Meet, Plan, and Pray

In these days it is pretty difficult to think of anything besides war, and the great question is, Who is going to win the war? I have here a clipping from The Deseret News of February 5, 1942. The heading is, "The most healthy will win the war." Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur expresses these views: ¶

The people with the most health, the people with the most vigor, and the people with the most fitness and sobriety, training, and devotion to the common cause are the people who are going to win this war. America must throw off its night-clubbish habits, its loose thinking and health-destroying tendencies if America is to be on the winning side. ¶

We educators know that the easiest way in the world to lose a football game is to have a team that breaks training rules and only half prepares for the contest. If we the Americans are to be the winners in this great contest, we must begin training, and we must begin that training now. There is no way to escape the fact that health will win this war for some people. God grant that that people may be the people of our own country. ¶

Of the first two million men to go through draft examination, 900,000 -- think of it, 900,000, nearly half -- were found to be unfit for military service because of physical, mental or moral defects. ¶

Which? Beer or the Bible ¶

I created a real sensation in Ogden some years ago. I had seen in the morning paper a picture of the members of the American Legion marching down Woodward Avenue in the City of Detroit where I marched in my boyhood with my classmates and shouted vigorously for the football team of the University of Michigan. The paper said members of the American Legion were marching down Woodward Avenue swinging their bottles and shouting for beer. And so I said to the congregation in the Tabernacle, "Where are the people of the United States going, and what are they doing? Are they following the lead of those who are swinging their bottles and shouting for beer, or are they following the example of the Pilgrim fathers who remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and with bowed heads, Bible in hand, wended their way to their places of worship." ¶

Have We Forgotten God? ¶

Abraham Lincoln set apart the 6th of September, 1863, as a day of fasting and a day of prayer. He said: ¶

I do this with the hope that the people of our nation will assemble in their various places of worship and that they will go down upon their knees around their own hearthstones and appeal to our Heavenly Father for our now war-torn country to be restored to its former condition of happiness and peace. . . . Our nation has had a growth and a development the like of which no other nation has known in all the history of the world, but the difficulty with us is we have forgotten God. ¶

Does that condition prevail throughout the United States of America today? The motto of our country is: "In God We Trust." Do we do it or not? Everywhere we sing, ¶

Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light, Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King. ¶

Family Prayers Daily ¶

Roger W. Babson says that we have in our country today men who are empire builders, men who are standing at the head of great business institutions, and, he says, that some of these men ridicule religion. Then he adds, "These very men are indebted for all that they possess to the family prayers which were once held daily in the homes of their fathers." ¶

Have the people of our country forgotten God? Benjamin Franklin arose in our Constitutional Convention and said, "Mr. President," and he looked into the face of the chairman, George Washington: ¶

Mr. President, our blood is hot. I see we are not going to be able to agree. It looks as if we may not be able to devise a satisfactory Constitution. I move you, therefore, Mr. President, that we do now adjourn for a period of five days, and that when we reconvene we appoint a chaplain, and I am astonished, Mr. President, that no one has thought of this before. When we were in our mighty conflict with Great Britain we met in this very hall daily, and daily we made our appeals to Almighty God, and you all realize that our appeals were heard, our prayers were graciously answered. Is it possible that in these few short years we have forgotten God, our powerful Friend? Is it possible that a nation can be born, that a constitution can be drawn up without the help of divine Providence, when not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without His notice? ¶

The Greatest Democracy in the World ¶

No man can accomplish much if he has only one pair of hands with which to work. No man, as the president of a stake or the bishop of a ward, or at the head of any other institution, can accomplish very much if he tries to do all the work himself. ¶

I have said a good many times to many great thinkers, great readers, wise men and scholars that we have in the Church of Jesus Christ the greatest and most perfect democratic organization in the world. And I have met no man yet who did not concede that this statement is correct. ¶

Now, brethren, you who are in the presidencies of the stakes, your first and most important duty is to call together regularly and frequently those who belong to your organizations and assign definitely to every man and to every woman his or her duty, and to check up carefully and frequently to see that the work assigned is done. I say again no human being can accomplish much if he works only by himself, if he has but one pair of hands with which to toil. Your accomplishments will be great if you bring together often all those in your organizations and have them do real team work. ¶

Meet, Plan, and Pray ¶

You are to meet with your fellow workers to do two things -- plan and pray. The arm of flesh is weak; the amount of strength in any human being is limited, but when a human being, however weak, however small, however little, comes into real communion and cooperation with God, the Eternal Father, then great things may be accomplished. ¶

And so, as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, I appeal to you to come together frequently with your fellow-workers, and do these two important things -- plan and pray. Have we forgotten God, we who are officers in the Church of Jesus Christ? Are our people daily having their family prayers, or have we forgotten that powerful Friend of our country, that powerful Friend of our Church? ¶

This revelation from which I am going to read was not given to the ancients, it was given to you and me; it applies here and now. ¶

. . . Behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. (D. & C. 4:1) ¶

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder ¶

Since the gospel is to be preached to every nation, every kindred, every tongue, every people, everywhere in the world, and since its purpose is to bring peace on earth and good will to men, that great blessing for which all good people everywhere are praying this very Sabbath day, are not those words of the Prophet prophetic when he said: ¶

Now behold, a marvelous work and a wonder is about to come forth among the children of men. ¶

And that marvelous work, that wonder, is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the people in all the world. I wonder at times if all who have held the divine authority to preach had done their very best during the hundred years since the Lord Himself restored this power and authority to the earth -- I say if every man with all the physical and mental powers at his command had done his utmost to bring peace on earth and good will to men; if he in every moment of his life had had in his soul unceasingly a burning testimony of the divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a testimony of the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, if every man had put his all upon the altar, I wonder if this world war could have been averted. ¶

Carrying our gospel message to all the people in the world is a tremendous work. ¶

Now behold, a marvelous work and a wonder is about to come forth among the children of men. ¶

Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God -- ¶

Do you brethren hear these words of a revelation from God the Eternal Father through the Prophet Joseph Smith to you, to me, to us who are assembled here this afternoon! ¶

Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. (D. & C. 4:2) ¶

For behold the field is white already to harvest. (D. & C. 4:4) ¶

If ever a field was white, if ever there was a time to labor, if ever the servants of God were in demand it is now. ¶

Field White and Ready for Harvest ¶

Behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul. (D. & C. 4:4) ¶

Brethren, God bless you. Let us dedicate ourselves with all we have and all we are to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to living in accordance with the high ideals of the Church and to the winning of the gigantic conflict on the battlefield into which our nation has been compelled to enter. May I say again, let us dedicate ourselves to the winning of this great fight for liberty and freedom. ¶

Dedicating Even Life to a Great Cause ¶

In a high priests' meeting in the Ensign Stake during World War I, Richard W. Young, brigadier general, said, "I told my son good-bye last night and sent him into this war. I may never see his face again. Going into this mighty conflict may cost him his life. But if it does, he could not possibly give his life to a more glorious cause than to give it for the freedom and liberty not only of the people of our own nation but of all mankind." ¶

And so let us in real humility appeal to God the Eternal Father to enable us to discharge well our duty, to preach the gospel effectively, and to do our utmost to make the people of our nation worthy of victory. God grant that we may be worthy and that we may win the war. ¶