Day 308 Receiving What to Pray For

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. You and I have prayed, but if we prayed like Christ's disciples.

Welcome to day 308 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, you're going to be reading 3 Nephi chapter 19 verses 23 to 36. You will finish that chapter.

And one of the cool things I love inside of this is we actually see the resurrected Christ praying to our Father in Heaven, so we get kind of a learning, doctrinally, that maybe could show us a little bit about this, where Christ still continues to pray to our Heavenly Father in his perfected state. It shows us an interesting level of the importance of prayer in our own lives. Our verse for today is going to be 3 Nephi chapter 19 verse 24 as Jesus comes upon his disciples and they're praying.

And see if you catch a little bit different type of prayer that's happening here with the disciples. 24 says, "And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples. And behold, they did still continue without ceasing to pray unto him. And they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray.

And they were filled with desire." Now, if you follow a couple of the footnotes here and whatnot, you're going to see that the multiplying many words is referencing Matthew chapter 6, where they talk about not using vain repetition. The disciples are praying, but they are not praying in repeated phrases or over and over again for the same thing. The section in here that I wanted to point out that I thought was so interesting was right after "they did not multiply many words." It says here, "for it was given unto them what they should pray." That led me to a question of self and a question I pose to you today: How many of us when we kneel or say our prayers, wait to feel or hear what we should say in our prayers?

That is an interesting idea. I can think of some specific times in my life where I have prayed and there's been a situation that's just been a struggle for me. And I don't even know necessarily what I'm asking for from Heavenly Father, but I know that it's complexing for me and it's complicated.

And so I have said inside my prayers, Heavenly Father, here's this issue and I don't even know what to pray about it. And then I stay in that thought for a second and see what comes. And I think that's what's happening here with the disciples.

A lot of times when we pray, we go into kind of the beginning and off we go. And we pray our prayers and it's kind of the same sentences and the same phrases. And here is something that's absolutely prayer at a different level.

Here the disciples, one, they are not using their vain repetitions; they are not multiplying many words; but two, it was given them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire. What a wonderful time to consider kneeling in prayer and waiting to see and feel and hear the promptings of what we should be praying for in our prayers, that we could be filled with desire. A beautiful thought and worth pondering for you and me today.

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 the Be Savory Salt. I'll be here tomorrow, and I hope you are too.