Agency!

Enos

Enos is such a great example of “how it's done”. He prays to the Father for forgiveness of his sins. After he is given a confirmation that the Lord forgives him, he asks how it's done. He was told it was because of his faith in Christ whom he had never before seen.

Can we not have this same type of experience? Have I seen Christ? No! But I too have experienced a similar type of forgiveness. It begins with a hunger (v4) and then by humbling oneself to the point of kneeling down and just asking.

I've often wondered how a person could pray all day and into the night. This one doesn't bother me any more. I've experienced days when I've felt I prayed all day and into the night. The most recent was for the RS sisters in my stake who were struggling with their visiting teaching report. I had nowhere else I could turn. The Lord was my only resource. I prayed for each president personally. Sometimes I would pray for their presidencies individually. As I went about my day, if I got the impression to kneel down and go through my list again, that is what I did. I felt the Lord's blessings that day and wondered why I've not thought of this resource before in other problems I was dealing with. What a resource!

There is one key element in all of this, however. As we pray for others, we need to remember what the Lord told Enos in v10 - “. . . I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments.” He goes on to explain they've already been blessed by having this holy land. But they must be diligent in keeping the commandments. It won't be until those we pray for are similarly diligent in keeping the commandments that they will see the Lord's hand in their life. They must want the same thing.

And there you go. It always comes to agency. We have our agency to either keep the commandments and be blessed or not keep them and suffer the consequences.