Not everyone who has prayed about the Book of Mormon has received an answer. There are investigators who have prayed to know whether the Book of Mormon is true who adamantly declare that they did not feel a thing! They conclude that the book must not be true and that Moroni’s promise is hollow.
Yet, we know that the Lord keeps his promises. Therefore, any investigator who has not received an answer has not kept his part of the deal. Typically, the first response is to remind them that they must ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, but these are not the only requirements. Anyone challenging an investigator to pray about the Book of Mormon should never read verse 4 without also reading verse 3. Often, when an investigator does not get the desired response, it is because some of the steps in verse 3 were omitted.
The overall pattern is to read—remember—ponder—pray in sincerity and faith. None of these steps may be left out. If the individual has not read the Book of Mormon, and more importantly, remembered the Lord’s mercy throughout the ages, they have no promise. For many Christians, this will require that they ponder the Lord’s great mercy as revealed in the Bible—they must remember and ponder what the Lord has already done. Without these elements, even a sincere prayer and an intense prayer may yield nothing. Again, the indispensable elements are:
No investigator in the history of the Restoration has ever completed all six of these steps without subsequently receiving a manifestation of the truth of the Book of Mormon.
Elder John H. Taylor
“It seems to me that this verse (Moro 10:3) is a preparation to the people who may read this holy book, that they shall have in their hearts a desire to know the truth, and to have brought to their remembrance the fact that God has been good to his children upon the earth; and that, irrespective of the many things that they have done which have been evil in his sight, God has been willing to forgive them, make himself manifest to them, and bear record of the truthfulness of his word. When we realize how good God has been to us, then desire and hope come into our hearts, and make us humble before God, and we rather feel that God will also be merciful unto us, his children, and bring testimony into our hearts. I dare say that whoever reads this holy book, and reads this first verse, will have a desire that God shall be merciful to, him, as he has been merciful unto his people before.” (Conference Report, Apr. 1924, p. 109)
Bruce R. McConkie
“[Moroni] is not, be it noted, asking us to draw a curtain around the Book of Mormon as though it were the only book of scripture ever to flow from prophetic pens. All things must be kept in perspective. He is asking us to ponder what is in the biblical record and to put the writings of Mormon in their proper relationship to all else that has come from the Lord. All these things are to be pondered.” (A New Witness For the Articles of Faith, p. 465)