President Henry B. Eyring – 1st Counselor in the 1st Presidency
Home Teaching February 2012
Exhort Them to Pray
10402_000_002
When I was a little child, my parents taught me by example to pray. I began with a picture in my mind of Heavenly Father being far away. As I have matured, my experience with prayer has changed. The picture in my mind has become one of a Heavenly Father who is close by, who is bathed in a bright light, and who knows me perfectly.
That change came as I gained a sure testimony that Joseph Smith’s report of his experience in 1820 in Manchester, New York, is true:
“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
“It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Joseph Smith—History 1:16–17).
Heavenly Father was in the grove on that beautiful spring day. He called Joseph by name. And He introduced the resurrected Savior of the world as His “Beloved Son.” Whenever and wherever you pray, your testimony of the reality of that glorious experience can bless you.
The Father to whom we pray is the glorious God who created worlds through His Beloved Son. He hears our prayers as He heard Joseph’s prayer—as clearly as if they were being offered in His presence. He loves us enough that He gave His Son as our Savior. By that gift He made it possible for us to gain immortality and eternal life. And He offers us, through prayer in the name of His Son, the opportunity to commune with Him in this life as often as we choose.
Priesthood holders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the sacred trust to “visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret” (D&C 20:47; emphasis added).
There are many ways to exhort someone to pray. For example, we can testify that God has commanded us to pray always, or we can describe examples from scripture and from our own experience of the blessings that come from prayers of gratitude, supplication, and inquiry. For instance, I can testify that I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I have received direction and comfort from words that have come into my mind, and I know by the Spirit that the words were from God.
The Prophet Joseph Smith had such experiences, and so can you. He received this answer to heartfelt prayer:
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high” (D&C 121:7–8).
That was revelation from a loving Father to a faithful son in great distress. Every child of God can commune in prayer with Him. No exhortation to pray has had as great an effect on me as have the feelings of love and light that come with answers to humble prayers.
We gain a testimony of any commandment of God by keeping that commandment (see John 7:17). This is true of the command that we pray always vocally and in secret. As your teacher and your friend, I promise that God will answer your prayers and that by the power of the Holy Ghost, you can know for yourself that the answers are from Him.
Teaching from This Message
• •
“Pictures are valuable tools for strengthening the main idea of a lesson” (Teaching, No Greater Call [1999], 176). Show a painting of Joseph Smith or the First Vision. Discuss the experience Joseph Smith had with prayer. How would your prayers be more meaningful if you pictured “Heavenly Father … close by,” as does President Eyring?
• •
As President Eyring suggests, consider sharing your testimony about prayer, describing blessings you have received because of prayer, or sharing scriptures about prayer.
Youth
Powerful Prayer
By Austin C.
10402_000_003
Prayer is one of the greatest and most important ways to connect to, talk with, and be comforted by our Heavenly Father.
While I was saying my prayers one night, I thought about what my family was in need of, what I was grateful for, and also what I needed to repent of. Right after closing my prayer, I thought about the many worldly things that could easily distract me from my goals.
But during my prayers, I feel that if I pray sincerely and humbly, my burdens are lightened, my sins are washed away, and my problems have answers. I realize how close to God I feel while I say my prayers. It shows me how important we all are in God’s eyes. I testify that prayer is one of the most powerful and important things that we can do.
Children
Heavenly Father Hears Me When I Pray
10402_000_004
President Eyring says that Heavenly Father “hears our prayers … as clearly as if they were being offered in His presence.” He can hear us no matter where we are or what’s going on around us. Can you find the child praying in this picture?
(click to view larger)
Illustration by Beth M. Whittaker
“To Pray”
cji
2/1/12
Inviting the infant
sharing in the prayer
folded arms quiet
squirmingly alive
little gurgles often
yet discerning
feelings of love
bowed head
soon to pray
all too soon
grown up
yet praying
knowing why
most important
knowing how
and the why!
Copyright © 2012 – cji
Visiting Teaching February 2012
Guardians of the Hearth
10402_000_005
“You are the guardians of the hearth,” said President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) as he introduced “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” in the general Relief Society meeting in 1995. “You are the bearers of the children. You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives. No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God.”1
For almost 17 years now this proclamation has reinforced that our most significant responsibilities are centered in strengthening families and homes—no matter our current circumstances. Barbara Thompson, now second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, was in the Salt Lake Tabernacle when President Hinckley first read the proclamation. “That was a great occasion,” she remembers. “I felt the significance of the message. I also found myself thinking, ‘This is a great guide for parents. It is also a big responsibility for parents.’ I thought for a moment that it really didn’t pertain too much to me since I wasn’t married and didn’t have any children. But almost as quickly I thought, ‘But it does pertain to me. I am a member of a family. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a niece, and a granddaughter. I do have responsibilities—and blessings—because I am a member of a family. Even if I were the only living member of my family, I am still a member of God’s family, and I have a responsibility to help strengthen other families.’”
Fortunately, we are not left alone in our efforts. “The greatest help,” says Sister Thompson, “we will have in strengthening families is to know and follow the doctrines of Christ and rely on Him to help us.”2
From the Scriptures
Proverbs 22:6; 1 Nephi 1:1; 2 Nephi 25:26; Alma 56:46–48; Doctrine and Covenants 93:40
From Our History
“When Sister Bathsheba W. Smith served as the fourth Relief Society general president [from 1901 to 1910], she saw a need to strengthen families, and so she established mother education lessons for Relief Society sisters. The lessons included counsel on marriage, prenatal care, and child rearing. These lessons supported President Joseph F. Smith’s teachings about the Relief Society helping women in their roles at home:
“‘Wherever there is ignorance or at least a lack of understanding in regard to the family, duties of the family, with regard to obligations that should exist and that do rightfully exist between husband and wife and between parents and children, there this organization exists or is near at hand, and by the natural endowments and inspiration that belongs to the organization they are prepared and ready to impart instruction with reference to those important duties.’”3
What Can I Do?
1. 1.
How can I help the sisters I watch over to strengthen families?
2. 2.
How can I be a righteous influence in my family?
“Guardians”
cji
2/1/12
Sometimes distracted
running feet fast
stuff on the stove
laundry to be done
yet why of the why’s
bringing up children
special and sacred
Father’s children
guardians to be
of hearth and home!
Copyright © 2012 – cji
Home Teaching February 2012
Exhort Them to Pray
10402_000_002
When I was a little child, my parents taught me by example to pray. I began with a picture in my mind of Heavenly Father being far away. As I have matured, my experience with prayer has changed. The picture in my mind has become one of a Heavenly Father who is close by, who is bathed in a bright light, and who knows me perfectly.
That change came as I gained a sure testimony that Joseph Smith’s report of his experience in 1820 in Manchester, New York, is true:
“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
“It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Joseph Smith—History 1:16–17).
Heavenly Father was in the grove on that beautiful spring day. He called Joseph by name. And He introduced the resurrected Savior of the world as His “Beloved Son.” Whenever and wherever you pray, your testimony of the reality of that glorious experience can bless you.
The Father to whom we pray is the glorious God who created worlds through His Beloved Son. He hears our prayers as He heard Joseph’s prayer—as clearly as if they were being offered in His presence. He loves us enough that He gave His Son as our Savior. By that gift He made it possible for us to gain immortality and eternal life. And He offers us, through prayer in the name of His Son, the opportunity to commune with Him in this life as often as we choose.
Priesthood holders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the sacred trust to “visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret” (D&C 20:47; emphasis added).
There are many ways to exhort someone to pray. For example, we can testify that God has commanded us to pray always, or we can describe examples from scripture and from our own experience of the blessings that come from prayers of gratitude, supplication, and inquiry. For instance, I can testify that I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I have received direction and comfort from words that have come into my mind, and I know by the Spirit that the words were from God.
The Prophet Joseph Smith had such experiences, and so can you. He received this answer to heartfelt prayer:
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high” (D&C 121:7–8).
That was revelation from a loving Father to a faithful son in great distress. Every child of God can commune in prayer with Him. No exhortation to pray has had as great an effect on me as have the feelings of love and light that come with answers to humble prayers.
We gain a testimony of any commandment of God by keeping that commandment (see John 7:17). This is true of the command that we pray always vocally and in secret. As your teacher and your friend, I promise that God will answer your prayers and that by the power of the Holy Ghost, you can know for yourself that the answers are from Him.
Teaching from This Message
• •
“Pictures are valuable tools for strengthening the main idea of a lesson” (Teaching, No Greater Call [1999], 176). Show a painting of Joseph Smith or the First Vision. Discuss the experience Joseph Smith had with prayer. How would your prayers be more meaningful if you pictured “Heavenly Father … close by,” as does President Eyring?
• •
As President Eyring suggests, consider sharing your testimony about prayer, describing blessings you have received because of prayer, or sharing scriptures about prayer.
Youth
Powerful Prayer
By Austin C.
10402_000_003
Prayer is one of the greatest and most important ways to connect to, talk with, and be comforted by our Heavenly Father.
While I was saying my prayers one night, I thought about what my family was in need of, what I was grateful for, and also what I needed to repent of. Right after closing my prayer, I thought about the many worldly things that could easily distract me from my goals.
But during my prayers, I feel that if I pray sincerely and humbly, my burdens are lightened, my sins are washed away, and my problems have answers. I realize how close to God I feel while I say my prayers. It shows me how important we all are in God’s eyes. I testify that prayer is one of the most powerful and important things that we can do.
Children
Heavenly Father Hears Me When I Pray
10402_000_004
President Eyring says that Heavenly Father “hears our prayers … as clearly as if they were being offered in His presence.” He can hear us no matter where we are or what’s going on around us. Can you find the child praying in this picture?
(click to view larger)
Illustration by Beth M. Whittaker
“To Pray”
cji
2/1/12
Inviting the infant
sharing in the prayer
folded arms quiet
squirmingly alive
little gurgles often
yet discerning
feelings of love
bowed head
soon to pray
all too soon
grown up
yet praying
knowing why
most important
knowing how
and the why!
Copyright © 2012 – cji
Visiting Teaching February 2012
Guardians of the Hearth
10402_000_005
“You are the guardians of the hearth,” said President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) as he introduced “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” in the general Relief Society meeting in 1995. “You are the bearers of the children. You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives. No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God.”1
For almost 17 years now this proclamation has reinforced that our most significant responsibilities are centered in strengthening families and homes—no matter our current circumstances. Barbara Thompson, now second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, was in the Salt Lake Tabernacle when President Hinckley first read the proclamation. “That was a great occasion,” she remembers. “I felt the significance of the message. I also found myself thinking, ‘This is a great guide for parents. It is also a big responsibility for parents.’ I thought for a moment that it really didn’t pertain too much to me since I wasn’t married and didn’t have any children. But almost as quickly I thought, ‘But it does pertain to me. I am a member of a family. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a niece, and a granddaughter. I do have responsibilities—and blessings—because I am a member of a family. Even if I were the only living member of my family, I am still a member of God’s family, and I have a responsibility to help strengthen other families.’”
Fortunately, we are not left alone in our efforts. “The greatest help,” says Sister Thompson, “we will have in strengthening families is to know and follow the doctrines of Christ and rely on Him to help us.”2
From the Scriptures
Proverbs 22:6; 1 Nephi 1:1; 2 Nephi 25:26; Alma 56:46–48; Doctrine and Covenants 93:40
From Our History
“When Sister Bathsheba W. Smith served as the fourth Relief Society general president [from 1901 to 1910], she saw a need to strengthen families, and so she established mother education lessons for Relief Society sisters. The lessons included counsel on marriage, prenatal care, and child rearing. These lessons supported President Joseph F. Smith’s teachings about the Relief Society helping women in their roles at home:
“‘Wherever there is ignorance or at least a lack of understanding in regard to the family, duties of the family, with regard to obligations that should exist and that do rightfully exist between husband and wife and between parents and children, there this organization exists or is near at hand, and by the natural endowments and inspiration that belongs to the organization they are prepared and ready to impart instruction with reference to those important duties.’”3
What Can I Do?
1. 1.
How can I help the sisters I watch over to strengthen families?
2. 2.
How can I be a righteous influence in my family?
“Guardians”
cji
2/1/12
Sometimes distracted
running feet fast
stuff on the stove
laundry to be done
yet why of the why’s
bringing up children
special and sacred
Father’s children
guardians to be
of hearth and home!
Copyright © 2012 – cji
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