Eyring - Priesthood and Personal Prayer - April 2015

President Eyring speaks of the need for inspiration when we serve in the priesthood.  That need can come when we have time to prepare and ask God for His guidance, or it can come without time for preparation.

• All of us must speak and act in the name of God in moments when our unaided judgment will not be enough without inspiration. Those moments can come upon us when there is not time to make preparation.

President Eyring speaks about the what he had not known as a deacon and what he has learned since that time.

• As a deacon, I had not yet learned that the power to speak and act in God’s name requires revelation and that to have it when we need it requires praying and working in faith for the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
  

When it comes to preparing ourselves to receive inspiration and guidance, there are certain things that make it easier like quiet contemplation, prayer, and peaceful moments.  But these things are not always possible.  God know that and will hear our pleas for guidance when we can't prepare in the ways that are easiest for us to receive His guidance.

• It is easier to get the proper feeling of reverence when you are kneeling or bowing your head, but it is possible to feel that you are approaching your Heavenly Father in less formal and even in silent prayer, as you will often need to do in your priesthood service. There will be noise and people around you most of your waking day. God hears your silent prayers, but you may have to learn to shut out the distractions because the moment you need the connection with God may not come in quiet times.
  

He speaks of the need for us to look out for others.  This need is found when we have assignments to Home Teach, to bring comfort to a friend, or provide support to someone in need.  We need to ask God to enlighten our minds with the things that we should say and do to help His children feel the love that the He has for them.

• Think of the families or even individuals you have been called to serve. Human judgment and good intentions will not be enough. So you will pray for the way to know their hearts, to know what things are amiss in the lives and the hearts of people whom you don’t know well and who are not anxious to have you know them. You will need to know what God would have you do to help them and to do it all, as nearly as you can, feeling God’s love for them.
  
• It is because you have such important and difficult priesthood calls that President Smith suggests that when you pray, you always plead with God that He will bless you with His Spirit. You will need the Holy Ghost not once but as much as God will grant it to you for your constant companion. That is why we must always pray that God will guide us in our service to His children.
  
• Because you cannot rise to your priesthood potential without the Spirit going with you, you are a personal target for the enemy of all happiness. If he can tempt you to sin, he can lessen your power to be led by the Spirit and so reduce your power in the priesthood.
  

He speaks to those that are called to lead others.  The need for righteousness is necessary.  Satan will try to disqualify you for the Spirit to be with you.  You must pray for support and to be given the power to resist temptation and to be lead away from evil.

• As a priesthood holder, you are to be part of the warning voice of the Lord. But you need to heed the warning yourself. You will not survive spiritually without the protection of the companionship of the Holy Ghost in your daily life. You must pray for it and work to have it. Only with that guide will you be able to find your way  along the strait and narrow path through the mists of evil. The Holy Ghost will be your guide as He reveals truth when you study the words of prophets.

President Eyring reminds us that wherever we start in life, we need to not worry about the past.  Some people regret that they have lived much of their life without making the right decisions or being called to certain callings of service.  The Lord tells us what it doesn't matter where we serve in His kingdom, it just matters that we serve.  We will be rewarded for our valiant efforts and not on the calling or responsibility that we had.

• It will not be the offices held or the time served that will be weighed in the balance with the Lord. We know this from the Lord’s parable of the laborers in the vineyard, where the pay was the same regardless of how long they served or where. They will be rewarded for how they served.
  

Finally he reminds us that humility is necessary to have the Spirit.  We need to live worthy of the Spirit being able to communicate with us.

• With a prayer of faith, God can grant us power in the priesthood for whatever circumstance we may be in. It simply requires that we ask in humility for the Spirit to show us what God would have us say and do, do it, and continue to live worthy of that gift.

Prayer is necessary to prepare ourselves for priesthood service.  Sometimes we have time to pray to know what God wants us to say or do.  Sometime we don't have time to pray and are called upon quickly to act.  President Eyring tells us that the daily decisions we make in our lives will allow us to be prepared when we are called upon to serve.