Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayer
by Elder Richard G. Scott
Saturday Afternoon Session: October 1989
Contents
Recognizing Answers to Prayer
Across from me a woman sat sobbing. With tear-filled eyes, she told me, "I don't
know what I believe anymore." She spoke of having struggled and prayed many days to
know how to make a vitally important decision in her life, without success. She anguished,
"I don't know what to do. If you'll tell me what to do, I'll do it." With her
hand on the scriptures, she said, "God told us He would help us. He answers everybody
else's prayers. Why won't He answer mine?"
When one is caught in a whirlpool of emotion, it is difficult to find a way out alone.
My prayer is to help you who have similar feelings.
When answers to urgent prayer don't seem to come, it may be that we don't understand
some truths about prayer, or because we don't recognize answers when they come.
Our Heavenly Father did not put us on earth to fail but to succeed gloriously. It may
seem paradoxical, but that is why recognizing answers to prayer can sometimes be very
difficult. Some face life with only their own experience and capacity to help them. Others
seek, through prayer, divine inspiration to know what to do. When it is required, they
qualify for power beyond their own capacity to do it. Communication with our Father in
Heaven is not a trivial matter. It is a sacred privilege. It is based on unchanging
principles. When we receive help from our Father in Heaven, it is in response to faith,
obedience, and the proper use of agency.
It is a mistake to assume that every prayer we offer will be answered immediately. Some
prayers require considerable effort on our part. True, sometimes impressions come when we
have not specifically sought them. They generally concern something we need to know and
are not otherwise able to find out.
Apply Truths that God has Revealed
We are here on earth to gain experience we can obtain in no other way. We are given the
opportunity to grow, to develop, and to gain spiritual maturity. To do that, we must learn
to apply truth. How we face challenges and resolve difficult problems is crucially
important to our happiness.
To better understand prayer, I have listened to the counsel of others, pondered the
scriptures, and studied the lives of prophets and others. Yet what seems most helpful is
seeing in my mind a child approaching trustingly a loving, kind, wise, understanding
Father, who wants us to succeed.
Don't worry about your clumsily expressed feelings. Just talk to your Father. He hears
every prayer and answers it in His way.
When we explain a problem and a proposed solution, sometimes He answers yes, sometimes
no. Often He withholds an answer, not for lack of concern, but because He loves
us-perfectly. He wants us to apply truths He has given us. For us to grow, we need to
trust our ability to make correct decisions. We need to do what we feel is right. In time,
He will answer. He will not fail us.
I have described the absolute reality of our relationship with our Father. There is
nothing about us He does not know. He is conscious of our every need and could provide all
of the answers. Yet, because His purpose is our eternal happiness, He encourages us to
make the correct choices.
Sometimes, like a child, we misbehave, act unwisely, and feel we cannot approach our
Father with a problem. When communication is strained, how wonderful it is to have a
Mediator who works things out when we obey His counsel and repent. Such is our Elder
Brother, the Savior.
Ask in Faith With an Honest Heart
Perhaps Oliver Cowdery's experiences were recorded for us to understand how to pray and
how to recognize answer to prayer. Oliver was told:
Assuredly as the Lord liveth. . . . even so surely shall you receive a knowledge of
whatsoever things you shall ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall
receive . . . .
I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost"
(D&C 8:1-2; italics added).
When we receive an impression in our heart, we can use our mind either to rationalize
it away or to accomplish it. Be careful what you do with an impression from the Lord.
Oliver was further taught:
Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with
these things; do not ask for that which you ought not. . . .
According to your faith shall it be done unto you"
(D&C 8:10-11; italics added).
. . . Ask in faith" means ask with confidence in our holy Father. Like many of us,
Oliver did not recognize the evidence of answers to prayers already given by the Lord. To
open his eyes and ours, this revelation was given through Joseph Smith:
"Blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and
behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it
had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.
"Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind,-
and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by
the Spirit of truth" (D&C 6:14-15; italics added).
If you feel that God has not answered your prayers, ponder these scriptures-then
carefully look for evidence in your own life of His having already answered you.
Answers Reach the Heart and Mind
To help each of us recognize answers given, the Lord said:
"If you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried
unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.
"Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?" (D&C 6:22 -
23; italics added).
The Lord provides further insight by counseling us to study a problem out in our mind
and then to ask if it be right:
"If it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you
shall feel that it is right.
"But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a
stupor of thought" (D&C 9:8-9; italics added).
When the Lord withholds an answer It is vitally important to recognize that the Lord
also responds a third way to prayer by withholding an answer when the prayer is offered.
Why would He do that?
He is our perfect Father. He loves us beyond our capacity to understand. He knows what
is best for us. He sees the end from the beginning. He wants us to act to gain needed
experience.
When He answers yes, it is to give us confidence.
When He answers no, it is to prevent error.
When He withholds an answer, it is to have us grow through faith in Him, obedience to
His commandments, and a willingness to act on truth. We are expected to assume
accountability by acting on a decision that is consistent with His teachings without prior
confirmation. We are not to sit passively waiting or to murmur because the Lord has not
spoken. We are to act.
Be Spiritually Sensitive
Most often what we have chosen to do is right. He will confirm the correctness of our
choices His way. That confirmation generally comes through packets of help found along the
way. We discover them by being spiritually sensitive. They are like notes from a loving
Father as evidence of His approval. If, in trust, we begin something which is not right,
He will let us know before we have gone too far. We sense that help by recognizing
troubled or uneasy feelings.
Nephi followed the spiritual law Nephi's efforts to obtain the plates of brass show how
the principles work. When the older brethren were asked to go, they murmured and received
no help. Nephi was assured, "Thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not
murmured" (I Nephi 3:6). Nephi's words "I will go and do" reveal a positive
commitment to act and to succeed by using spiritual law (I Nephi 3:7).
After two unsuccessful attempts, Nephi remained confident. He crept into the city
toward the house of Laban without all the answers. He observed, "I was led by the
Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do," significantly adding,
"Nevertheless I went forth" (I Nephi 4:6-7; italics added).
Nephi was willing to try time and again, using his best efforts. He expressed faith
that he would be helped. He refused to be discouraged. But because he acted, had
confidence in the Lord, was obedient, and properly used his agency, he received guidance.
He was inspired step after step to success, and in his mother's words was "given . .
. power [to] accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded" (I Nephi 5:8;
italics added).
Nephi knew he was required to confide in God, to exercise faith, and to act so that he
could receive help, step by step. He did not murmur nor ask for a full explanation. But,
observe particularly, he did not wait passively for help. He acted! By following spiritual
law, he was inspired and given power to act.
Seek God's Will
Sometimes answers to prayer are not recognized because we are too intent on wanting
confirmation of our own desires. We fail to see that the Lord would have us do something
else. Be careful to seek His will.
I confess I don't know how to make a correct decision except where there is
righteousness and trust in a Heavenly Father. The principles simply will not work when
agency is intentionally used at variance with the will of God. If there is unrepented sin,
we are left to our own devices to flounder and struggle on our own. We can be rescued
through our own repentance.
Answers may come gradually When we seek inspiration to help make decisions, the Lord
gives gentle promptings. These require us to think, to exercise faith, to work, to
struggle at times, and to act. Seldom does the whole answer to a decisively important
matter or complex problem come all at once. More often, it comes a piece at a time,
without the end in sight.
Express Gratitude in Prayer
I have saved the most important part about prayer until the end. It is gratitude! Our
sincere efforts to thank our beloved Father generate wondrous feelings of peace,
self-worth, and love. No matter how challenging our circumstances, honest appreciation
fills our mind to overflowing with gratitude.
Why is it that the most impoverished seem to know best how to thank the Lord? In the
highlands of Guatemala, members barely subsist. Going to the temple requires great
sacrifice. A visit takes a year of preparation. There is hard work, sacrifice to save
money and food, the spinning, dyeing, and weaving of new clothing. There is the long,
barefoot walk out of the mountains, the crossing of Lake Isabel, the bus rides with little
food. Tired and worn, they arrive at the temple. They scrub until they shine, dress in
their new clothing, and enter the house of the Lord.
Reclothed in white, they are taught by the Spirit, receive ordinances, and make
covenants. One highland woman was greatly touched by the spirit and meaning of the
endowment. Entering the celestial room, she saw others seated, with heads reverently
bowed. Innocently, she knelt at the entrance to the room, oblivious to others. She bowed
her head, sobbed, and for twenty minutes poured out her heart to her Father in Heaven.
Finally, with her dress soaked with tears, she raised her head. The sensitive temple
matron asked, "May I help?" She responded, "Oh, would you?
This is my problem: I've tried to tell Father in Heaven of my gratitude for all of my
blessings, but I don't feet that I've communicated. Will you help me tell Him how grateful
I am?"
Trust God and be Clean
The counsel about prayer is true. I have tested it thoroughly in the laboratory of my
own personal life. I have discovered that what sometimes seems an impenetrable barrier to
communication is a giant step to be taken in trust.
If you seek His help, be sure your life is clean, your motives are worthy, and you're
willing to do what He asks for He will answer your prayers. He is your loving Father; you
are His beloved child. He loves you perfectly and wants to help you. In the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.
