Faith in God and Prayer

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. ¶

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that you Father also which is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. (Mark 11:24-25) ¶

Servants of the Lord Blessed Through Prayer

If you remember the time when Peter was imprisoned by Herod who was persecuting the Church, and prayer was made without ceasing by the Church of God for him. Peter was bound with chains and smitten between two soldiers, and the keepers before the door kept the prison. Behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly," and the chains fell off from his hands; and the angel said unto him, "Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals." So he did, and he said: "Cast thy garment about thee and follow me." He went out and followed him, and he wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; though he saw a vision. ¶

When Paul the Apostle was preaching to his brethren in Asiaj they were very sick and despaired of their lives, but the prayers of the people restored him to health and strength. ¶

Have we in this day and age forgotten how to pray? Are we drawing away from our Father in heaven with our hearts? Let us remember the passage in James, chapter 1, verses 5, 6, 7: ¶

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. ¶

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ¶

For let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord. ¶

STORY OF A WOMAN'S CONVERSION ¶

I heard a story of a woman, a fine woman of good family, who came through pain to the habit of drink and drugs. She fought against it with all the strength of her strong will and mind, but she could not conquer it. She went to a doctor and he helped her for a time. Then again she went under. She left her home and country and went alone to a strange land, hoping a new environment would put her on her feet, but she went down, and still further down. She met a Christian who talked to her of God. Her father and mother were intellectuals of their country; they had rejected God. She listened to the stranger who was a Christian, and longed to believe, but she could not, too deep was her conviction that God is only a wish fulfilment for weak people to hold onto. ¶

One night there was a terrific electric storm. She was so frightened for fear of the thunder and lightning that it made her almost like her ' nerves were shattered. She walked the floor in fear of the terror of the storm. Finally she fell upon her knees and cried out: "You! You! if there is a You! send me a sign; stop this storm -- stop it!" She crept back into bed, shaking and sobbing. The next thing she knew it was morning; ¶

the sun shining, and the birds were singing outside her window; not a cloud was in the sky. She had the feeling as though the world had just been made, and she with it, new and clean; life was new and holy. There was a God. The woman who had taken care of her came to see how she had stood the night through that awful storm; all night long it had rained. She stared at the woman unbelieving -- the storm had been stopped -- and then a smile and a light spread over her face. Never in all her life, not even when a child, had she slept through a storm. There was a God, and He. answered, but in His own way. ¶

She was won over instantly, she was cured. All desire for drink or drugs had been washed away. She became a power for good and gave her whole life to helping people find God. ¶

Missionaries Sent in Answer to Prayer

I am thankful to my Father in heaven that He has answered my prayers and the prayers of my mother who prayed for the true Gospel to come to her while she was in a foreign country. He sent the missionaries of Christ's church with the truths of the Gospel to her in answer to her prayers. I am grateful that she taught me how to pray and to have faith that my prayers would be answered. St. John said: ¶

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us: ¶

And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. (I John 5:14-15) ¶

A Pioneer Experience

After the pioneers had been here nearly two years the harvest was going to be a bounteous one, and they were very happy and thankful to their Father in heaven. But myriads and myriads of black locusts swarmed the fields, mowing down all they could on their onward march; the crops seemed doomed. No food was there to carry them through the coming winter; the nearest food was a thousand miles away, and it could come to them only by ox-teams. Famine itself came in its form over the ground. It smote the hearts of brave men with fear; not for themselves, but for their wives and children, dearer to them than life itself. Every effort to stop the plague of insect hordes failed. Desperation seized the people, and in this hour of trial and threatened tragedy there came to them the faith that God was their sole refuge. They prayed for help. Out of the sky came great winged clouds of gulls. They settled down on the fields. At first it looked like they came to help the crickets destroy. But their real purpose was soon apparent; they came to prey upon the destroyers. All day long they gorged themselves, disgorged, and feasted again. The white gulls fell upon the black crickets like hosts of hell until the pests were banished and the people saved. The birds then returned to the lake. Kneeling, the grateful settlers wept tears of joy over their temporary deliverance, and thanked their God for this answer to their prayers. ¶

My father passed through that experience. I have heard him repeat it to his family many many times. The first time I heard it I was a small boy and it is too long for me to tell the story that he told me. But I want to say to you that there never was, as I know or have read about, a divine blessing from God when the people had to depend upon Him entirely, greater than on the occasion referred to. ¶

Prayer is practiced in the Kingdom of God. Part of our prayers should be devoted to our leaders; they have great responsibilities. Oh, so many of the people do not realize the responsibilities that fall upon the President and his Counselors these days. It has been so from the beginning and as long as there is life it will continue to be so. Let us pray for our leaders at all times instead of criticizing them; pray that they may be given courage to continue with unflagging zeal from year to year; pray for the power of God to be upon them. ¶

Faith in God Shown by Great Men

There is on the Sub-Treasury building in New York a fine piece of statuary of George Washington at Valley Forge, kneeling down in prayer in the woods. That figure explains a great deal the strength of Washington's life. It is no accident that the two greatest Americans to whom we all look up and most admire -- Washington and Lincoln -- were men of prayer and men of faith in God. Their strong belief in God was the rudder which guided the ship. Abraham Lincoln on one occasion said to his physician: "One rainy night I could not sleep. The wounds of the soldiers and sailors disturbed my very bones, pierced my heart, and I asked God to show me how they could have better relief. After wrestling some time in prayer he put the plans of a sanitary commission in my mind and they have worked out pretty much as God gave them to me that night. You ought to thank your kind heavenly Father and not me for the sanitary commission." ¶

Benjamin Franklin said: Conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefixed to my tables of examination, for daily use: ¶

O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favours to me. ¶

William DeWitt Hyde wrote "A Boy's Prayer"; ¶

Give me clean hands, clean words, and clean thoughts. Help me to stand for the hard right against the easy wrong. Save me from habits that harm me; teach me to work as hard, and play as fair in thy sight alone as if all the world saw. Forgive me when I am unkind, and help me to forgive those who are unkind to me. Keep me ready to help others at some cost to myself. Send me chances to do a little good every day, and growmore like Christ the Savior. ¶

George Careless wrote the music of one of the most beautiful songs we have in my opinion: ¶

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed; The motion of a hidden fire That trembles in the breast. ¶

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of an eye, When none but God is near. ¶

Prayer is the simplest form of speech That infant lips can try; Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach The Majesty on high. ¶

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, The Christian's native air; His watchword at the gates of death; He enters heaven with prayer. ¶

One who prays to his Father in heaven will not go far wrong. God will be mindful of him. God bless you all, and may we not forget to pray, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶