"Why are the three words ‘are willing to’ necessary here? Are they important? Would it make a difference if the prayer left these out and just read: ’ … and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them’? Yes, it would make a difference. It would make a difference because I cannot do this latter thing. I can’t witness, affirm, or swear that I do always remember him and keep his commandments. I would be lying, and I know it—I want to do the right thing, but sometimes I don’t. This is precisely the problem that makes the atonement of Christ and the gospel covenant necessary for me in the first place—I can’t keep all the commandments all the time no matter how hard I try. It follows that I can’t honestly witness to God that I will keep all the commandments when I know that, in some degree at least, I probably won’t.
“However, I can with absolute honesty witness that I am willing to. I can swear that this is the desire of my heart. I can affirm that I hunger and thirst after these things, that I will do all I can to be obedient. Thus even by the technical terms of the covenant renewal prayer, God lets me know that the honest commitment of my heart and my best efforts are sufficient for the covenant to be renewed, and that the covenant of faith is sufficient, through the grace of Christ, to justify me before God.” (Stephen E. Robinson, Believing Christ, p. 53-4)
Bruce C. Hafen
“Our part of that covenant is not that we may never make a mistake; it is, rather, that we are willing to take upon ourselves his name, willing to always remember him, and willing to keep his commandments. And that willingness shows where our hearts really are. On this condition, he will always be with us, to heal, to compensate, to strengthen us by the gifts of his Spirit—for those gifts are ’given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments, and [those] that seeketh so to do.’ (D&C 46:9; emphasis added.) The Lord offers the gifts of the Spirit not only to those who do but also to those who, willing but struggling, seek to do his will.” (The Belonging Heart, p. 86)