D&C 109:54-80

109:54-59 - Dealing with the civil war and governmental stuff the prayer continues asking for protection for the constitution. The IM gives some very interesting insight quoting President George Q. Cannon as saying, “god has founded this land American and the government for the express purpose that Zion might be built upon this land, and that the people of all nations might come here singing His praises and thanking him that from the darkness and the threatening evils by which they are surrounded He has provided a way of escape, a safe place, that when calamities and judgments come upon the inhabitants of the earth, they can stand in holy places and be secure by keeping the commandments of God. What a glorious theme this is for the Elders to carry to the down-trodden of the nations of the earth who groan in darkness and who see no way of deliverance! Nor will it be the down-trodden alone who will listen to these tidings. Men in high places and of commanding positions will yet listen to them, and they will take note of this extraordinary people who have done such a remarkable work and who are now traversing the globe to bring from every land all who will listen to their message; to bring them with all their traditions to this place which we call Zion, where they can, by the fusing power of the Spirit of God, be consolidated into one united people.” Sometimes when I think about what we are doing as a people, as Americans, and think “how can the Lord let us act like this without destruction?” But this makes sense, there are some righteous left here, and the work of the Church needs to be supported here, so the Lord’s favor keeps us afloat, despite the fact that we are heading into a godless direction. The prayer continues for the hearts to be softened for those who hear the “testimony of thy name; that their prejudices may give way before the truth, and thy people may obtain favor in the sight of all.”

109:60-67 - The prayer now goes into gentiles, house of Jacob, Judah, Israel, etc. The IM taught, “Elder Joseph Fielding Smith explained: ‘let us also remember that we are of the Gentiles! By this I mean that the Latter-day Saints have come to their blessings through the Gentile nations. President Brigham Young… said that Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite. This is true; yet Joseph Smith came also of a Gentile lineage. So do most members of the Church. We may boast of our lineage, and rejoice in the fact that Patriarchs have declared us to be of Ephraim, but at the same time let us not despise the Gentiles, for we are also of them. If it were not so the scriptures would not be fulfilled.’ The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote that in reading the Book of Mormon ‘we learn that our western tribes of Indians are descendants from that Joseph which was sold into Egypt, and that the land of American is a promised land unto them, and unto it all the tribes of Israel will come, with as many of the Gentiles as shall comply with the requisitions of the new covenant. But the tribe of Judah will return to old Jerusalem. The city of Zion spoken of by David, in the one hundred and second Psalm, will be built upon the land of America, ‘And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads;’ and then they will be delivered from the overflowing scourge that shall pass through the land. But Judah shall obtain deliverance at Jerusalem… These are testimonies that the Good Shepherd will put forth His own sheep, and lead them out from all nations where they have been scattered in a cloudy and dark day, to Zion, and to Jerusalem; besides many more testimonies which might be brought.’”

109:68-80 - The prayer now shifts to the welfare for Joseph Smith, which I thought was a little weird when I thought that JS had prayed this spontaneously, but then the prayer then asks for blessings on the other leaders of the church. When it was discovered that the Lord dictated this prayer, it made much more sense. The prayer asks for blessings on “all thy church, O Lord, with all their families, and all their immediate connections.” He prays for the church to “come forth out of the wilderness… and cause the mountains to flow down at thy presence.” The IM comments, “’In the resurrection which now approaches,’ Elder Parley P. Pratt wrote, ‘and in connection with the glorious coming of Jesus Christ, the earth will undergo a change in its physical features, climate, soil, productions, and in its political, moral and spiritual government. Its mountains will be levelled, its valley exalted, its swamps and sickly places will be drained and become healthy, while its burning deserts and its frigid polar regions will be redeemed and become temperate and fruitful.” Finally the prayer ends with a plea to “help us by the power of thy Spirit.” The IM teaches, “the rearing of a Temple of God in the world is the construction of a citadel by the followers of Prince Immanuel (the Lord) in the territory claimed by Diabolus (the devil). Hence his rage when the people of God build Temples. But the Temple in Kirtland served its divine purpose, as did that in Nauvoo, though both were abandoned. In it the Saints received that power from on high which enabled the Church to withstand, successfully, the attacks of all enemies. Owing to that baptism by the Holy Spirit received in the Temples, the Church, notwithstanding persecution, exile, and apostasy, has grown in spiritual power and become able to make itself felt in the world as a regenerating force. But for the Temples and the communion with God established through the Temple service, the Church might have been overwhelmed in the persecutions of Missouri and Illinois, just as the Primitive Church might have perished in the early persecutions but for the power it received on the day of Pentecost.’”