I Pray For Them

At the end of the first day among the people of Nephi, Jesus healed all their sick and commanded that their children should be brought to Him. He asked the people to kneel down and then He did the same, and “he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.” The people bore record of this prayer from Jesus in these words, “The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father; And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.” When He stopped praying the people’s joy was so great “that they were overcome” (3 Nephi 17:16-18). A similar experience happened the next day when He came among them again. He commanded the people to pray, and then He did the same. He prayed for them and then “he came unto his disciples” and beheld them praying. He prayed a second time and then “came again unto his disciples” and saw that they were still praying. He then went a third time and prayed, and Mormon recorded, “And it came to pass that he went again a little way off and prayed unto the Father; And tongue cannot speak the words which he prayed, neither can be written by man the words which he prayed. And the multitude did hear and do bear record; and their hearts were open and they did understand in their hearts the words which he prayed. Nevertheless, so great and marvelous were the words which he prayed that they cannot be written, neither can they be uttered by man” (3 Nephi 19:31-34). So again, this day it was while He prayed for them that they had an experience so marvelous that they could not describe it with words. He had miraculously healed their sick and He had blessed their children in what must have been a most incredible experience. But it was when they heard Him pray to the Father that they were so moved that they were overcome and could not describe in words His prayer.   

                Though we of course do not know what He prayed for in the final, powerful prayers each day (since it could not be written), Mormon did record some of the words He prayed before that. Jesus said to the Father, “I pray unto thee for them, and also for all those who shall believe on their words…. I pray for them, and also for them who shall believe on their words, that they may be purified in me…. I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me out of the world, because of their faith, that they may be purified in me” (3 Nephi 19:23, 28-29). Similarly, when He blessed their children He “prayed unto the Father for them” (3 Nephi 17:21). Simply put, He prayed for them. As I thought about this, I realized that this is an example we should follow as parents with our children. They need to hear us praying to the Father for them. I believe there is power in hearing someone pray for you to touch our hearts just as it did the people of Nephi. Of course, we will not be able to pray with the same intensity as the Savior did, we can still pour out our hearts to the Father in behalf of those we love. And in a small way they perhaps will be moved by that prayer like the people who heard the Savior pray. This reminds me of the experience of Joseph and Hyrum when they were at the end of Zion’s Camp and many had become seriously ill with cholera. Lucy Mack Smith recorded how her two sons likewise became violently ill and wrote, “Hyrum cried out, ‘Joseph, what shall we do? Must we be cut off from the face of the earth by this horrid curse?’ ‘Let us,’ said [Joseph], ‘get down upon our knees and pray to God to remove the cramp and other distress and restore us to health, that we may return to our families.’ We did so but without receiving any benefit, but still grew worse.… We soon came to the resolution of appealing again to God for mercy and not to rise from our knees until one or the other got a testimony that we should be healed.… We prayed some time, first one and then the other, and soon perceived that the cramp began to loose its hold. And in a short time afterwards, Hyrum sprang to his feet and exclaimed, ‘Joseph, we shall return, for I have seen an open vision in which I saw Mother on her knees under an apple tree praying for us, and she is even now asking in tears for God to spare our lives that she may behold us again in the flesh. And the Spirit testifies to me that her prayers and ours shall be heard.’ And from that moment we were healed and went on our way rejoicing.” When Hyrum heard his mother praying for him, he knew that he was going to be healed, and he was. We must not underestimate the power of prayer to help our children, and we should not shy away from letting them hear us pour out our hearts to God for them.