Moroni 7

This chapter is full of great doctrine on miracles and faith, hope, and charity and many other things but I am going to focus on some ideas in this chapter that may go overlooked but that I find of great importance to myself.

Moroni 7:9

And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.

What does that mean "with real intent of heart"? I define "heart" as our center, our core. Our true inner desires. Our true selves. Our identity independent of all other people or influences. The things we would say and do if we lived alone on a island, and there were no other people to "act" for. So when we pray if we wish God to receive us, we must truly be sincere.

The general idea expressed in this scripture is that it doesn't count if we don't mean it. It takes constant effort to "mean it", to overcome the tendency we all have to revert back to just "going through the motions". Do you have a testimony in your core that you pray in sincerity and with real intent of heart? Only you can answer that question for yourself and it takes some heart searching, but I think if we're honest with ourselves we can all find the answer.

Moroni 7:44

If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God; save the meek and lowly in heart;

Now terms like lowly in heart are used all too often in the church, but I find personally, if I'm put on the spot, I struggle to provide adequate definitions for them. Now that I have plenty of time to ponder, I would define lowly in heart as being sincerely humble, as being humble in our very core. It means we fully admit to ourselves the gap between us and the Father and our dependence on the savior and his atonement to bridge that gap. It is related to the sentiment expressed by Ammon when he said "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak" (Alma 26:12) Do we have a testimony of our own nothingness?

The ideas expressed in these verses relate to our true selves, not only the actions that we perform but the ideas and desires behind those actions. These scriptures show us that a person may pray and may have faith and hope but may still be unacceptable before god. While god wants us to have hope and faith and to pray he is also vitally interested in the actual changing of our hearts. It's about making real change, becoming something new in our very core. He wants us to truly become like his son Jesus Christ, and this is a work done alone, in our hearts. It is between us, our Father, and the Savior. And only we can know our own sincerity and our own progress.

And never forget...

1 John 3:20-21

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.