By Elder Brent H. Nielson

Of the Seventy

Brent H. Nielson

On August 20, 1974, I was serving as a full-time missionary in northern Finland. I had been in the country only 13 days, and I was overwhelmed with my new calling and with learning a complex language in a faraway place. But that afternoon I had the opportunity of a lifetime.

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985), who was scheduled to speak that evening at a conference, asked our mission president if he could spend the afternoon with the full-time missionaries. About 30 of us gathered in a small chapel in Oulu, Finland, to spend the afternoon with the prophet.

President Kimball began the meeting by asking the missionaries to share their testimonies. Afterward, he told us that his new calling as President of the Church had come to him unexpectedly. He had thought that President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) would serve for many years as President of the Church.

President Kimball then expressed his great need for constant prayer and communication with Heavenly Father in his new calling. He said that his favorite hymn was "I Need Thee Every Hour." I will never forget him reciting the words of the hymn with his distinctive voice:

I need thee, oh, I need thee; Every hour I need thee! Oh, bless me now, my Savior; I come to thee! 1

I was struck at that moment with the realization that if this great, humble prophet felt the need for constant communication with the Lord, then certainly a new missionary like me had an even greater need. As I returned to our apartment that evening and for many days thereafter, I poured out my heart to Heavenly Father in prayer, asking Him to lift me up in my new assignment. As I did so I learned some important lessons about prayer. I learned that prayer is more than a quick morning and evening ritual, more than an acknowledgment for a few seconds each day that God is there, and more than a cry for help when I was in trouble. As I applied the important practice of regular heartfelt prayer, the heavens opened and I was blessed with the revelation I needed to learn the language and fulfill my calling as a missionary.

When we speak with our Heavenly Father, we refer to that as prayer; when He responds by the power of the Holy Ghost, we call that revelation. Throughout the scriptures, we are encouraged to ask, seek, and knock. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).

While serving as a bishop and stake president, I occasionally met with members who were experiencing difficulty in their lives. As we talked together, I would often inquire about their patterns of prayer and their personal relationship with their Heavenly Father. I observed that as we become casual in our relationship with Deity2 and as we minimize the importance of constant communication through prayer, we may begin to feel overwhelmed, become confused, and even be deceived, finding ourselves doing things that are not in accordance with God's will. Many members would respond to my question by saying, "You are right, I need to pray more. But now let's figure out how to solve my problem."

As they began to understand that prayer was the answer to many of their difficulties, however, they learned that "whatsoever [they] ask the Father in [the Son's] name it shall be given unto [them], that is expedient for [them]" (D&C 88:64).

To those who might ask why they should pray, I would respond with four simple reasons that have helped me: