Question of the day: What do these verses teach us about the power of prayer?
I'm not sure this is the right question for these verses. Verses 18 - 21 certainly cover the topic of prayer, but then the rest of the verses seem to cover the topic of coming unto the Savior. They had the opportunity to all come unto the Savior and to feel the wounds in his hands, feet, and side. In this way they were bound to Him personally and had a special connection with Him ever afterwards, more than a faithful testimony. And he mentions that no one was turned away from Him. Then the discussion turns to that of the sacrament which he wants everyone to be welcome to as well. To me the message was more about how to I help souls come unto Christ. How do we support others to the end that they can create a bond with the Savior? How do I help them feel welcome at church, for home teaching, repent and be baptized, or repent and partake of the sacrament.
I'm not sure this is the right question for these verses. Verses 18 - 21 certainly cover the topic of prayer, but then the rest of the verses seem to cover the topic of coming unto the Savior. They had the opportunity to all come unto the Savior and to feel the wounds in his hands, feet, and side. In this way they were bound to Him personally and had a special connection with Him ever afterwards, more than a faithful testimony. And he mentions that no one was turned away from Him. Then the discussion turns to that of the sacrament which he wants everyone to be welcome to as well. To me the message was more about how to I help souls come unto Christ. How do we support others to the end that they can create a bond with the Savior? How do I help them feel welcome at church, for home teaching, repent and be baptized, or repent and partake of the sacrament.
2 comments:
Sometimes as I read the scriptures I read a familiar phrase, one I have read many times, and feel I know what it means without stopping to consider it any deeper. As I read today I was struck by the phrase, "...that he may sift you as wheat." I tried to tie all of the elements of the verse together and get a better feel for the implications. The element I could see are; we must watch, we must pray, temptation, Satan's desire and sifting. I have never looked into how wheat is sifted, so I looked at a youtube video about sifting of wheat. The sifting and winnowing are companion processes used to separate the good (wheat) from the (bad) chaff. What became clear to me was that Satan desires us to join the bad. Jesus warns us that being prayerful and watchful will provide protection from Satan and keep us from joining his ranks. I suppose this is all quite obvious, but somehow more meaningful when you see the process in action and how it applies to our lives.
That's very interesting Dad, thanks for the comment. It caused me some reflection on being prayerful and watchful. I feel like I am prayerful and watchful, yet I still do things that I have to repent of. As I asked myself why I wouldn't have greater protection I realized that it is more a question of protecting against making life choices that would lead me in the wrong direction. My overall trajectory, because of being prayerful and watchful, is still up! Which hopefully means continuing to want to be good wheat and not allowing myself to fall into the direction of being chaff.
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