Week 14
Moroni 10: 32 "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." What does it mean to deny yourself of all ungodliness? I think that we each have things in our lives that we know aren't the best things but that we justify. It's these things that are the hardest for us to deny ourselves from participating in. But it's these things that are stopping our progression. It's the things that we continue to justify, that drive the Spirit away (but that aren't bad enough to make us feel guilty bright to stop doing them) that are keeping us from coming closer to Christ. I know that in my own life, this is something that I can work on. I can deny myself if the urge to judge others when I see differences in them that I don't agree with. I can deny myself the impulse to say something rude to or about someone when I'm in a bad mood. I can deny myself the inclination of pride. Of feeling like I am better than others. Or feeling like I can do something a better way than they can. I can deny myself of the music and TV shows that I know don't have a good message. I know that these are some of the things that are keeping me from having the Spirit constantly in my life. I know that as I consistently work on these things than God will bless me with the power to overcome them. His grave is sufficient and I will be perfected in Him.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Week 13
Ether 12:37 "And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." This verse had honestly never stuck out to me before until one of my friends said that it was his favorite verse. I went back and re-read it looking for a lesson that I could learn and the reason that he liked it so much. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized that this verse can really apply to me. The Lord is saying that in order to improve upon our weaknesses we have to admit them to our self. In my own life, I tend to hide my weaknesses from others and even struggle admitting them to myself. I try to pretend that they're not there because I don't want to seem weak. I don't want other people to know that I struggle with things. This verse helped me to realize that it is a good thing to recognize my weaknesses. I have to admit them to myself and to the Lord so I can get help from Him to improve and be better. If I continually cover them up or deny that I have them I will never be able to overcome them. Becoming better starts with admitting that we have something to work on. Once I do that, I can focus on changing. I know the things that I struggle with. I know that as I admit my weaknesses to myself and come to the Lord in humility, willing to work on improving, He will facilitate opportunities for me to practice the very things I seek to improve upon.
Ether 12:37 "And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." This verse had honestly never stuck out to me before until one of my friends said that it was his favorite verse. I went back and re-read it looking for a lesson that I could learn and the reason that he liked it so much. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized that this verse can really apply to me. The Lord is saying that in order to improve upon our weaknesses we have to admit them to our self. In my own life, I tend to hide my weaknesses from others and even struggle admitting them to myself. I try to pretend that they're not there because I don't want to seem weak. I don't want other people to know that I struggle with things. This verse helped me to realize that it is a good thing to recognize my weaknesses. I have to admit them to myself and to the Lord so I can get help from Him to improve and be better. If I continually cover them up or deny that I have them I will never be able to overcome them. Becoming better starts with admitting that we have something to work on. Once I do that, I can focus on changing. I know the things that I struggle with. I know that as I admit my weaknesses to myself and come to the Lord in humility, willing to work on improving, He will facilitate opportunities for me to practice the very things I seek to improve upon.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Week 12
I love the story of the brother of Jared. The part that I find the most interesting is Ether 2:23. After the brother of Jared asked God what they should do to have light in their boats, the Lord replies, "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" God didn't just give the brother of Jared all the answers. He left it up to him to figure it out for himself and then come to the Lord for help once he had an idea. This is how we are supposed to approach getting answers from the Lord. We don't just come to God with all our problems and say, solve them. The Lord requires us to study it out in our mind before hand, and then ask Him if what we have decided is a good decision. We have to work at it ourselves. Sometimes I get frustrated in my own life that my prayers aren't getting answered. I've come to realize that if I want clear answers I have to prove to the Lord that I want them. I can't just ask and not do anything about it. I have to pray and study and fast and act on what I know. I have to take a step of faith and move forward to receive revelation. When I went on my mission, it wasn't until my first day in the MTC that I received a clear answer from the Lord that I was doing the right thing. I knew that it was a good thing to do and that it wasn't the wrong decision, but up until my first day in the MTC I didn't feel like I had a sure answer. I need to remember this experience and act in faith even when I feel like I don't know for certain.
I love the story of the brother of Jared. The part that I find the most interesting is Ether 2:23. After the brother of Jared asked God what they should do to have light in their boats, the Lord replies, "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" God didn't just give the brother of Jared all the answers. He left it up to him to figure it out for himself and then come to the Lord for help once he had an idea. This is how we are supposed to approach getting answers from the Lord. We don't just come to God with all our problems and say, solve them. The Lord requires us to study it out in our mind before hand, and then ask Him if what we have decided is a good decision. We have to work at it ourselves. Sometimes I get frustrated in my own life that my prayers aren't getting answered. I've come to realize that if I want clear answers I have to prove to the Lord that I want them. I can't just ask and not do anything about it. I have to pray and study and fast and act on what I know. I have to take a step of faith and move forward to receive revelation. When I went on my mission, it wasn't until my first day in the MTC that I received a clear answer from the Lord that I was doing the right thing. I knew that it was a good thing to do and that it wasn't the wrong decision, but up until my first day in the MTC I didn't feel like I had a sure answer. I need to remember this experience and act in faith even when I feel like I don't know for certain.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Week 11
Mormon 3:12 is a super interesting verse to me. Mormon is leading the wicked Nephites to battle and even after seeing them curse God and watching how they delight in bloodshed and wickedness he still loves them. Not only did he just love them a little bit but he loved them with all his heart. This is an important lesson that I can learn a lot from. Sometimes it's really hard for me to love people. Before I went on my mission that was something that I was really worried about. Every returned missionary talks about how much they grew to love the people that they were with so so much. The advice they give you is just to love the people. Love everyone. When I got that advice I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able to love the people as much as I should or wanted to. I've never been one to just love people instantly. It takes me time to develop that love for them. I think the phrase that says he loved them according to the love of God which was in him is a really key line in this verse. Sometimes people do things to me, to themselves or to others that make me feel like I can't love them. But the important thing I know it true is that God loves them and that He can give me some of the love that He has for them. If I'm not able to come up with the love for them myself, I can pray to feel love for them and Heavenly Father can give me that love when I don't have any. The second thing that sticks out to me in this verse is when it says that Mormon prayed without faith for the Nephites. What? Why was he praying without faith? Isn't that what all the prophets tell us? To pray with faith or else our prayer is in vain. The lesson that I got from this however is that there are two things our faith cannot do: take away the agency of others and force God to comply with our desires. Mormon understood this and knew that his prayer couldn't change the future. To me the verse implies that he lost faith in the wicked people not in God.
Mormon 3:12 is a super interesting verse to me. Mormon is leading the wicked Nephites to battle and even after seeing them curse God and watching how they delight in bloodshed and wickedness he still loves them. Not only did he just love them a little bit but he loved them with all his heart. This is an important lesson that I can learn a lot from. Sometimes it's really hard for me to love people. Before I went on my mission that was something that I was really worried about. Every returned missionary talks about how much they grew to love the people that they were with so so much. The advice they give you is just to love the people. Love everyone. When I got that advice I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able to love the people as much as I should or wanted to. I've never been one to just love people instantly. It takes me time to develop that love for them. I think the phrase that says he loved them according to the love of God which was in him is a really key line in this verse. Sometimes people do things to me, to themselves or to others that make me feel like I can't love them. But the important thing I know it true is that God loves them and that He can give me some of the love that He has for them. If I'm not able to come up with the love for them myself, I can pray to feel love for them and Heavenly Father can give me that love when I don't have any. The second thing that sticks out to me in this verse is when it says that Mormon prayed without faith for the Nephites. What? Why was he praying without faith? Isn't that what all the prophets tell us? To pray with faith or else our prayer is in vain. The lesson that I got from this however is that there are two things our faith cannot do: take away the agency of others and force God to comply with our desires. Mormon understood this and knew that his prayer couldn't change the future. To me the verse implies that he lost faith in the wicked people not in God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)