I’ve often heard people make the comment, “I was so mad, I didn’t feel worthy to pray.” Or, “I haven’t felt worthy to pray in a long time.”
2nd Nephi 32:8-9 reads: And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.
The simple truth is this – there’s no such thing as being worthy to pray.
The murderer on death row has permission to pray. The child molester, the drug addict, the thief, the abuser—Hitler could pray, if Hitler was of a mind to do so. Our Heavenly Father wants to hear from each and every one of us. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done or haven’t done. It doesn’t matter if we’re feeling particularly lovable at the time. It doesn’t matter if we haven’t prayed for years. If we want to pray, we can pray. It’s as simple as that.
Satan has not lost his memory from before, and he knows how important it is for us to remain in close contact with our Heavenly Father. He is so furious that the plan is moving forward without him that he is doing everything he can to keep us from succeeding, and one of his main tricks is to keep us from feeling worthy. That in and of itself is a trick – whether or not I feel worthy is not an indicator of my true worthiness. Only my Heavenly Father can decide if I am or am not worthy. My own barometer is faulty. I could get caught up in pride and think I’m doing really quite well, when in fact I’m not. Or I could be too hard on myself when in reality, I’m doing quite well.
It’s true that we must repent of our sins and become worthy to enter the temple and to partake of the sacrament. And how is it that we repent? Through prayer, mainly. See how this becomes a double bind? We don’t want to pray because we don’t feel worthy, we won’t feel worthy unless we repent, and yet the path to repentance is paved with prayer. You can’t truly repent without taking the sin to Heavenly Father. There’s no such thing as talking it over with Him afterwards—you must talk it over with Him during. And by making us feel that we’re unworthy to pray, Satan is keeping us from truly repenting.
Again, I say, the notion that we are unworthy to pray is a lie. It is fed to us by the great deceiver. It does not matter what you’ve done (honestly, can you tell me you’re worse than Hitler?) our Father wants to hear from you, and He will listen to every word you say.
Related Blogs:
Prayer and Personal Revelation