Following is the text of the prayer offered by President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, to rededicate the Mesa Arizona Temple on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021.

Our Father in Heaven: We approach Thee in prayer on this great occasion when we will rededicate this Mesa Arizona Temple unto Thee and Thy Beloved Son, for Thy work and Thy glory.

We thank Thee for the plan Thou hast established for the eternal progress of Thy children. We thank Thee for Thy Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for His infinite Atonement through which we have the assurance of immortality and, through His suffering and sacrifice, the opportunity to be forgiven and press forward on the covenant path toward eternal life. We thank Thee for the Holy Ghost, who testifies of Thee and Thy Son and who leads us into truth.

We thank Thee for the Restoration of the gospel, beginning with Thy appearance with Thy Only Begotten Son to the Prophet Joseph Smith whom Thou didst call to bring forth the Book of Mormon as a second witness of Thy Son and the clearest teaching of Thy great plan for Thy children. We thank Thee for restoring the authority and keys of the holy priesthood by which we proclaim Thy word and perform Thy ordinances of salvation.

Read more: ‘Astonished, impressed, gratified’ — President Dallin H. Oaks rededicates Mesa Arizona Temple

We thank Thee for the faithful members of Thy Church whose tithing and service have made possible the rededication of this beautiful temple for its sacred work.

We thank Thee for the faith and devotion of the pioneers who initiated Thy work in this region and for their posterity and others whose righteous efforts and growing numbers have established Thy Church as an example for all to see.

The newly renovated Mesa Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Monday, Oct. 11, 2021.

Credit: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

We thank Thee for Thy blessings to this nation, where many of Thy temples have been established, and pray that Thou wilt inspire and strengthen all who seek to preserve our constitutional form of government, including the freedom of religion that is so vital to the on-rolling of Thy work. We pray that Thou wilt bless all Thy children in this nation that they will serve Thee and keep Thy commandments and thus qualify for Thy promise that they will prosper in the land. We pray for all who come to this temple to participate in Thy work and to receive strength and inspiration here.

We pray for the youth of Zion — the rising generation — that they may take the truths of Thy gospel into their hearts and manifest them in wise choices. We pray for Thy missionaries, young and old. We pray that Thou wilt give all of Thy servants the wisdom and power to prevail over every obstacle and to go forward to fulfill Thy purposes for all in their care. We pray that Thou wilt open the way for Thy work to be established in every nation and among every people to further the gathering of Israel and fulfill Thy prophecies and promises for Thy children.

We also pray for the millions of Thy children who have been displaced from their homes to become refugees in other nations and places. Please bless them and all who seek to relieve their suffering and give them hope. We also pray for Thy children in every nation who seek to live in peace. Protect them from violence in their own nations and from foreign aggressors.

In this day of selfishness and wickedness, when men’s hearts fail them, we beseech Thee to blunt the powers of evil against Thy work and Thy children, and to bless Thy covenant people with protection and strength to persist in their duties.

We give Thee thanks for Thy Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, from whom we have heard in this meeting. Please prolong his life and renew his strength and continue to reveal to him Thy will for the progress of Thy work through Thy Church and among all Thy children.

We pray that Thou wilt bless the president and matron of this temple and all who exercise the authority of Thy holy priesthood under their direction in the ordinances and covenants of this sacred work.

Now, as we approach the rededication of this holy temple, we repeat some of the inspired dedicatory prayer offered by Thy servant, President Heber J. Grant, Oct. 23, 1927:

“We beseech Thee to enable us to guard this house that no unclean thing shall enter here. May Thy Spirit ever dwell in this holy house and rest upon all who shall labor as officers and workers herein, as well as upon all who shall come here to perform ordinances for the living or for the dead.

“May Thy peace ever abide in this holy building, that all who come here may partake of the spirit of peace, and of the sweet and heavenly influence that Thy Saints have experienced in other temples, may all who come upon the grounds which surround this temple, whether members of the Church of [Jesus] Christ or not, feel the sweet and peaceful influence of this blessed and hallowed spot.”

So prayed President Grant.

Taylie Timmerman plays outside of the Mesa Arizona Temple after the rededication of the temple in Mesa, Ariz., on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021.

Credit: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Today we renew the prayers of Thy servants that Thou wilt protect this Temple and all of its surrounding facilities from every destructive influence of any kind.

Now, Beloved Father in Heaven, by the authority of the holy Melchizedek Priesthood and by appointment of Thy Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, we rededicate unto Thee this Mesa Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and consecrate it again for the sacred purposes for which it has been reconstructed.

We dedicate to Thee and to Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, every part of this sacred structure. We dedicate the baptismal font and all that house the initiatory ordinances. We dedicate the ordinance rooms, the sealing rooms, the beautiful celestial room, and all of the other spaces and surrounding landscape of this House of the Lord.

We invoke Thy power to assure that this temple and all of its spaces will be sacred unto Thee so that Thy Holy Spirit will ever be present here and that Thy glory will rest down upon this temple and upon all that has been done and will be done here.

And now, as we dedicate and consecrate this house of the Lord to Thee and to Thy Beloved Son, we ask that Thou wilt place Thy seal of approval upon this holy temple, which we now present unto Thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.