President Boyd K. Packer: 'Prayer and Promptings'
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No one is left alone on earth without hope of guidance and redemption. Through prayer, the Lord's children can receive promptings that can bless their lives and help them find direction.
That was the comforting message shared Saturday afternoon by President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Packer said the Restoration was brought about by the prayer of a 14-year-old boy, ushering in the dispensation of the fullness of times. "The Restoration of the gospel brought the knowledge of the pre-mortal existence. From the scriptures, we know of the Council in Heaven and the decision to send the sons and daughters of God into mortality to receive a body and to be tested. We are the children of God. We have a spirit body housed, for now, in an earthly tabernacle of flesh."
With mortality came agency, he added. Agency must be used wisely and in close communication with the Spirit, "otherwise we foolishly find ourselves yielding to the enticements of the adversary. We know that through the atonement of Christ our mistakes can be washed clean, and our mortal body will be restored to its perfect frame."
Following baptism, one receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, he said.
"That sweet, quiet voice of inspiration comes more as a feeling than it does as a sound," President Packer said. "Pure intelligence can be spoken into the mind. The Holy Ghost communicates with our spirits through the mind more than through the physical senses. This guidance comes as thoughts, as feelings, through promptings and impressions.
"We may feel the words of spiritual communication more than hear them, and see with spiritual eyes rather than with mortal eyes."
The process of prayer and receiving spiritual promptings is not reserved for the Lord's prophets, he declared. The gift of the Holy Ghost, he said, operates equally with men, women and even little children. Through prayer and promptings, spiritual remedies to any problem can be found, he said.
"The Lord has many ways of pouring knowledge into our minds to prompt us, to guide us, to teach us, to correct us, to warn us. The Lord said, 'I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart'" (Doctrine and Covenants 8:2).
President Packer assured members that they can know the things they need to know. "Pray that you will learn to receive that inspiration and remain worthy to receive it. Keep that channel of your mind clean and free from the clutter of the world."
One of the adversary's sharpest tools is to convince a person that he or she is no longer worthy to pray, he added. "No matter who you are or what you may have done, you can always pray."
President Packer enlisted a learning moment recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants to teach the nature of promptings. When Oliver Cowdery failed in an attempt to translate, the Lord told him: "Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.
"But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and 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 not be right you shall have no such feelings …" (Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-9).
President Packer then offered this counsel on deflecting temptation: "You can invent a delete key in your mind, perhaps the words from a favorite hymn. Your mind is in charge; your body is the instrument of your mind. When some unworthy thought pushes into your mind, replace it with your delete key. Worthy music is powerful and can help you control your thoughts."
Follow the examples of the prophet Alma or Amulek and pray, "even if you are young and wayward" or have a closed mind, he added.
"Learn to pray. Pray often. Pray in your mind, in your heart. Pray on your knees. Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil. And, I have learned to conclude all my prayers with 'Thy will be done.' "
President Packer said members cannot expect to be free entirely from trouble, disappointment, pain and discouragement and that these are the things that people were sent to earth to endure.
It was the Savior who said, "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63), he noted.
President Packer concluded his talk by testifying of President Thomas S. Monson's prophetic call:
"He was called of God by prophecy and he needs our prayers."
