Pray and Labor

As a result of our physical separation from God, there will always be a level of unknown about our journeys here on Earth. We just don't know what's going to happen to us in a week, or tomorrow, or even an hour from now. Certainly we have been given tools. The scriptures provide general guidelines and commandments that can help us at least go into the unknown with a higher level of confidence. Patriarchal blessings provide personal insights into the blessings we may receive through faithfulness over the course of our lives. But these do not fill in the gaps of our knowledge of what is to come. And sometimes we have great desires to know what may be to come. We'd like to know who we can share the gospel with. We'd like to know how we can find our eternal companion, or how we can nurture the relationship we may already have with them. Often we may know how to accomplish some of these things, but would just like that help in actually doing it.

Enos was one who desired to change, and to know what the Lord would have him do. We all know that he prayed for forgiveness. But that was not all that he did. What he did serves as yet another blueprint that can allow us to go forth into the unknown with greater confidence. He records, "And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith" (Enos 1:12). 

Another scriptural example adds to this pattern. In the book of Alma, we read of Alma's travels and preaching, which led him to the wicked city of Ammoniah. Success didn't come as it had in Zarahemla or Gideon. But he was not deterred. Mormon records, "Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city" (Alma 8:10). 

Enos wanted to know. Alma wanted to do. What they did to accomplish what they wanted was the same. They prayed, and then they labored. Prayer is the time when we make the determination, together with our Father, to do what is necessary to accomplish what we'd like to, or to learn what we need to know. But it is when we stand and go forth that we qualify ourselves for the fullness of that accomplishment or knowledge. That is faith in its intended form: prayer and labor.

Through Nephi, the Lord gave us insight into the importance of involving the Lord in our pursuits prior to action. "I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing into the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate they performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul" (2 Nephi 32:9). Prayer allows for perspective. Prayer allows for the opportunity to align our will to His. Prayer allows for last minute enlightenment before we begin to act. We lose out on the fullness of the Lord's aid if we seek to act without first going to Him in prayer. 

But the opposite is also true. Just the fact that we have prayed does not ensure that our problems will be magically fixed. We will not just immediately receive the knowledge that we desire, or be able to figure out how to accomplish that hard task we need help with. In truth, prayer really only goes as far as we are willing to act. Just as "faith without works is dead" (James 2:17), so is our prayer lacking in full worth if we don't take that step to accomplish that which we desire. The Lord has asked us to "be anxiously engaged in a good cause and do many things of [our] own free will" (D&C 58:27). And so we must seek to act.

So just as Enos and Alma, we must use prayer as the preparation, and then take the leap of faith. His promise for us is that if we will labor with our might, even without knowing fully what is it that we are to do, He will bless us accordingly. "And he said unto the first: Go ye and labor in the field,and in the first hour I will come unto you, and ye shall behold the joy of my countenance" (D&C 88:52). We know that Nephi, having received the command to obtain the brass plates, prayed, received visitation from angels, and had tremendous trust that the Lord would help him. Even still, he had to take the step of faith to head back into the city "not knowing beforehand the things which [he] should do" (1 Nephi 4:6). It was his willingness to act that allowed the blessing to come--Laban was delivered into his hands, and he was able to accomplish that which he and the Lord desired. The same is true of the knowledge that we desire. The Lord told Hyrum Smith, "If you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men" (D&C 11:21). But only if we act, "[putting our] trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good" (D&C 11:12).

This pattern of praying and laboring is one which has a tremendous effect on us. It will help us build our faith. As we act on the promptings we receive and the desires we have, consecrated through humble prayer, we will surely receive that which we seek. And if it so happens that what we desire is not what the Lord would have us receive at that given time, He will give us the comfort that we are at least acting in faith. He will give us that assurance--that peace. "Peace I give unto," he said, "Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid" (John 14:26).

In closing, I'd like to share this poignant quote by Brigham Young. He said, "When you have labored faithfully for years, you will learn this simple fact--that if your hearts are aright, and you still continue to be obedient, continue to serve God, continue to pray, the Spirit of revelation will be in you like a well of water springing up to eternal life. Let no person give up prayer because he has not the spirit of prayer, neither let any earthly circumstance hurry you while in the performance of this important duty. By bowing down before the Lord to ask him to bless you, you will simply find this result--God will multiply blessings on you temporally and spiritually."