If children, then heirs

Being instructed himself by heavenly beings, king Benjamin admonished his people: "[W]hen ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17.)

During His mortal ministry, lawyers and pharisees asked our God Made Flesh what (they thought to be) a "hard" question:

"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?"

His answer "healed" their blindness:

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (See Matthew 22:34-40.)

These words fully summarize our duty to heaven and earth. Neglecting these things, nothing else matters. Attending to them, everything else in the law is -- or shall be -- fulfilled. You will come to know the Father and gain eternal life.

Having the "answer" -- but being unwilling to accept it -- some quibbled over "who is my neighbour?" Jesus obliterated all disputation among them by demonstrating, by word and deed, that the downtrodden, the stranger, the beaten, broken and abused; the unwanted, sick, despised and neglected; the hungry, naked, imprisoned and homeless were His "neighbor." By serving them, Jesus served God.

In terms of serving others, Jesus warned us: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." (Matthew 25:45.)

Reiterating the great commandment, He admonished: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12.)

It's not easy for the natural man to follow the Golden Rule.

"[F]or wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) 

What one thing do we all wish that every man would do for us?

Grant our requests.

God does not grant unrighteous requests (though He gives good gifts to both the just and the unjust). Nor does He answer challenges (though He sometimes makes challenges). And He resists cooperating with His children when they make poor choices -- when granting their request would otherwise hinder or frustrate His over all plan (though He's smart enough to work around our weaknesses and mistakes).

How beholden is God to abiding by His own eternal law to "[g]ive to every man that asketh of thee"? (Luke 6:30.) 

He follows it. 

Just in case you don't believe fulfilling every (not-unrighteous) request fulfills the Golden Rule, notice what Jesus said next: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." (Luke 6:31.) 

By this ye may know the measure of a righteous man: he labors to grant every (not unrighteous) request. And when asked by a "neighbor" to go a mile, he goes with him twain, even ungrudgingly! (Matthew 5:41.) For what good is it to give a gift grudgingly? It is as if the gift were not given.

What if someone asks you to provide them with wine to get high and make merry? What should you do? What if it's "not on your agenda", it's not convenient for you (or it's not your job), it's not something you would normally do, or (in your opinion) it's not "necessary"? What if the request is "questionable", but not illegal, immoral, or unethical? What should you do?

Grant the request.

Jesus became so determined to grant others' requests that, even when asked by wicked men to give His life, He gave it, allowing them to take Him to be judged and crucified. He willfully submitted to all things, even as His Father saw fit to inflict upon Him. Like the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, He willfully laid down His own life for his friends, even His enemies.

If granting a request doesn't violate the law -- or if it doesn't conflict with any other request made by God (or by others of whom you wish to be rewarded) -- then grant it! Do everything in your power to grant it! For, by so doing, you are only serving God.

Who doesn't love a cheerful giver or an obedient servant?

By granting every request -- with the expectation that, by the same measure you measure, it shall be meted to you again and knowing that you shall be judged even as you judge (or not judge) others -- then, in time, with confidence you may approach the throne of grace and ask with faith, nothing wavering! For if you, being wicked, grant every request made of you, even to the "unworthy" and the "unfaithful", how much more willing will your Father in heaven be to grant your request, He being righteous, the Giver of every good gift unto them who ask of Him!

I know these precepts are hard to follow; they require all the energy of our souls. I know I have not "mastered" them. (Not even close.) That's why I'm focusing on them here and now.

Let us set our hearts to grant every request -- of everyone: our spouses, children, friends, co-workers, strangers, enemies, even the bums on the street! Then we shall know sorrow and sacrifice and suffering and selflessness like we can hardly imagine! (Men do not naturally allow themselves to be abused or to be taken advantage of in this fashion, as we will be if we follow this course. But he who seeks to lose his life for Christ's sake shall find it, even to eternal life.) 

Then we will come to know Him as He really is. For we shall be like Him.

Jesus said: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:44-45.)

And if children, then heirs.