How to Get the Good Things

Well last week apparently wasn't the last week so I have one more blog for you! I always thought it was interesting when absolutes like "always" "never" and "all" appeared in the scriptures because I always felt that it was impossible really but that the scriptures were making a good point and showing a perfect example, something we need to strive for. While I still feel this is valid this week I was reading some more in Moroni and a phrase I had never really noticed before popped out to me. It starts in Moroni 7 verse 19.

"19 ...and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.

20 And now, my brethren, how is it possible that ye can lay hold upon every good thing?

21 And now I come to that faith, of which I said I would speak; and I will tell you the way whereby ye may lay hold on every good thing."

Moroni literally says "Ok get ready I'm going to tell you how to get all the good things." Then in verse 25 he makes a small conclusion saying "and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing;" It is an interesting thought that by faith we can lay hold on all the good things and I started to think about the fact that when we think about "god things" we typically think from a very worldly standpoint. We think of money and cars and even in a more noble sense we think about the scriptures and helping others as the "good things" we must lay hold on but I think to put this whole thing in the context of this chapter the good things we are required to lay hold on are Christ like attributes. Moroni begins with faith because it is only through faith that we can really develop other Christ like attributes. After talking about how faith is the method by which we lay hold on all good things he lists Christ like attributes ending with charity.

If we are to develop charity or any of these Christ like attributes we need to have faith and then, do as he directs in the closing of the chapter and "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

They That Do Good

Seeing as this is the last entry for this semester I thought I would give some of my thoughts on the last chapter of The Book of Mormon. Before I started reading I had in my mind that I would talk about faith and testimonies but as I read Moroni chapter 10 the verse that stood out to me the most was verse 10. Particularly the line that says that "For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God."

It made me think about what our professor told us at the beginning of the semester about other churches. He mentioned that some people like to say that other churches that aren't the LDS church are "the church of the devil." But then he pointed out how much our church leaders meet with these other churches and coordinate efforts to do good and promote good around the world and then he said something along the lines of "If these other churches were all 'the church of the devil' do you think our leaders would want to work so closely with them?" I really liked that and I think this verse does a really good job in representing that idea. Regardless of religion, age, race, political orientation or anything else if you are doing good things then you are working by the power and girts of God, and God is with you.

While we claim to have the fullness of the gospel and be God's true and living church on the earth today we need to realize the amazing contributions that everyone on earth can make and is making. Moroni made it clear that he was talking to everyone in verse 9 when he said "And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth..." As members of the church we should join hands with others no matter what to promote goodness in the world an know that if we do what it right we and others are working by the power and gift of God.

Hope For a Better World

This week as I was studying I decided to study ahead and read Ether chapter 12. There are a lot of great things in this chapter and as I read it I was thinking about what Professor Griffin was saying about how sometimes we have verses or sections of scripture that we are so used to hearing over and over again that they can loose a little bit of the value to us since we just skim over them so I decided to try and slow down and read this chapter. The verse that I really saw in a different light was verse 4 "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." I had always thought this verse meant that if we have faith in God we can have hope that things will get better in this life but I'd never really looked at it with an eternal perspective. Honestly while the first explanation I think still stands it is much more clearly directed at what we shall receive in the next life. I realized that if we believe in God no matter what happens we can still have hope.

I think this is really important to remember when we think of the bad things that happen in the world. This week I had a friend come to me and show me a video where someone is talking about how if God really did exist why does he let bad things happen to good people. We talked about it for a while and it was a really good talk and then when I read this verse it hit me that, honestly, good people, especially people in our church, don't do good things because they think it will protect them from bad things. We don't believe in God as merely a way to protect ourselves. We know that we will have problems but we look to God for support in those hard times and with a hope that when it's all said and done that we will be able to find rest in the presence of God.

Hopefully we can all have a little more of an eternal perspective and realize that God loves us no matter what. Even when life gets hard he never gives up on us and if we look to God in faith we will find rest for our souls and find a better world in the world to come.

Power Humility and Revelation

This week I was studying in the book of Jacob and chapter 4 verse 6 has always been one of my favorite scriptures since the first time I red the book. I was reading over it again and this time tried to connect the following verses a little more.

6 Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.

Verse 6 has always appealed to me because I want to have the power to move mountains. I want to develop that kind of faith and I want the Lord to trust me to do what he would ask. I know that as my faith has grown I've seen more and more miracles in my life and I've been able to accomplish the hings that the Lord has asked of me. I think the next verse is just as important though because I think sometimes people think about the blessings and power that they have, or that they see other people with and they think that other people's lives are perfect but verse 7 talks about the trials they have and how they understand them.

7 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.

God showed them their weakness but instead of being mad at God or asking "why me?" they had enough faith to understand why God shows us our weaknesses. They understood that it was to show them and help them understand his grace. The last verse I wanted to talk about was verse 8 because after talking about the power and the humility that they have they praise the Lord.

8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.

They praise God and invite others to "despise not the revelations of God." They understood that the only way to know God was through revelation.

As we continue to progress we can look to God for strength and through revelation we can understand that when we are show our weaknesses it is because God loves us and wants us to improve. We look to God and one day we will be perfected.

Reliance on the Lord

This week I was thinking a lot about how my life goes when I try to do things myself and when I really rely on the Lord. As I was reading The Book or Mormon I came to 2 Nephi chapter 24, which professor Griffin called "Isiah's Taunt Song." What stood out to me was the structure of the chapter. In the beginning Isiah is talking about the power and goodness of the Lord. He talks about how God will gather his people in the last days. Then it talks about Lucifer and calls him the "Son of the morning." The next few verses really stood out to me. In verses 13 and 14, two very short verses, it uses the word I 5 times.

"13 For thou hast said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north;

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."

I thought about Lucifer's fall came about through not only self centeredness but through pride and a desire to do everything himself. In particular I thought about how the things mentioned in these two verses are things that in a certain sense we are all promised if we stay true and faithful to our covenants. They are all things that Lucifer could have obtained through the plan of salvation and relying on the lord but he chose a different path. The rest of the whole chapter talks about the punishments and woes that befall Satan (and those who follow him).

I realized a long time ago that I needed the Lord but sometimes I need a little reminder. What is important is remembering the power and mercy of the Lord and that we can do all things through him. If our desire is to "be like the most high" our desires are essentially in line with what God wants of us. The key is to keep in mind that we need to always remember him and that if we do he will use his great power to bless us in this life and in the world to come.

What more could he have done?

This week I was thinking a lot about how some people look at all the bad things that happen in the world and at all the evil and use it as "evidence" to show that God doesn't exist. This week I was reading in 2 Nephi 15 and in verse four The Lord asks "What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?" The allegory of the vineyard has always been very special to me since my mission. I think a lot about how much effort The Lord puts into us as people. What really stood out to me in this verse it just that after all that has happened The Lord wants to show that he has never given up and up to the point of taking away our agency there is nothing more the Lord could have done to help his people.

As I think about this in my own life I realize some of the things that The Lord has done in the past to help me and I realize that the only thing that stopped me from receiving greater happiness was myself. The Lord always did his part and never left me alone. It was always me, through my disobedience, that blocked the blessings of the Lord from finding me. It is like Elder Uchtdorf said when he compared the blessings of the lord to rain. He said that the Lord is always pouring endless blessings upon us and we choose to block them from time to time.

We need to always be seeking the blessings of the lord. If we do we will see his hand in our lives and we will be able to return to live with him. God didn't send anyone to this earth to fail. He has done everything that needs to be done so that we can return to live with him. There is nothing that God hasn't done or wont do to help us return to live with him. The only exception to this rule is that he won't take away our agency. If we use our agency to obey the lord we will feel a greater presence of his spirit in our lives.

Reason To Rejoice

This week I was reading in 2 Nephi chapter 9 again and what really stood out to me is the tone that Jacob takes in his writing. In the first half of the chapter Jacob is speaking about the plan of salvation and kind of talking about the process and what is involved in the plan and the second half he talks about justice. It is a beautiful chapter on the atonement and the thing that stood out to me this time was how often he glories in the the Lord. It almost seems that he's so happy and so excited about it all that he can't contain his emotion. He will talk about a topic and when he moves on to a new topic he say's something along the lines of "O how great the... mercy, wisdom, grace, plan, justice ... of our God." He acknowledged that in every aspect of the plan of salvation the greatness of God is shown in some form.

I realized that I used to be like this. On my mission and before it when I was starting to learn about the church on my own I remember finding things out and seeing them as amazing and revolutionary to me and sharing them with the other members I knew and more often than not them saying, not disrespectfully in anyway, "yeah... we learned that in primary." or something along those lines. I still find joy and peace in the gospel but does it make me as excited as it used to? Not usually. Every once and a while I'll find a passage or two that makes me get a glimpse of the greatness of God and those moments are very special to me but I want to continually be glorifying God in all that I do.

I know that as I search the scriptures diligently and seek and pray more to find the joy of the gospel I can get that excitement back. As each of us grow in the gospel and progress our testimonies we will find that our hearts, as Jacob's did, will begin to "delighteth in righteousness" (2Ne. 9:49) to a greater degree. We will still have those awe-inspiring and reverencing spiritual moments but we will also find more opportunities to delight. This is a gospel of joy and every time in my life when I make a sincere effort to grow closer to the gospel, no matter what my circumstances are, I feel an increase in joy in my life.

Keeping our Promise

Today in class we talked quite a bit about Mosia 18:9 where part of our baptismal covenant is explained. As we talked about how it is impossible to keep our promise to stand as a witnesses of God at all times, in all things, in all places. As imperfect human beings we simply can't be perfect even after baptism. On student made the comment that when we repent and take of the sacrament we are clean and perfect in that moment so there are times where we can keep that promise because all the things we did go away with sincere repentance.

As I thought about this I decided to read Alma 36. As I read it I thought about how every covenant has promises associated with it and the promises associated with repentance and keeping that ever important baptismal covenant are written very powerfully in Alma 36. Alma talks about when he repented and he says "When I thought this I could remember my pains no more; yeah, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" and "There can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy." The moment of repentance where he felt the full blessings of the covenants we make was almost indescribable.

As we repent we can feel greater the effects of the atonement and we can receive the blessings that we have been promised at baptism. While we may not all have experiences like the one that Alma the younger had we will all receive what the lord wants us to receive and what he knows will bless us in the greatest measure. I know that as I've repented I've felt an increase of blessings in my life and that is something I wouldn't trade for anything.

Awake My Soul

This week was honestly kinda hard for me. I've got a lot going on in my life and a lot of really important choices to make. It seems like when we have major decisions in front of us Satan tries his best to distract us. I was feeling this this week so I went to the temple and studied 2 Nephi chapter 4. This chapter means a lot to me because when I first read The Bock of Mormon it was one of the first passages that I read that helped me feel the spirit really strongly.

In this chapter Nephi talks about how he is surrounded by sin and temptation but he knows who he has trusted in. He knows that as  long as he continues to trust the Lord he will be delivered from his temptations. He talks about all the amazing things he's seen before he mentions his temptations and then after talking about how much his sins cause him to sorrow he pleads with the Lord and shows how much he trusts him to help. One verse that has always stood out to me was verse 28 where he says "Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin." It's a turning point in what some call "The Psalm of Nephi." It helped me to realize that while we can see all the hard things around us we don't need to feel like we are "drooped in sin."

As we look to God we can have a hope that everything will work out and sometimes that is what we need to carry on and progress. We never need to feel like there is no hope because as long as we're faithful the Lord will always redeem us. He will always carry us from the darkness that we are sometimes surrounded by and bring us into the light of his love and his gospel. There is never reason to feel despair. I love this gospel and this chapter really helped me out this week where I just felt like I kept messing up.

The Better Parts

Today I was studying 2 Nephi 2. It was a really cool experience for a few reasons. I just felt like the inspiration was flowing really well as I pondered a few of the verses. I could feel my understanding deepen and I was noticing a lot of little things that I had skimmed over previously. Lehi talks a lot about The Plan of Salvation and to close he says "I have spoken these few words unto you all, my sons, in the last days of my probation; and I have chosen the good part, according to the words of the prophet. And I have none other object save it be the everlasting welfare of your souls. Amen."

He really did choose the good part. He chose the atonement of Jesus Christ and The Plan of Salvation. It made me think about what that must have meant to him for it to be the last thing he shared with his sons. The other important thing about it is that he clearly states his reasoning. He shared the gospel and The Plan of Salvation with his sons because he cared about "the  everlasting welfare of [their] souls." He knew that no matter what happened or what they knew if they understood the atonement and the plan of salvation better they had a better chance of returning to the presence of God.

I realized that as we come closer to God and have a desire to help others receive salvation we share the gospel with them. It's something that I know already but I thought more about how we share the gospel with those that are around us everyday that "already know." Those that we love need our support as much as those that we have never met and by sharing our testimonies of Jesus Christ we can help them to stay on the path and in the end we can all rejoice in the celestial kingdom together. We each simply have to choose, for ourselves, "the good part."

Let Us Be Men

This week I was studying in 2 Nephi chapter 14 and the verse that really stood out the most to me was verse 21 where Lehi speaks to his sons and says "Arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity;" I've always really  liked this verse and as I think about my life and my relationship with my father and all things I've learned from him I started to think about what it means to be a man. In this verse Lehi is talking about being righteous. He was talking to his sons in a very straightforward manner but you can feel the love coming from him as a father. It is really quite moving.

The biggest takeaway from this for me as I was pondering this came in two parts. The first thought I had was about  what it means to "be a man." The second impression I had was about the way that we tell others to arise from the dust and be men.

I think about all the things my father aught me to "be a man." He taught me how to fix a car, how to fix things around the house, how to troubleshoot computer issues, how to respect others, how to box. He taught me a lot of things about what it means to be man in the worldly sense and I will always be grateful to him for that. But as I thought about Lehi and what he meant to his sons it was totally different. There were some a lot of things that he could have told them but instead of teaching his sons actions he taught them to have an attitude of humility and obedience to the Lord because he knew that that would bring them the greatest blessings.

I also thought about how anytime we tell others to repent and come unto Christ we are telling them to "be men." Regardless of age and position as we invite others to come unto Christ and repent we are helping them to unlock the blessings of heaven and become better people. I realized also that there are those in my life that I want to invite to be men. I want to help others rise up and become what God wants them to be. As we do that not only will we being helping others but we will be be improving ourselves and coming closer to the Lord.

From Grace to Grace

This week while I read in 1 Nephi 17-19 I noticed something I've never noticed before. In this section Nephi is commanded to build a ship, he builds a ship, and then they travel to the promised land. Once in the promised land Nephi makes plates to make a record of his people. The thing I had never noticed is how serious Nephi takes his personal revelation. He considers all that he receives from the Lord as a commandment. He was commanded to build a boat, he was commanded to make the plates, then he was commanded to make a record. He also shows a very clear order. It doesn't seem like he prayed and the Lord told him to make a boat, go to the promise land, make plate, then make a history of your people all at once. The Lord fed him line upon line the things that he needed to do.

Heavenly father is always willing to help us but sometimes we can feel alone and without direction if we aren't doing what we're supposed to. When God tells us to do something we need to do it before we can really expect the next step to be made known unto us. God isn't just going to tell us to do something and then give up on it if it's important to our progression, he's going to help us accomplish it and once we're done, or once we're doing, what God wants us to do our next step will be made clear. I feel that that has been true in my own life when I seek direction. When I don't know what I'm going to do I ask myself if I'm keeping the commandments and fulfilling the responsibilities that the Lord has already given me and if I'm not when I fix those things it's easier for me to see what the Lord wants next of me.

I know that as we all strive to improve and keep the commandments that we have received from the Lord that we will find our purpose in life and that it will be like the Lord is going before us leading us by day giving light unto us by night. (1 Ne. 17:30)

Learning

This week as I was reading throiugh 1 Nephi 13-15 I was struck by the contrast between Nephi and his brothers again. It's something that I've thought about a lot and something that a lot of teachers have also pointed out but this time I really found myself pondering on what it takes to obtain knowledge. Nephi was curious about what his father had seen and so he thought about it and prayed and that's when he got his answer. His brothers just were talking (or arguing) with each other about the meaning of the dream. As I thought this over I thought about myself compared to Laman and Lemuel. A lot of times I feel that I ponder and pray and still don't get an answer and then I will take my questions to others and as we talk I'll get the needed revelation. Laman and Lemuel also took their questions and asked Nephi what the meaning of different aspects of the dream were. It's seems like they were searching for answers right?

That's when I realized that what they did wrong was that they didn't pray. I know it seems like I already said that but at the same time what I learned is that revelation comes through all different avenues when we receive it. However the thing is we all ask for it in pretty much the same way. Laman and Lemuel asking Nephi questions about what they didn't understand wasn't a bad thing. The problem was that they neglected to do the most important part. Pray.

If we pray and don't get answers like Nephi did that's okay. I'd even go so far as to say normal. But we are commanded to pray and then we can find our answers through many different ways.

Week 1

Sometimes when I start to read The Book of Mormon from the beginning again I like to use a brand new blue paper back copy. I feel like it helps me to get entirely new revelations since I'm not distracted by other marks or notes and it helps me to see what I'm looking for, and what has changed, in my life now compared to the last time I read.

As I have been reading at the beginning of this new semester I was able to read with a good friend of mine. We were reading in 1 Nephi Chapter 11. A verse I have always loved but seemed even more applicable now than ever to me was verse 1. I love the very clear pattern for revelation that it gives. Nephi had desire to know. He believed that the Lord would be able to make them known unto him. He sat and pondered in his heart, and then he was "caught away in the Spirit of the Lord' and was taken places he'd never been and saw things he'd never seen.

This passage has come to mean a lot to me as I've sought revelation in my life but this time as I read it I was struck by the simplicity. His pure desire ended with him seeing a vision of the savior. The revelations that I seek in my life probably aren't going to result in a vision like what Nephi saw but I know that as I seek to know, trust the Lord, and ponder on what I already know that the Lord will take me where I need to go and show me things that I've never seen before. It may not even be what I ask for when I get the revelation, but it'll be what the Lord wants for me.