God is not our boss and us his employees. He's not a judge and we're not criminals. He is our Father and we are his children. I'm David Butler and this is my Five-Minute Fireside. Once upon a time there
was a dad who blew it. And it was me. Y'all I have like a million children, and
we were taking them to stake conference one time and it was in the middle of the
biggest blizzard of my life. So we pull into the parking lot of the church. We're
a little bit late (don't judge me) and we are trying to like herd the
children into the church and all of a sudden Christian stops and he's just
like "Oh no!" And I'm like "Christian, what's wrong bud?" And he's like "I lost my Lego sword!"
Christian, my six-year-old son at the time loved Legos and he wanted to bring
this little pirate Lego set to church and he brought it and he didn't lose the
pirate but he lost the sword that goes in the pirate's hand. So somewhere
between the church and the car Christian had lost this lego sword and I looked at
all the snow and I thought "There is not a prayer that you're going to find that."
So I kind of was just like "Okay Christian, let's go, let's move
in and he's like "But dad, what about my sword? and I look down at him and I
looked at the snow and I said "Bud, sorry, you can't, you're not gonna be able
to find it. Then right when I said that I had this impression and it was "Pray to
find the sword." But then I thought "What if we pray to find the sword and then
we don't find it? Then Christian's not gonna believe in prayer anymore, he's not
gonna believe in a God." So I ignored it. And then Christian stopped, and he said
"Dad, can't we just pray to find it?" And I looked out at the snowy street, and
this is when I won "Father of the Year," and I said "Christian, there are some
things God can't even find." And then we went into church. And we come out and it had not stopped blizzarding the whole time, we're making our way back to the car, and
from behind me I hear this cheer and it's Christian and I turned
around and he is holding up the sword like he has just won the World Series and I look back and I seriously stopped
traffic because I was like "What?! How in the world did you find that? How did you do
that? And he looks at me and he's like "I just prayed dad and then I found it." And
I'm like "What?" Feeling about as big as that little Lego sword by the way since
I was the one who told him "God can't find it" and then he looks up at me and
says "I guess you were wrong dad." And y'all, I am here to set the record
straight: I was wrong.
God can find Legos lost in the snow and He can find lost wallets, and He can
find lost keys, and God especially cares about lost souls. Why? Because we're His
children, and He cares about the things that we care about. Of course He wanted
to help Christian find that sword. Christian's His son and He adores him
like a father does. Let me read you this part from the Bible dictionary: "As soon
as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God, namely God is our Father and we are His children, then at once prayer becomes natural and
instinctive on our part." God is not our boss and us His employees, He's not a
judge and we're not criminals, He is our Father and we are His children. I've
thought a lot about this experience since then, and I want to talk about
three lessons about prayer that I've learned. The first one is we pray
because he can help us. Let me look in the Bible dictionary again with you
under prayer: "The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure
for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but
that are made conditional on our asking for them.
We don't just pray to make ourselves feel better, but there's actual power in
prayer. When we pray God actually can help us. The second lesson is this: we
pray to show God that we love and trust Him. Why was I so afraid to pray with
Christian? Maybe some of you experience this and have felt this before: sometimes we're afraid not just for our children's sake but for ourselves. What if I ask, and
what if I plead, and what if I beg, and God says no? Or he doesn't answer our
prayers? He still wants us to ask. He still wants us to show that we trust Him,
and that we love Him. I'm convinced that God is 100% for us and adores us the way
that a father adores his children. Every single answer that God gives is because
He loves us. Praying and asking Him is a way that we show Him that we love Him,
and that we trust Him. And the third lesson that I want to talk about is that
prayer connects us to Him. What about those times when we don't get the answer
that we expect. Is that why we're praying in the first place? To get exactly what
we want? In those cases we don't actually want a God, but we want a servant, or a
butler, or a genie. Instead God wants to be our Father, and He wants us to come to Him and to be vulnerable. Even if He doesn't answer the way that we want
there is something about the asking and there's something exalting about waiting
and God is our Father and He wants to make a connection with us. He's not in
the business of spoiling his children, He's in the business of exalting them.
And so He asks us to pray always so that we can stay connected to Him. When we
pray, and when we beg, and when we get answers that we hope for or answers
that we don't, all of those experiences just bring us closer to Him. Thanks for
being with me. I'm David Butler and this was my Five-Minute Fireside.
