(August 12, 2013)
As a lawyer, I am drawn to certain words in statutes that are given emphasis in our profession. Absolute words like ‘all,’ or ‘none,’ or ‘always,’ or ‘never,’ or ‘shall,’ or ‘must’ carry a huge weight in the law. I believe that they also carry a huge weight in our scriptures – those things that we ‘must always’ do carry a massive significance.
So I was impressed by Nephi’s statements about prayer. Not only are those absolute words used, they are practically strung together in a large line. We ‘must’ pray, we must pray ‘always,’ and we ‘must’ not do ‘any’ thing unto Lord without first praying. I was already convinced that I do not pray nearly enough in my life, but this simply reinforces it a hundred-fold. I do not pray enough. If I want to dedicate my life to the Lord, should I not pray before everything that I do? I think the answer to that has to be yes. The only things I am authorized not to pray to the Lord before doing are those things I am not performing for the Lord – and those things should be nonexistant. Even our recreation should be performed unto the Lord (see, for example, the prayers before Church basketball games or youth swimming activities, or any other Church recreational activity).
I do not believe we are justified in taking any action save we have first prayed to the Lord about this activity for it to be consecrated unto Him so that He will consecrate it unto us.
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