What Gods Do

*emailed to Michael's sister from Australia to post online*

What Gods Do

Moses 1:39 “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

What is God’s work and his glory?
His work is focused on allowing man to live forever with him. He wants to bring us from our low and fallen state to His high estate.

Now, after Jesus was crucified he dwelt among His sheep in Jerusalem. Then he left them to go and teach His sheep in the Americas (John 10:16). There is an account during that time that has always made me wonder. Jesus teaches the Nephites the manner they should pray and then commands them to pray. The people do so and are filled with the Holy Ghost. Then Jesus does the following in 3 Nephi 19: 19-21.

19 And it came to pass that Jesus departed out of the midst of them, and went a little way off from them and bowed himself to the earth, and he said:
20 Father, I thank thee that thou hast given the Holy Ghost unto these whom I have chosen; and it is because of their belief in me that I have chosen them out of the world.
21 Father, I pray thee that thou wilt give the Holy Ghost unto all them that shall believe in their words.

I am always touched by this account. I use to be confused as to why our Savior would have to bow down and pray to His Heavenly Father. I could understand why Jesus would pray before he was crucified, because he did not know everything, he was still learning about Himself and his mission. This is shown when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew 26: 39 he prays for the cup to be taken from him if it was God’s will. He did so, because he did not know the weight of our pains and sins till he actually did it.

What I’m trying to say is that I can see why he’d need to pray to God before completing the atonement, because he had not experience everything and needed the Father. But why would he need to pray after the Atonement was complete?

Moses 1:39 helped me understand what Gods do. By praying Jesus was giving glory to God. He was lifting God up even high. Jesus was also praying for the welfare of the people. He prayed for them to be uplifted to a point that they can receive the Holy Ghost.

What do Gods do? They lift up everyone around them higher and higher. They add joy and glory to others through their love.