"Increase in Learning"

I've been reading this book, I'm not finished yet, and it's taken me some time.  I've just put reading off. I can't tell you how long it's been since I started it, but for a while I was praying for understanding of some things, and I decided I'd start reading this again.  So, opening the book to where my bookmark was, it said, "Understanding is the keystone that is erected upon the cornerstone of knowledge and precedes intelligence. Interestingly, the word understanding commonly is described in the scriptures in relation to the heart...." and then there was a big section on understanding.  Interesting, huh?! 

Then last night as I was reading, I really liked this part it said about prayer.  "We should be simultaneously persistent in and patient with this active process of asking, seeking, and knocking."  I like the word "persistent".  It's an action word.  There have been things in my life that I've prayed and prayed and prayed for, and then after a long time of not feeling like it's even being heard, I stop praying for that.  What's the point?  Well, in the above quote, and then the section following it in the book, he talks about being persistent, while being patient.

He says, "Simply saying the words 'Thy will be done' is not enough.  Each of us needs God's help in surrendering our will to Him.

'Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other' (Bible Dictionary, "Prayer," 752-53).  Humble, earnest, and persistent prayer enables us to recognize and align ourselves with the will of our Heavenly Father.  And in this the Savior provided the perfect exaple as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane:

       "Saying, Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will,

        but thine, be done...   And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly"

Submitting our will to God's will is a theme often emphasized in the scriptures."  ("Increase in Learning, Bednar, 114)

I love that part in the Bible Dictionary.  My attention was first drawn to it reading this blog.  I can't find the exact post on there, it's been quite sometime, but reading any of the posts would touch your spirit. 

I'm grateful for the power of prayer, and that we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows us and loves us!  I'm grateful for answered prayers, and I'm grateful that I know that those seemingly unanswered prayers are still going to be answered, not in my time frame, but in His.