Faith Like Making a Phone Call

Can you remember the first time you ever used a phone?   Now, maybe if we can go back far enough, some might remember the first time they ever used a cell phone but that's a different story!  If I was asked that question however, I know I wouldn't be able to pinpoint when I first started to use a phone.

The function and purpose of a phone has been around me my whole life, as it has been for the majority of us.  I can't ever think of a time that I have questioned whether or not it would actually work - meaning that I never doubted that when I talked into one end of the phone, that someone on the other end would be able to hear me and then when they respond, I would be able to put my ear to the other end and hear them.

Dialing the number, hearing the ring, and waiting for someone to respond - that all was very clear to me, I never questioned it.  And if it didn't work, I would then figure that it was due to a problem with my phone, or maybe theirs, or possibly my service was down, or it could have been theirs.  Never would I think though that there was a problem with the invention of the telephone, I've witnessed it work and have used it myself time and time again.  I did not doubt that I could use some sort of device to communicate with others all over the world - I knew it worked.

How does it work though?  How can I speak into this device that runs off of electricity, emitting frequencies received by cell towers, that then direct my call to the number I have dialed?  How does it work?  Well, go ahead! Take apart your phone and look at all the pieces in it, the computer chip and the wires, and figure out how it all works.  I don't recommend it but dropping your phone into a pool or toilet usually gives a person such an opportunity (luckily I've only experienced the first one!). 

How does it work?  I don't have a clue.  Even after skimming over this good article, "How Cell Phones Work", I still feel like I'm in the dark.  I was hoping to be able to describe simply how it works and then shift that into how prayer works but it just was not working out for me.  I did narrow it down to these few things:

• Make sure the phone is on with a charged battery and/or have it plugged into the wall
• Check your cell phone coverage (may require standing on chairs, waving the phone around, running around the house or leaning out windows).  If its a land-line, make sure you have a dial tone.
• If that's all in order, punch in your number and hope its right.  Best of luck to you if you are still using a a rotary dial phone, your going to need it.
• If someone answers on the other end, say "Hello".  Now that's some good advice to heed because  it can be quite awkward when you call or receive a call and nothing is said, all you can hear is just breathing. 
• Have a great conversation, talk about whatever you want, say your goodbyes and then close the phone, press the red button, or hang it up.  This is one of the most important steps!  Don't get caught having the line still connected and then go rant and rave about how much a person talks.  "He/She just wouldn't stop talking....".  That could get you in trouble.

You might have noticed that you learned nothing new from what I "narrowed" it down to.  If so, then good!  Because I know just about as much as how a phone actually works as I do about how my prayers and thoughts are actually heard in Heaven.  But this much I do know: prayer, like making a phone call, works.

Let's switch up the words here.  Can you remember the first time you ever prayed?  Like above, some might remember but most - if you had it around you - probably will not.  Folding your arms, bowing your head, closing your eyes, and praying became a normal process, especially at the dinner table, since it was your ticket and que to begin eating while maintaining your politeness.  As my uncle always jokingly said, "Bless this mess, Amen!".  Usually though, we like to include a little more dialogue then that to express our thanks and love, but it sure would have allowed us to eat our food hot on many occasions, Thanksgiving to name one of them!

So how about prayer?  How does it work?  How can folding our arms, bowing our head, closing our eyes, and then, whether aloud or by thought, form into a spiritually audible dialogue that can be heard by someone we cannot see?  How does it work when all we can do is just say a prayer in our head?  Is either heard differently?  Are they heard at all?  If so, then how?

It all starts with your own, personal faith.  Think about what Jesus Christ taught that if we but had the faith of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.  When the wind blows, what do you see?  You can see it carry objects in the air and move dirt and dust from the ground, and you can feel it.  What other description do we have but to describe this action called wind as just moving air?  How do you know it exists?  You know its real because you can feel it.  You've felt the breeze on a nice summer day cool you and you might have felt the wind chill you to the very bone, bringing on a wind chill factor in the negatives.  No we cannot see it, but we feel it.  We know its there.

What of God?  The same applies.  No we cannot always see him, but I know He is there, I have felt His love, peace, and guidance and I know you can too.  How can we build our faith then to have such a conviction that just as we expect our call to go through on a phone, that our prayers can be answered?  Might I offer three suggestions that will increase your faith in Jesus Christ in making prayer seem more real and pertinent to your daily activities?

1. You must first begin praying.  Click Here for a "How-To" Guide to start that prayer.  If someone hands a phone to you for the first time in your life, of course you would be doubting or confused on how or if it would even work. Especially if you have never seen it work before, you would question it entirely. We can't say there is no God if we have not tried praying.  "They said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken . . . And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord? And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us" (1 Ne. 15:7-9).  Its like saying you don't like eating a kind or type of food without even trying it.
2. You must pray with a firm belief that you will receive an answer from God.  "Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." (3 Ne. 18:19-20)
3. Once you pray, pray again, and again, and pray some more.  Don't stop at just one.  "I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." (2 Ne. 32:9).

Strive to lead a daily, prayerful life and I can promise you that the reality of prayer will become more and more meaningful to you as you apply these principles and place your faith and trust in the Lord.  And remember, all He requires of you at first is for you to have as much faith as a mustard seed.  Looking at that picture above, that's not too big.  If you have as much faith as that, imagine what you can achieve with your faith in Christ as it begins to grow.  It is because of a humble and sincere prayer, that we can return to our Heavenly Father.