The Value of Family Prayer

It is a great thrill, my brethren, for me to meet with you, the men who have been called to guide and direct the destinies of a million people, and I thrilled as we listened to the wonderful things that have been given to us this morning, and to the clarion call of President Clark, that we begin our postwar planning and be prepared to welcome back our boys and girls into homes where the Word of Wisdom is observed and family prayers are indulged in. ¶

The Value of Family Prayer

I am a firm believer in family prayer, and I do not think there is anything too small for us to ask for, notwithstanding the fact that I was talking with an educator not long ago who said: "It stands to reason that God can't hear all the prayers that are offered up by the hundreds of millions of people that are in this world, to say nothing of all the other worlds and their inhabitants." ¶

Now, I do not pretend to know how the Lord can hear and answer all these prayers, but I do know that from my infancy my mother taught me to go to my Heavenly Father in prayer, that the Lord loves little children, and that he would answer my prayers. I have been amazed as I have met up with difficulties to discover how solutions came to problems. Surely the Lord does hear and answer prayer, and if we have a praying family, and these boys and girls who have been undergoing these terrible experiences come back, they will be mighty happy to join in those prayers. ¶

Letter from a Soldier

These boys of ours are having terrible experiences. One of my stalwart missionaries was on the beachhead of Anzio in Italy. He ¶

had been in a foxhole for weeks. He came out of it to get cleaned up and have a little rest, and as he was writing, telling me of the glorious experiences he had had up in the Northwestern States Mission, he said: "You know, I think there is something wrong with all of us. Here I have been looking to see if I couldn't catch some German boy with his head up so that I might be able to shoot him, and I knew that there were German boys all around waiting for me to stick my head up so they could shoot me, and as I sat in that foxhole this past week and thought about it all," he said, "I don't know why we should act this way, and I have asked my Heavenly Father to help me to understand." ¶

He was praying in his foxhole, all right, and he sent this little rhyme in his letter. I do not know whether he himself wrote it, or where he picked it up : ¶

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree Discussing things as they seem to be. Said one to the others, "Now listen, you two, There's a certain rumor, that can't be true -- That man descended from our noble race. The very idea! It's a disgrace. ¶

"No monkey ever deserted his wife. Starved her babies, or ruined her life. And you've never known another tronk To leave her babies with others to bunk, Or pass them on from one to another Till they scarcely know who is tneir mother. ¶

"And another thing, you'll never see ¶

A monk build a fence 'round a coconut tree, ¶

And let the coconuts go to waste, ¶

Refusing all other monks a taste. ¶

If I'd put a fence around a tree, ¶

Starvation would force you to steal from me. ¶

"Here's another thing a monk won't do, Go out at night and get on a stew, Or use a gun, or a club, or knife To take some other monkey's life. Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss, But brothers, he didn't descend from us!" ¶

This fine young man who had filled a glorious mission up in the Northwestern States, just a few days after he had written me this letter, paid the price that so many of our boys must pay, for he was killed. When I think of these fine young fellows who have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ burning in their souls, and who played their part in the mission field to try to tell people of this better way of life, that they have family prayers in their home, that they develop an unselfish spirit, that they be kind to their neighbors, I am sure that it is a terrible thing for such men to pay this price; and when they come back, having been taught to kill, to destroy houses and everything that civilization has yet built up, as well as the lives of the people, they will need prayer. ¶

Now the men who sit in this congregation today are the men whom our Heavenly Father will hold responsible for the lives that the men and women and children live in the stakes of Zion in the Church -- a million of them. I am sure there would not be one here who would fail to have his family prayers, or who would do anything secretly or openly that would make a living soul start on that road that leads to destruction. I know you love the people. My association with you as I have been working, visiting in the stakes at the conferences, visiting with the brethren, has convinced me of the fact that that spirit is abounding amongst the leadership of the Church, and it should be -- a spirit of humility, a spirit of prayer. ¶

Prayers Are Answered

Prayer is not any unusual thing, of course. Prayers have always been answered. I picked a hundred and twenty-five references in the Holy Bible to prayer, and noted the many things that have been asked for, and noted how they were answered. Even an ax was caused to swim, the Bible puts it, when a poor workman had lost his ax, and dropped it into the river, and it was a borrowed ax. He wanted it back that he might return it, and his petition was answered; the ax was caused to swim. I wonder if any of us would make light of such a suggestion? ¶

You remember that our Heavenly Father said to Solomon: "Ask what I shall give thee." Then it goes on to say, in I Kings 3:6-14: ¶

... Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, [said Solomon], and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ¶

And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. ¶

And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. ¶

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? ¶

And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ¶

And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; ¶

Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. ¶

And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. ¶

And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. ¶

A few weeks ago I was returning from Washington, D.C., and I was awakened in the morning after an all night ride. The chef in ¶

the dining car said to me, "You know, people stood up all night in the coaches, and there were dozens and dozens of soldier boys who were sleeping on the platforms of the cars." He said, "I wish people could be better to these men." ¶

You know the transportation troubles. I suppose many of the boys were cold before that night was over, because it was a chilly night. However, as we neared Chicago, my reservations were for the twenty-second out of Chicago, and I was coming into Chicago on the evening of the twentieth, which meant that I would have to stay two days. Just a little bit before we entered Chicago I said, "Heavenly Father, help me to get out of here. I don't want to have to remain over in Chicago two days, there is much I can be doing at home." ¶

When I arrived at the station the train was late, and I went over to see if there was a possibility of getting a reservation, but the ticket man said: "No, there aren't any reservations; they are all taken. There is not a thing in this train, but come back in a little while." ¶

I went over to a restaurant and had something to eat, read the newspaper, and then just before train time went back to the station and went to the ticket office and said: "Have you anything yet?" ¶

He said: "No, there hasn't been one cancellation. There is not a thing in any of these trains going west." ¶

So I thought I would go and make my arrangements to remain two days in President David Stoddard's home, unless I could get out. Then I went down to the drugstore and thought I would have a malted milk, but as I sat down at the counter I looked across it and saw a familiar face. I once heard a man in Chicago say he had been there twenty years, and he had never met a living soul on the streets of that city that he knew. There were several thousand people milling around in that station. I saw a face that looked familiar, and I tried to catch her eye, but couldn't, so I walked around and asked her if she was not Mrs. Homer McCarthy. ¶

"Why," she said, "Bishop Smith! What are you doing here?" ¶

She sent her daughters upstairs to get her husband, who, by the way, is manager of the Aurora plant of the Montgomery Ward Company, and she said: "Homer is going out to Utah to put our eldest daughter in Brigham Young University." ¶

Pretty soon Homer came over. It had been thirteen years since I had seen him, and he said: "Bishop, what are you doing and where are you going?" ¶

I said, "Well, I intended to go home on one of these trains, but I can't make it. Not one reservation has been cancelled, and there is no opportunity." ¶

Then Homer said, "Well, Bishop, my daughter can have the upper berth, and you and I will sleep in the lower. Would you come and be with me, and we can have a visit as we go along." ¶

I thought about those boys who were sleeping out on the platforms of the trains on those two nights, and I said: "I would be delighted to do it, Homer." And that got me on the train, and as the conductor finished checking the train he came and said, "I have one upper, Upper 10, left on this train. You may have it." As I crawled up into that bunk I thought of that little prayer I had offered, "Heavenly Father, help me to get home." And so it was in such a natural way my prayer was answered. ¶

In the answers to my prayers I have found that the Lord is just natural and sweet and glorious always. ¶

A Testimony

Brothers, he lives! This is his Church, and he has called each of us to a responsibility, and we cannot fill that responsibility unless we are praying men, and as we are praying men we will have discernment, we will have the spirit of the Lord to help us so to live that no mortal can take offense at our lives. God bless all of us who are called to lead, and let us get into the hearts and souls of all of our people, a desire to serve God and keep all his commandments, so that our postwar plan, as called for by President Clark, will be one of force and power that cannot be equalled in all the world, is my prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen. ¶