Moroni's Witness of Prayer

The most famous verse from Moroni’s writings is likely this invitation to the readers of the Book of Mormon that is shared by missionaries throughout the world: “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 10:4).  The invitation simply put is to pray sincerely to gain knowledge from the Lord. 

While Moroni 10:4 is the most well-known, there are many other invitations that Moroni left us that teach us how we can come to the Lord in sincere prayer.  For example, he exhorted us, “O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day” (Mormon 9:6).  The invitation was not to simply pray but to “cry mightily” to God for a cleansing of our sins.  He said a few verses later, “Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth” (Mormon 9:21).  Here he taught that prayer must be accompanied with faith in Christ and that to receive answers we must not doubt the Lord’s ability to answer us.  He further implored us, “O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need” (Mormon 9:27).  Here the focus is on hearkening to God’s words—that’s what will bring the most efficacious prayers when we show the Lord we are willing to follow His counsel as we seek for His help.  Moroni continued by saying, “Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God” (Mormon 9:28).  Here the emphasis is on praying to overcome temptation and that coming before the Lord clean, or at least seeking to be so, is a key part of sincere prayer.  Later as he described the Nephite church he said that new members should be “nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ” (Moroni 6:4).  Here the emphasis is simply on the persistent nature that prayer should have in our lives; we should be “continually watchful” by consistently praying.  Putting these together we see Moroni’s teaching that effective prayer means that we cry mightily without doubting, that we hearken to the words of the Lord and are stripped of uncleanness, and that we pray continually.  His teachings give us a rich view of what true communication with the Lord entails. 

It seems to me that prayer must have been what kept Moroni going for those decades when he wandered the land alone.  He had no one except the Lord, and surely he learned how to commune with God in his solitude.  Perhaps his most powerful invitation came after his testimony that his seeking led him to talk with Jesus “face to face.”  He invited us to “seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever” (Ether 12:39, 41).  Surely it is through the kind of heartfelt and persistent prayer that he advocated that will allow us to truly seek and find this Jesus in our lives.