In response to the importuning pleas of the brother of Jared, the promise of the Lord is grand: they will become a mighty nation. The Lord has compassion upon those who cry unto Him for guidance. He answers their prayers. Let us remember to pray fervently, with faith and real intent. Let us pray continually, not just with a cursory request, but with a longing heart. Our prayers will be answered. Let us have the faith to accept this principle and live it in our lives. President Marion G. Romney enlarges upon this principle:
One of our greatest needs today is to turn to God in true prayer so that we may conquer Satan and escape the hands of the servants of Satan that uphold his work. I should like to call your attention to some of the essentials of effective prayer. One of them is belief in God, the Eternal Father, as taught by Joseph Smith.
There is a world of difference in the attitude in which one prays understandingly to “our Father which art in heaven” and that of one whose prayer is addressed to some unknown god thought of as “cosmic energy,” “universal consciousness,” or as “the first great cause.” No man prays to a theoretical god with the faith and expectation that his petition will receive sympathetic personal consideration. But one can understandingly pray to the true and living God with the assurance that his prayers will be heard and answered. When God is believed in as our Eternal Father, we can to a degree understand our relationship to him—that he is the Father of our spirits, a loving parent who is interested in his children individually and whom they can love with all their hearts, might, mind, and strength.
Such a belief is essential to true prayer because intelligent beings will not pray fervently to a God they do not know. Such praying will be done only by people who believe their prayers can be heard and answered by an understanding, sympathetic parent. (Look to God and Live [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1971], 200–201)