Amulek LAYS THIS DOWN.
He teaches the Zoramites to cry unto God wherever they may be – refuting their claims that they couldn’t worship due to being cast out of the synagogues.
Pray anywhere and pray everywhere.
Have your heart drawn out in prayer continually to Him.
But then he goes into the most important part of his sermon:
“Do no suppose this is all;
“For after ye have done all these things (praying everywhere), if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance… to those in need…
“YOUR PRAYER IS IN VAIN.” (Alma 34:28)
What a humbling lesson.
We can’t pray for more income, and then not improve our skill set or apply to new jobs.
We can’t pray for peace, and then share divisive articles that demonize “the other side”.
We can’t pray for a child to regulate their emotions, and then refuse to regulate our own.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, but I think sometimes we have to own up to the fact that we’ve prayed for a result, and then done nothing to achieve that result, or even worked against it.
That’s what Amulek calls being a hypocrite.
Yikes.
So, as with all things, the best way to repent for past hypocritical actions is to change moving forward.
What’s a prayer in your heart right now?
Maybe it’s for yourself, or for your family, or for your community, or for the world.
If you’ve got the first half of the equation down, and you are realllly good at praying fervently about it, that is beautiful!
And now might be a great time to think about how you can act to make it happen.
What’s something you can do TODAY in order to move that desire forward?
Here’s mine for right now:
I’ve been praying to manage my time more wisely for quite a while, but I’m realizing I haven’t actually changed what I’m doing. So I’m setting time boundaries for accomplishing certain tasks, and I’ve been reading up on some new strategies (like the Pomodoro 25-minute method) that I’m going to start. Changing my “wishful prayers” into real effort! And then I have faith that my productivity will increase, or I’ll be led to discover the right routines that will work for me!
If you feel comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear what your ACTION goal is in the comments!
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
