Why pray if God’s just going to do what He wants anyway?

President Monson once said that there is never anything in our lives so constant as change. (Oct. 2008 GC, Finding Joy in the Journey.) With the changes in the general leadership of the church that have and will occur in the next few months I have been reflecting on how important it is to remember that God is at the helm.

This week I had the opportunity to speak to my sister concerning the plan of our Father in Heaven and how agency’s role is sometimes different than what we understand here. Her big concern was how could we possibly have our agency if the Lord’s will is what is going to happen and what we must accept? She repeated that concern with this question…”Why pray if God’s just going to do what he wants anyway?” The answer to my sister’s question is a vital one in dealing with the trials and changes that occur in this life. One of the doctrines of the gospel that helps is the plan of salvation.

We need to understand that we lived before we came to earth and there we made promises with full understanding and sight. The scriptures say that we even shouted for joy at the prospect of mortal life (Job 38:7) and the opportunity to prove ourselves (Abraham 3:25). When we traveled through the veil at birth we lost that pre-mortal memory. We needed pass through the veil and to forget so that in this life we could act in faith and rely perfectly on the one who is mighty to save (2 Nephi 31:19). Here is the key… with that forgetting we also lost the memory of the promises we made to our Heavenly Father.

We can trust that God’s work and glory is to bring to pass the salvation of souls (Moses 1:39). His greatest desire is for our welfare. All we need to do is trust him and keep hold of the covenants we have made. We need to learn to discern His Spirit (D&C 50) and seek to keep all the commandments he has given so that we are worthy of the companionship of that Spirit. I know that through that Spirit we can again “remember” those promises we made to the Lord and keep this most important 2^nd estate.

When we understand that we have the agency to choose to accept again the promises we already chose to make while we had full sight of God and His plan we can gain the courage it takes to turn our will over to God. We have the agency to choose to accept or reject His plan, but our actions are not powerful enough to alter his will, timing, and eventual promises for all those who worthily seek after Him. The greatest thing we can do in this life is to know God and Jesus Christ (St John 17:3) and that will take giving up all of our sins because they are sinless. I know Christ’s atonement is real and that through him we can be cleansed and brought back to our true selves and to God.

I know that God has prepared worthy apostles to take the place in the Quorum of the Twelve. I know they were prepared both before the world was (Alma 13) and here on earth and that through revelation they can choose to accept the assignment to be a Special Witness for Christ throughout the whole world. Their assignments are not more important than the assignments we accept to serve the Lord. Each member of the body of Christ is important (1 Corinthians 12:27) and as President Packer’s son mentioned at his funeral the spiritual experiences his father had are not just for apostles…they are for everyone that is worthy of those blessing and seek after them. May we use the agency that we fought for in the pre-mortal world to keep our promises…In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.