What a beautiful and spirit filled lesson we had on Chapter 4, Help from on High. Pres. Hunter says he learned how to pray from his mother. "I knew that God loved me and listened to me." He knew that prayer was a source of divine assistance and taught others to do the same.
Our Heavenly Father promises to give us assistance and guidance in times of need. We all have trials and have times in our lives where we need to receive spiritual guidance. In D&C 1:28 the Lord promises us that if we are humble and turn to him for aid, "we would be made strong and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge from time to time." Pres. Hunter says, "Perhaps no promise in life is more reassuring than that promise of divine assistance and spiritual guidance in times of need. It is a gift freely given from heaven, a gift that we need from our earliest youth through the very latest days of our lives..."
Like Joseph Smith, we can turn to the scriptures and prayer to be taught from on high. "How remarkable...that this lad would turn profoundly to the scriptures and then to private prayer, perhaps the two greatest sources of spiritual insight and spiritual impression that are available universally to mankind. Certainly he was torn by differing opinions, but he was determined to do the right thing and determined to find the right way. He believed, as you and I must believe, that he could be taught and blessed from on high, as he was." Pres. Hunter also reminds us that, "God knows and loves us all. We are, every one of us, his daughters and his sons, and whatever life's lessons may have brought us, the promise is still true: '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.'" (James 1:5)
Prayer is the way to receive spiritual knowledge and guidance. The apostle Paul has taught that spiritual knowledge comes to us in a spiritual way, from a spiritual source. "The only way to gain spiritual knowledge is to approach our Father in Heaven through the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. When we do this, and if we are spiritually prepared, we see things our eyes have not previously seen, and we hear things we may not have previously heard."
We can pray always, not just in desperate times. Pres. Hunter tells us that we shouldn't think of God as a repairman; someone to help us only in our emergencies. "We should remember the Most High day and night - always - not only at times when all other assistance has failed and we desperately need help."
We develop our ability to receive spiritual knowledge as we take time to meditate, ponder, and pray. The following scriptures help us to understand more fully the power of prayer and the blessings that come when we commune with our Father in Heaven: D&C 42:61, D&C 18:18, D&C 43:34, D&C 84:85, D&C 90:24, and D&C 121:26.
God will help us progress spiritually one step at a time. Pres. Hunter tells us: "The place to begin is here. The time to start is now. The length of our stride needs be but one step at a time. God, who has 'designed our happiness,' will lead us along even as little children, and we will by that process approach perfection."
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