Day 142 The Power of Praying for Others

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello my friends and family, wherever you're listening from, thank you for joining me, and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Welcome to day 142 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today we're going to be reading Mosiah chapter 27, verses 14 through 30, and oh my goodness, these verses are going to put a smile on your face.

Alma yesterday, as we kind of had this Alma meeting the angel experience, we didn't get the rest of his story, and the rest of his story comes in a good chunk of today's verses, and then more keeps coming. I got to tell you, there were several verses in today that got some honorable mentions. I had a hard time trying to decide what to share here on Savory Salt, and I think I finally settled on the one.

But just to throw a few of them out there, verse 20 stuck out to me, 25 and 26 stuck out to me, 29 stuck out to me, all for different reasons and perhaps just different perspectives on where I'm at in life. But I settled on actually right at the beginning of the reading today, verse 14. Let's take a look at it together.

And again, the angel said, "Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant Alma, who is thy father. For he has prayed with much faith concerning thee, that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth. Therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith." What a beautiful verse!

Here an angel is sent from the Lord in specific answer to prayer. The prayers of his people, the Lord's people, and the prayers of a loving father, that being Alma. How much did they pray?

I don't know. How often were those prayers? What words did they use?

I don't know those answers. But what I do know is, here the Lord is answering the fervent prayers of his servants. And those prayers were for others.

I know that prayer works in my own life, but I got to admit, from this verse, it seems like even more of a blessing in my life to focus my prayers on the loved ones around me. Rather than the typical, usual prayer of 'please help me and please help us and please help me and please help us,' perhaps to increase my savory salt just a little bit, I could consider more ways to pray for others. I know I feel the Spirit strongly when I pray for individual family members in my life.

My wife and I pray for our daughters every night. Many times it's specifically by name, each daughter. I love that.

I love the feeling it brings, and I know the Lord hears those prayers. I've prayed for business owners that I work with. I've prayed for teams that I'm training, that they may have an increase of understanding and an increase of communication that may help them in their own businesses.

I've prayed for complete strangers before, as I pray for missionaries out doing missionary work—missionaries that I probably never meet in my lifetime. And yet I'm going to pray to uplift and strengthen those missionaries. I know I've been the receiver of others praying for me, to uphold and to give me strength in the different adventures that I have in my life.

I love this verse because it reminds me that whether an angel appears or not, that's not the point of this verse through the lens that I'm seeing here. What I'm seeing is, the Lord is here specifically to answer the prayers of his servants. That gives me great strength as I continue to look for ways that I can serve others.

Prayer is one of those ways I can do that. That's all for today, my friends. Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow. I hope you are too.