{"chapter_no":"14","chapter_title":"Serious Prayer","book_id":"2","book_name":"The Story of James","subchapter_no":"0","page_no":"261","page_number":"1","verses_count":0,"total_pages":4,"page_content":"

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Chapter 14<\/p>

Serious Prayer<\/h1><\/p>

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Reading becomes the main hobby of James—Filled with gratitude towards God, he immerses
himself in serious prayer.<\/i><\/p>

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The main reason why James sometimes experienced depression for hours or days at a
time was that he was bored and not actively engaged in doing things. Unable to move around
freely like before, he had lots of free time and, seemingly, nothing to do. Thus, becoming active
again at school and getting busy with his studies was very helpful in that respect. It created a
daily routine and kept his mind busy. With the help of his teachers, he was able to make up for
the lost time and catch up with the other students in his class work. The teachers made great
efforts to help James, coordinating assignments and tests for him when he was undergoing
medical treatments. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Encouraged by the momentum he had gained in life by becoming active in school again,
James next looked at the problem he had after coming home from school each day––boredom.
He solved this problem by becoming an avid reader and enriching his mind. Finishing his school
work first, he then found enjoyment in reading and learning things in areas of his own choosing.
It quickly became his number one hobby, replacing athletics in that top spot. He first read books
of fiction that interested him, but he soon set his eyes upon the scriptures. He had so many
questions about the gospel now; he wanted to learn and study new things, but also take a fresh
look again at everything he had already been taught over the years in the Church. In many
respects, the spiritual manifestations that had occurred recently had been over his head, involving
technical aspects of the gospel that he didn’t fully understand; so, there was a lot to learn. But
once he had learned more and started to understand, the significance of what had happened to
him was all the more exciting. He realized that what he had experienced was very unique, like he
had discovered buried treasure in a hill nearby to his home. It was here, in these early days of
studying the gospel on his own, that he first developed a hunger and thirst for righteousness.<\/p>

 <\/p>

James, until recently, had been an average, run-of-the-mill young adult member of the
Church. But circumstances had changed. He had made the decision to use his free time every day
to learn the things of God. As a result, he was able to win the battle over depression and quicken
his soul through the gifts of the Spirit.<\/p>

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There were plenty of excellent role models of gospel living all around him that he could
look to: his older brothers, his parents, priesthood leaders in the ward, and the many fine leaders
of the Church, past and present. And it was largely what he had learned from them, by following <\/p>

their example, that had allowed him to progress this far. But as James hungered more and more
for the things of God, he gazed into heaven more directly. In his study of the scriptures, he found
references made to the perfect role model––Jesus Christ, known also to the world as the Savior,
the Redeemer, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, Jehovah, and the Creator. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Within the gospels of the New Testament, in the book of Third Nephi, and in almost all
sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, the personality of the Lord Jesus Christ was there on
display, ready for anyone to discover, along with His teachings and the example of His life. But
truly, all pages in the Latter-day Saint scriptures testify of Christ in one way or another. There is
no greater purpose in their existence than that. <\/p>

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A storm of powerful feelings developed inside of James as he read and searched the
scriptures, his soul being pointed to Christ by the teachings of the prophets found therein. It was
all so good to read, to ponder, and to discover—the ultimate treasure hunt of life! <\/p>

 <\/p>

In view of this, we might therefore conclude by virtue of hindsight that James was
prepared by God for a special calling in life. The Lord had a foreknowledge of what James might
seek out and pursue in his days on earth, and what his desires would be. The injury to his foot
was an accident of a sort, but not accidental in the fuller context of his road to salvation, as well
the road to the salvation of countless others he might influence while here. <\/p>

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So, if James had been foreordained by God to some great purpose, would we be correct in
assuming that it was this special foreordination alone, that came about long before he was born,
that made him special? <\/p>

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The answer: certainly not. <\/p>

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If he was elect in some way, James certainly had no knowledge of it. In fact, he had not
yet received his patriarchal blessing. But even if he had already received it, and it described him
as among the noble and great ones of Heavenly Father’s children, it was still only a description
of the potential he had and nothing more. Ultimately, it would still come down to what he did in
the gospel throughout his life, just as it does for everyone. <\/p>

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This then raises an important question for us. What can we accomplish for good in our
lives that is not explicitly spelled out in our patriarchal blessings? <\/p>

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The answer: virtually anything we can think of. <\/p>

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There is no ceiling of blessings in heaven or earth to hold us back. Our patriarchal
blessing may only be the opening bid by the Lord, a list of the minimum blessings available to
us, a first talent from which we can then go out into the world and earn more, even a
hundredfold.<\/p>

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As for James, he had many fine characteristics, but foremost among these were ones like
we saw in the first few chapters of the book in Brother Mark Chandler. He delighted in the <\/p>

fulness of the restored gospel. He recognized and appreciated all the blessings he had received,
and pondered upon them often. <\/p>

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His appreciation of the things of God was strengthened by his passion for reading the
scriptures. In fact, you could say his reading of the scriptures was not even “reading” in the
traditional sense of the word. His lifelong habit of reading a few verses and then pondering upon
them for a few minutes, or even for a few hours, started about this time. He would read a few
lines, find something interesting, then stop and ponder. Pondering would often cause him to want
to pray and, in prayer, his thoughts would become totally immersed—an immersion so complete
that each prayer was like its own baptism. His eyes, closed in prayer, would sometimes
moisten—powerful feelings of gratitude that caused his eyes to tear. As he expressed himself and
articulated feelings to God, he would often receive back feelings inside his heart and hear the
voice of the Spirit. And while he did become accustomed to the presence of the Spirit in his life
on a regular basis, it should be noted that each manifestation of the Spirit tended to shock his
body, albeit ever so gently. <\/p>

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His prayers became highly developed, being full of faith and quite serious in nature.
Instead of following the traditional two-step process of prayer—first giving thanks, then asking
for the things in need—his prayers started to include three. First, he prayed with strong feelings
of gratitude; second, he submitted pleas for help on the behalf of others; third, and of least
priority, he submitted pleas for his own personal needs and wants. In this way, he learned to
forget himself. His prayers to the Lord became dominated by these first two areas––gratitude and
pleas of help for others. Surely, this was a wonderful manner of prayer! Pleas for help for our
own needs are lesser in stature. They can lead us to pray if we have no other reason, but the focus
on others ensures that we're always seeing the big picture of God's work on earth... which
increases the power of our prayers. Gratitude—an appreciation of all the wonderful things we
have in life—leads to charity... a pure love of God and all men. Prayers founded in gratitude
reach high into the heavens.<\/p>

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And isn’t that what faith in Christ is all about... gratitude? A prophet or a seer who has
faith to do mighty miracles, to prophesy about the future, or to see hidden things from the past,
will not generally arrive at that level by doing a massive technical study of the scriptures to
become smarter in the gospel than everyone else. A prophet is someone who is righteous at heart,
a person who looks to and follows the example of Jesus Christ. He is a person filled with love
and gratitude for the Savior. The faith in God and the knowledge level of such a person would
seem to be of secondary importance in comparison. <\/p>

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Consider the miracles of Jesus. Which of them might we consider to be the greatest? His
powerful reasoning, easily confounding the Pharisees when they approached him with questions?
The act of walking upon the water, the feeding of the five thousand, or maybe the raising of
Lazarus from the dead? These were all amazing feats for sure, but the greatest miracles of all
were his acts of love and charity; and more than anything, who He was as a man. His bowels
were filled with mercy. He taught us to love one another, to feed His sheep, and to be meek and
humble. He suffered the little children to come unto Him. He prayed unto the Father on behalf of
the people using words that could not be uttered. He suffered alone in Gethsemane for the sins of <\/p>

the world. He forgave His captors on the cross. Charity was the great triumph of Jesus Christ
over the world. <\/p>

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As James learned to pray with gratitude in his heart, it brought tears to him. The presence
of tears required that he wipe his eyes at the conclusion of his prayers to avoid notice by others.
Prayer was a personal thing to him, an emotional outreach and an emotional cleansing, so he
wanted to keep his crying to the Lord confidential. Praying out loud in public, and within the
family, required a different skill set, something he would develop more in the years ahead. So for
now, he was mighty in prayer, but only when he was alone. <\/span><\/p>

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Becoming totally immersed, the end of a prayer often required that he reorient himself to
the outside world again and to what he had been doing beforehand. Opening his eyes and seeing
the scriptures in front of him, he would find his place and then read the next verse or two––
starting the pondering and praying process all over again. Reading, pondering, praying; praying,
pondering, reading––they were three different things, but one in purpose. It was sometimes
difficult for James to notice when any one of these three activities he was doing had stopped and
another had begun. He was discovering the gospel one scripture, one pondering session, and one
prayer at a time<\/span>. <\/p>

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Initially, his prayers had been focused on one thing—to obtain a miracle from the Lord to
heal his foot. But as time passed, he decided to leave that in the hands of the Lord as an open
request and to focus his mind instead on other things. This was a major milestone in his life, and
it changed him dramatically for the better. Once this decision had been made, James was no
longer just a boy. He was a man. And he was not just a man. He was a leader. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Six months had passed since the accident and he now had both of his feet under him. It
was time to begin his new career outside of basketball.<\/p>"}