, President Hinckley was called to testify of Jesus Christ. His role was to lead the Church into a new era of unprecedented growth, public attention, and changes in technology. Though he was savvy with public relations, he did not equivocate when speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ:
No event of human history carries a more compelling witness than does the reality of the Resurrection. His followers on two continents testified of it. Uncounted millions of men and women through the ages have suffered, even unto death, for the witness in their hearts that He lives, the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind, whose Atonement came as an act of grace for the entire world. How long and how great is the concourse of brave and humble people who have kept alive the name of Jesus and a testimony of His Redemption!
Now He has come again, in the latter days, to bless us and warm our hearts, to quicken our faith and bring us sure and certain knowledge of His living reality. . .
We honor Him, we worship Him, we love Him as our Redeemer, the great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New Testament. The entire thrust of the testimony of the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants declares our living Lord before whom we kneel in humility and faith.
I am grateful for this man, beyond my ability to express. He gave his entire life in service to the Lord and His Church. May we all have a measure of that dedication.
MP3 of My Redeemer Lives
Forgiveness and Offense
I recently remembered a little song the children sing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
Help me, dear Father, to freely forgive
All who may seem unkind to me.Help me each day, Father, I pray;
Help me live nearer, nearer to thee.Help me, dear Father, to truly repent,
Making things right, and changing my ways.Help me each day, Father, I pray;
Help me live nearer, nearer to thee.
Ironically, forgiveness is sometimes easiest for children. Perhaps as adults we tend to recognize longer-term effects of our hurts, or perhaps we just have a more difficult time forgetting them. Whatever the case, it can be difficult to forgive those who hurt us.
I am both comforted and stirred up by these words, revealed through the prophet Joseph Smith:
My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they were afflicted and sorely chastened.
Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
And ye ought to say in your hearts — let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.
First off, if the disciples of Jesus Christ in old times had difficulties with forgiveness, I feel less unusual when I have difficulty forgiving. This is not an excuse, but it is an acknowledgment that this is a normal human difficulty, even among those who believe.
Secondly, I am comforted to know that the Lord is aware of my situation, no matter what it is. If I am hurt, whether intentionally or accidentally, he knows. His Atonement can heal. In fact, the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only power which can heal a wounded heart. No action from another person, even apologies and restitution from an offender, can make the offended forgive. Forgiveness is a gift of God, and we must seek it, or we will continue to carry “the greater sin.”
Elder David A. Bednar, a modern Apostle of Jesus Christ, gave an address about the topic of offense. He said:
One of the greatest indicators of our own spiritual maturity is revealed in how we respond to the weaknesses, the inexperience, and the potentially offensive actions of others. A thing, an event, or an expression may be offensive, but you and I can choose not to be offended — and to say . . . “it mattereth not.”
(And Nothing Shall Offend Them, October 2006)
I am grateful for the forgiveness I receive from Jesus Christ, and for the gift He has given me to forgive others at certain difficult times in my life. I am also grateful for a sweet little children’s song that effectively puts me back in my place when I struggle to forgive.
Making Men of God
My beautiful wife and I are preparing for the birth of our first child in May. We recently found out that we will have a boy. As I ponder the responsibility of raising a son, my mind often returns to the story from the Book of Mormon about an army of two thousand young men whose mothers had taught them to have mighty faith in the Lord.
Their parents had turned from their former lives of violence and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they had buried all their weapons as a promise that they would not kill again. Later, when the followers of Christ were under attack, these righteous young sons went to battle to defend their freedom to worship. Their leader, Helaman, wrote:
For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.
Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.
They were successful in their battle, and miraculously spared:
And now it came to pass that when they had surrendered themselves up unto us, behold, I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain.
But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war.
I have always been impressed by the faith of these young men, but I am gaining a new appreciation for the faith of their parents. It was the righteous teachings of their mothers (and I am sure the righteous lives of their fathers as well) that equipped them with the faith that gave them strength.
In the Mormon Church today, the children sing:
We have been born, as Nephi of old,
To goodly parents who love the Lord.
We have been taught, and we understand,
That we must do as the Lord commands.We are as the army of Helaman.
We have been taught in our youth.
And we will be the Lord’s missionaries
To bring the world his truth.
The battles fought by young men in the Church today are different from the physical warfare of previous times. They fight temptation in a world of declining values. They work to be worthy of the Aaronic Priesthood, which is the authority to perform certain ordinances, such as baptism. They prepare to serve as full-time missionaries. They stand as witnesses of Jesus Christ among their peers.
I do not know who my son will become, but I want to live my beliefs with consistency and conviction so that he will know that I know Jesus Christ lives. Thus I can become a “goodly parent.”
MP3 of “We’ll Bring the World His Truth”