As far as I know, there’s only one passage of scripture that appears in all four of
the standard works. Do you know where that is? When Jesus Christ appeared to the descendants
of Lehi after His resurrection, He quoted to them the words of the prophet Malachi.
After doing so, He said, “These scriptures, which ye had not with you,
the Father commanded that I should give unto you; for it was wisdom in him that
they should be given unto future generations.” I believe that we are part of those future
generations that Christ had in mind. Malachi’s words have important meaning for us today.
In fact, Malachi 4: 5 and 6 is the passage I spoke of just a minute ago.
These words appear in the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and The Pearl
of Great Price. In the Book of Mormon, we read these words of the Lord revealed by Malachi:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord; And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
We commonly teach the turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers connects with family
history and temple work. Those of us alive today, our hearts are turned to our fathers,
our ancestors, and we search after them to perform work that they cannot do for themselves.
But notice that before talking about the hearts of the children turning to the fathers,
Malachi speaks of the hearts of the fathers turning to the children.
Is it therefore hard to believe that the hearts of our fathers, our ancestors, are turned towards us,
and they search out after us to perform work that we cannot do for ourselves?
Ever since Adam and Eve, angels have been appearing to the children of God on the earth. The
Lord testified, “Mine angels are round about you to bear you up.” The influence of angels is real.
President James E. Faust taught, “We do not consciously realize the extent to which
ministering angels affect our lives. Their ministry has been
and is an important part of the gospel.” Who are these angels? Many of them are our
own ancestors doing work for us that we cannot do for ourselves. President Joseph F. Smith wrote,
“When messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of the earth,
they are not strangers, but come from the ranks of our kindreds, friends, and fellow-beings
and fellow-servants. Our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters and friends may have a mission
given them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again.”
So, let’s combine the idea that our ancestors are among the angels watching over us with
the statement from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland who taught that when facing difficult circumstances,
we should “Pray without ceasing. Ask for angels to help you.” Adding we should pray for angels
to help us to our ancestors are among those angels who are ministering to us equals we can find great
power in praying for our ancestors to help us. I’m not saying we should pray to our ancestors.
Rather, we can pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ and ask for our ancestors
to help us with specific challenges we face. I’m not the first person to suggest this approach.
Sister Wendy Watson Nelson wrote that she prays “for those on the other side to be dispatched
to assist us,” and said “Perhaps a departed loved one could be sent to you,
to help you with whatever you need.” I know we can find great strength as we pray
and ask for the help of our ancestors. A few years ago, my wife Lani and I experienced a very serious
challenge. It seemed as if a righteous desire we had both worked diligently to achieve was
about to shatter into a million pieces. We felt constant darkness and in despair we pled with God,
naming specific ancestors who we thought would be particularly concerned about the situation
and asked God to send them to intervene. As we prayed multiple times over an extended
period, we felt the support of these unseen beings and could feel of their love and interest.
Miracles occurred that we can only attribute to divine intervention. Help we believe came
through the direct assistance of our ancestors. Remember that just as our hearts turn to our
ancestors, their hearts turn to us. When we face serious struggles, we have heavenly help.
As Elisha said, “They that be with us are more than they that be with them.” Our own ancestors
may be among the unseen angels working on our behalf. Praying in the name of Jesus
Christ for their assistance has brought me great peace and I hope it will do the same for you.