Just before I got up the other morning, I was in a semi-wakeful state when I had a dreamlike vision.  It was just a quick glance, but, I think, very accurate, and from the Spirit.

In my dream or vision I had an early-morning view of our valley.  Here and there from various homes scattered around the valley were “prayer balloons” rising.  These were the homes where someone inside was praying.  For lack of a better term I call them “prayer balloons” because they were rising at the rate that a helium-filled balloon would rise.  They were blue, and were shaped like long or short cylinders.

God, from His vantage point in the heavens, took note of each rising prayer.  The prayers had scarcely left the homes before He’d point His finger at that home and zap the home or that individual with a blessing.  It was that quick—that instantaneous.

I’m sure that’s the way it is.  I’m sure every prayer is noticed, and that every prayer is answered.  The answer may or may not have much to do with what the prayer was about, but the prayer is immediately followed by the blessing the person needs, whether the person has identified that need or not.

Pity the homes from which no prayers arise.

Blessings need to be asked for.  The promise is given over and over and over again in the scriptures that if we ask, it shall be given.  Our loving heavenly Father desires to bless us; but most often, the blessing is withheld until we ask for it.  That way we’ll know for sure from whence the blessing comes, and our faith will be strengthened.

Pity the person who never prays.  That person goes through life thinking that everything depends upon his own strength and genius, and that he’s all alone in the world.  And he’s right.  He truly is alone.  He’s exposed to all the whims and wiles, and the arrows and the errors of the adversary.

Heber J. Grant said, “I have little or no fear for the boy or the girl, the young man or the young woman, who honestly and conscientiously supplicate God twice a day for the guidance of His Spirit.  I am sure that when temptation comes they will have the strength to overcome it by the inspiration that shall be given to them.  Supplicating the Lord for the guidance of His Spirit places around us a safeguard, and if we earnestly and honestly seek the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord, I can assure you that we will receive it.”  (As quoted by President Ezra Taft Benson, The Ensign, November 1977, pg. 32).

For many years now I’ve misquoted President Grant.  I’ve said that prayer places around us a “protective shield.”  Call it a safeguard or a protective shield.  It’s what the prophet Samuel had on when he mounted the walls of Zarahemla.  His mockers and detractors couldn’t hit him with their stones and arrows.

Pity the person who leaves home in the morning without putting on his protective shield.

The Lord says, “For I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up.”  (D&C 84:88).

Prayer is a sacred privilege, a golden opportunity, and a solemn obligation that we would do well to engage in as often as the thought comes.  Happy is the man or the woman, the boy or the girl, who has the thought come often, and who acts upon it.