Putting burdens on Jesus

Hi Gramps,
Thanks for all that you do. I had a question… I am confused on what I should do when apostles, prophets, and other church leaders say, “Lay your burdens and/or habits on Jesus Christ and he will help carry your burdens and/or take away your habits.” Should I pray to Jesus instead of Heavenly Father? How do I go about asking Heavenly Father for Jesus help? I guess, that he will help us bear trials like poverty, loss of a loved one, etc., but what about habit? How does Jesus do this? He cannot carry our habits… can he make them stop completely? If so how?
Thanks,
Confused

Dear Confused,
The Brethren refer to Jesus Christ because it is through Him that we enter into the New Covenant with our Heavenly Father. Through Christ, we can become healed by following His example that He has set for us. As we continue to honor our covenants that we make at baptism, sacrament service and temple services, we can have the Spirit of the Lord with us.
As far as habits (and we can assume that they’re spiritually destructive habits), we must believe in two parts:
1) We are children of our Father in Heaven. We need to remember this every single day, to keep the perspective of Eternity with us throughout each day. How should we act as divine children of our Heavenly Father who has infinite worth act?
2) The Atonement is all encompassing. The Savior was sinless, yet endured all the pains, sicknesses and temptations. He does understand.

How do we help have the Atonement work in our lives? By remembering who we are, who Jesus Christ is, and asking the Father for help… as He helped our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane.

My only other advice regarding certain habits is to seek the counsel of your Bishop and find or establish a support group. The Lord often blesses us through the words, acts and deeds of others.

Gramps