3 Nephi 17:15-23

15 And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.

16 And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;

17 And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.

18 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying unto the Father, he arose; but so great was the joy of the multitude that they were overcome.

19 And it came to pass that Jesus spake unto them, and bade them arise.

20 And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full.

21 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.


This is one of my most favorite passages of scripture. It strengthens my testimony of Jesus Christ and His love for us each time I read it. We don't know what Jesus said in His prayer at this time, but we know it was "great" and "marvelous". The part that really is amazing to me, however says, "no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father." Can you imagine being there at that time and feeling this joy and happiness? Can you imagine Jesus praying to Heavenly Father for you?

I know that prayer can be like this for us, even in our day. We can pray with faith in Jesus Christ's name and He will be our advocate to the Father. He will plead our case to the Father. He has our best interests in mind. We can know that they both hear our prayers. It touched me to know that Jesus wept as He prayed. Prayer can be and should be an emotional thing. We can express our deepest feelings to our Heavenly Father. I know that making prayer an important part of our lives can make our joy full.