Day 3: Enos 1:1-12 — Does God answer prayers?

The Book of Mormon 21 Day Challenge

Enos 1:1-12 — Does God answer prayers?

Scripture Focus: Enos 1:1-12

LDS Quote: "Heavenly Father has a glorified body of flesh and bones and is the Father of your spirit. Because Heavenly Father has all power and knows all things, He can see all His children and can hear

and answer every prayer. You can come to know for yourself that He is there and that He loves you." - Susan H. Porter – Pray, He is There, April 2024

Enos 1:1-12

Enos tells us he was raised by his father Jacob in the knowledge of God. He knew about eternal life. He understood that joy and happiness were found in knowing Him. Yet that knowledge did not settle his conscience. It drove him to wrestle in prayer for his soul.

He prays intensely. He spends hours crying out before God. A voice answers him. His sins are forgiven because of his faith in Christ — long before Christ’s earthly ministry. Enos has not seen Christ. He has not heard Him preach. Yet forgiveness is granted on the basis of faith in the coming Messiah.

He then intercedes for the Nephites. The Lord responds again, promising blessing for obedience and consequences for rebellion. Enos says his faith remains unshaken. He then prays for the Lamanites, and the Lord declares He will grant according to Enos’ desires because of his faith.

On the surface, this is a powerful narrative of repentance and answered prayer. A man cries out — and God responds.

Christians affirm that God hears prayer. That is not in dispute.

The question is deeper.

Observations

Enos already possessed knowledge of God and eternal life. Yet when forgiveness is declared, he asks, “How is it done?” The answer given is: because of thy faith in Christ.

Christians affirm that Christ’s atoning work applies across history. However, Scripture presents those before the incarnation as trusting in the promises of God — rejoicing in what was to come — rather than possessing a fully articulated understanding of the name, timing, and mechanism of the atonement. They believed God, and it was counted to them as righteousness.

This passage also presents immediate divine response to persistent prayer. Enos wrestles — and hears. He pleads — and receives a voice.

Here we must ask a pastoral question: Is prayer validated by immediate response? Does faith depend upon inward impressions or audible assurance? Or can faith stand even when heaven appears silent?

That question becomes especially important when we consider modern LDS teaching on prayer.

Who is God?

Before asking how God answers prayer, we must ask who God is.

The quote from President Susan H. Porter defines Heavenly Father as a glorified being of flesh and bones. This reflects the broader LDS teaching — rooted in Joseph Smith’s King Follett discourse and later clarified in Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 — that the Father possesses a tangible body.

Latter-day Saints will rightly say that when Scripture speaks of God hearing or seeing, this supports embodiment. They will also point out that Numbers 23:19 (“God is not a man”) refers to moral reliability — not to denying God’s exalted, perfected nature.

But the biblical testimony goes further.

Numbers 23:19 does not merely contrast God with sinful men; it distinguishes Him categorically. Malachi 3:6 declares, “For I am the Lord, I change not.” God is not a being who progressed into deity. He is eternally God.

John 4:24 states plainly: “God is Spirit.” This is not metaphorical language like Psalm 91:4, where God is described as having feathers. Nor is it like Christ calling Himself bread (John 6), a door (John 10), or a vine (John 15). Those are figures of speech communicating spiritual truth.

When Scripture defines God as Spirit, unchanging, eternal, it is describing His nature — not offering poetic imagery.

Even the Book of Mormon states in Moroni 8:18 that God is “not a changeable being.”

This is where the tension lies. If God was once a man who progressed to exaltation, that is change.

If He possesses a body of flesh and bones by nature, then He is embodied matter. The God revealed in Scripture, however, is eternal Spirit — uncreated, unchanging, not progressing into deity.

So when Enos says God answered him, the question is not whether an answer occurred. The question is identity.

Are we speaking of the eternal, uncreated Creator — or of an exalted, embodied being?

That distinction matters.

A Faithful Prayer

President Russell M. Nelson asked in 2024:

“How can you know that Heavenly Father is really there, even when you can’t see Him?”

He invited believers to pour out their hearts — and then listen — to what they feel in their hearts and to thoughts that come into their minds.

This instruction places significant weight on inward impressions. It reflects the long-standing LDS teaching of spiritual confirmation — often described as a burning in the bosom.

But biblical faith is not grounded in emotional sensation.

Prayer can sometimes feel powerful. There are moments when one feels overwhelmed by the presence of God. But there are also long seasons of silence.

I have known those seasons. Tears pooling on the floor. Crying out to God. Asking to hear His voice — and hearing nothing.

If faith rests on feeling, then silence becomes doubt.

But the prayer of the righteous rests not on sensation — but on truth.

True faith says: whether I feel warmth or isolation, whether I sense closeness or distance, He is there. Not because my heart burns — but because He has revealed Himself.

There is a powerful scene in the film His Only Son, depicting Abraham before he enters Moriah. He pleads with God to take his own life instead of Isaac’s. He receives no response. The silence is painful.

But as the camera pulls back, the Angel of the Lord stands within sight — silent, yet present. Listening. Watching. Purposeful.

Abraham did not receive immediate reassurance. But God was there. And He had a plan.

The plan was not Abraham’s understanding. The plan was Christ.

Real prayer of faith is not trusting what we feel. It is trusting the God who has revealed Himself — even when heaven seems silent.

So we return to the question:

Does God answer prayer?

Christians say yes.

But before asking whether God answers, we must first ask:

Who is the God who answers — and upon what is our faith truly resting?