So Paul and I manage an apartment complex with 288 tenants. This complex is currently in the process of being built and will house BYU-I young men in the fall. We were given the job of filling this complex from 0 tenants to the full 288. There was a slow start, and also some miscommunication on marketing which has made it hard to get to our goal of being at least 90% full when the semester starts. At this point there is only 4 weeks left until school starts. About a week ago we still had 90 openings. I had been praying so hard that we could fill so that we could prove to this new boss that he made a good choice in hiring us. It was at this time that my prayers were answered. The Lord listened and provided a way for us to fill, and to fill quickly. We were asked by the school to fill one entire building with girls, just this semester, because they were short on girls' housing. We received 50 contracts in 1 week and as of today, we only have 13 openings in the entire complex. That's 95% full and we anticipate being 100% within the next 4 weeks. The Lord knew we needed this and that we needed His help. He knew we couldn't do it alone and He knew we needed this financially. He truly does listen and answer our prayers but we must live worthy to receive that blessing.
President Spencer W. Kimball: The Lord has given us this solemn commandment: “He that observeth not his prayers before the Lord in the season thereof, let him be had in remembrance before the judge of my people” (D&C 68:33). “And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord” (D&C 68:28). “I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well as in thy heart; yea, before the world as in secret, in public as well as in private” (D&C 19:28).
Our personal prayers are more specific. They fall into at least two categories. There are the formal prayers where we kneel regularly. Here we talk to the Lord more intimately. We pray for some of the same things as in our family prayers, but more for our immediate and pressing needs. We express our innermost thoughts. We confess our weakness. We plead for help to overcome and for forgiveness of our transgressions, our evil thoughts. We bare our souls.
There are the personal prayers which are less formal. We always have a prayer in our hearts that we may do our best, that we may appear well, that we may remember the things we have learned. We pray as we stand to speak, as we walk, as we drive. We remember our friends, our enemies. We pray for wisdom and judgment. We pray for protection in dangerous places and for strength in moments of temptation. We utter momentary prayers in word or thought, aloud or in the deepest silence. Can one do evil when honest prayers are in his heart and on his lips?
Great decisions must be made by most of us. The Lord has provided a way for these answers. If the question is which school, what occupation, where to live, whom to marry, or such other vital questions, you should do all that is possible to solve it. Too often, like Oliver Cowdery, we want our answers without effort. The Lord said to him:
“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.”
“But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.”
“But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought” (D&C 9:7–9).
The Lord does answer our prayers, but sometimes we are not responsive enough to know when and how they are answered. We want the “writing on the wall” or an angel to speak or a heavenly voice. Often our requests are so absurd that the Lord has said, “Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not” (D&C 8:10).
There must be works with faith. How futile it would be to ask the Lord to give us knowledge, but the Lord will help us to acquire knowledge, to study constructively, to think clearly and to retain things we have learned. How stupid to ask the Lord to protect us if we unnecessarily drive at excessive speeds, if we eat or drink destructive elements. Can we ask him to provide us with material things if we give no effort? “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20).
How do you pray? Like publicans or arrogant officials? (See Luke 18:11–13.)
In your secret prayers, do you present yourself with your soul bared, or do you dress yourself in fancy coverings and pressure God to see your virtues? Do you emphasize your goodness and cover your sins with a blanket of pretense. Or do you plead for mercy at the hands of Kind Providence?
Do you get answers to your prayers? If not, perhaps you do not pay the price. Do you offer a few trite words and worn-out phrases, or do you talk intimately to the Lord? Do you pray occasionally when you should be praying regularly, often, constantly?
When you pray, do you just speak, or do you also listen? Your Savior said, “Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).
The promise is made to everyone. There is no discrimination, no favored few. But the Lord has not promised to crash the door. He stands and knocks. If we do not listen, he will not sup with us nor give answer to our prayers. Do you know how to listen, grasp, interpret, understand? The Lord stands knocking. He never retreats. But he will never force himself upon us. If we ever move apart, it is we who move and not the Lord. And should we ever fail to get answer to our prayers, we must look into our lives for a reason. We have failed to do what we should, or we have done something we should not have done. We have dulled our hearing or impaired our eyesight.
Do you give thanks or merely ask for favors? Or are you like the lepers by the road? (See Luke 17:12–13.)
In our public prayers we must not be like the Pharisees or hypocrites who loved to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they might be seen of men. (See Matt. 6:5.)
We are all under heavy obligation to our Lord. None of us has reached perfection. None of us is free from error. To pray is required of all men like chastity is required, and Sabbath observance, and tithing, and living the Word of Wisdom, attending meetings, and entering into celestial marriage. As truly as any other, this is a commandment of the Lord.
Do you think prayer is not answered because you do not understand? Some people hear a noise; others think it thunders; while others hear and understand the voice of God and see him personally.
When we pray alone with God, we shed all sham and pretense, all hypocrisy and arrogance.
We all need prayers to bring us close to God, to give us new birth.
And in all our prayers we remember our insufficiency, our limitations, our dependence, our lack of wisdom. Like children we do not always know what is best for us, what is expedient. And so in all our prayers we say, “Thy will be done” and mean it. We would not ask a Church leader for advice, then disregard it. We must never ask the Lord for blessings, then ignore the answer.
And so we pray, “Thy will be done, O Lord. Thou knowest best, kind Father. I will conform. I will accept it gratefully.”
