Chains that bind, trading our mass of pottage

We live in a very troubled world, with hate, divisions along racial lines, hatred building over a political race, fears about ISIS and Syrian refugees, tv shows promoting violence, demeaning the family and preparing a new generation to embrace a world that was unheard of just ten years ago. We live in a time when Babylon wants to train our children for us, they want to feed them full of lies that they can do whatever they want without consequence and are entitled to the best this world has to offer, never learning that hard work is required, that it is okay to sit still and listen and that laws and rules are what gives us power. In the council before coming to this earth Heavenly Father set forth a plan with laws given and obedience required and exaltation hanging in the balance if we choose to obey. Satan stepped forward offering to lead us, not to be obedient, but to eliminate laws, he didn't want God's power because God's power comes through obedience to eternal laws, he wanted to eliminate law so that we could be free to do whatever we want. This sounds delightful to our world trained minds, ooh we can do whatever we want whenever we want, but there's a catch, we never learn, we never grow, we never become like God, because God was forged in a fire of law and order, our spirits are forged in a fire of obedience and love.

Because Satan gave up his power he seeks to have us give up our power. Our power comes when we chose to enact the power of God in our lives when we release the things of this world because we remember that we came from a better one. The so called pleasures of this world pale in comparison to the joys of the world to come, yet Satan would have us believe that eternal blessings are so far away and that if God really loved us He'd bless us more and give us what we want. By tempting us to question God he moves us away from our divine birth right. In the New Testament when Satan comes to Christ tempting him, the temptation wasn't to have Christ turn stones into bread, the temptation came with the word "if", if thou art the Son of God. Satan wanted Christ to doubt His divine role and potential. Satan comes to us in much the same way, if he can cause us to doubt our role in God's plan, to doubt that we are heir's to the Celestial Kingdom, if he can cause us to think God has forsaken us, then he takes away our power and brings us closer to him. That is not the place we want to be, trust me, because once Satan binds you and draws you down to hell he forsakes and forgets you, he no longer cares about your  struggles, pains or regrets, he simply cares that he has taken some other person from their divine gifts and birth rights. Heavenly Father weeps when we leave His protective care, He hurts when we question His power and His love of us. Even after we are bound by Satan's chains our loving Father seeks after us, He sends the power of the Atonement to draw us back to our loving Savior to make us clean and renew our strength. Our Heavenly Mother will move heaven and earth to help us know how loved we are.*

We are loved, Satan will do all he can to discourage us, to have us feel alone, unwanted, un-needed and uncared for. But we are so very loved, we are so very needed, cared for and wanted. Our Heavenly Parents gave their only begotten Son to save all of us. Our Savior gave himself because of His love for each of us. We lived with them before coming to this earth, we knew them intimately and they tutored and helped us to learn, grow and prepare for this earth life. Please don't let Satan win, don't let him convince you to sell your birth rite, to give up that what is most precious because of doubt or fear. Heavenly Father can cure those doubts, He can, He might not answer every question or give us instant gratification, but He will be there, He will send His angels, He will send those we love more than life to succor us and help us through. We are promised heaven and earth, please hold on, hope on and don't let Satan trade your Godly power for something that only looks good in the moment.

*LDS Hymn 292

Because we said we would, One of the Greatest Gifts from God

We live in an instant gratification and reciprocation world. I want what I want when I want it and if you scratch my back I'll scratch yours, if we're explaining this phenomenon in common cliches. This phenomenon can be very dangerous to our spiritual growth, especially when we assume that Heavenly Father works the same way. It is true that a covenant is a two way agreement between ourselves and Heavenly Father and that Him being able to bless us is dependent upon our obedience, but this is because Heavenly Father is bound by eternal laws and natural consequences. He can't bless us when we do not live up to the laws those blessings are predicated upon.

Yet just because we are obedient we cannot expect that we will be immediately blessed in every circumstance. Often the Lord does bless us because He loves us and does want to give us every blessing we qualify for. But sometimes the greater blessing is having us wait because then our faith can grow. Sometimes blessings don't come until the last watch of the night, the Lord waits until we have put His words to the test and waited simply on our faith that He will keep his word, only then do the blessings come, plus some extra blessings because we trusted the Lord. But sometimes our faith needs to go even deeper, sometimes we need to keep our covenants just because we said we would.

As Sis Joy D. Jones taught sometimes we keep our covenants because we said we would. Shadrach, Meshach and Obednego kept their covenants because they said they would, even when the king threatened to throw them into a furnace if they would not bow to his idol, they told him no, that they had covenanted to have no other gods before the God of Israel and that their God would save them, but if not they would still be obedient. So many times the world would tell us that we can break our word, that we can let something slide "no one will know" they say "does it really make that big of a difference" they ask. The answer is yes, when we let things slide we lose our character of doing what we said we'd do and it becomes easier to only be obedient when we expect a blessing. Sis Jones taught that key to raising a sinless generation is teaching them to keep small promises so that when they make covenants their very nature is used to keeping promises, so that when it really matters we can keep our promise for the sole reason that we gave our word. Satan wants to cloud our eyes so that we only see the here and now, we see all of our hard work, but do not see the tender mercies in our lives and God seems to have forgotten us and His promises to us. So if we are only keeping our promises to get His promises it is easier for Satan to distract and discourage us. If on the other hand we are obedient because we said we would be that is what really matters, our integrity matters that much to us.

Pres Monson taught that "when God speaks and we obey we will always be right". He didn't say we would be immediately blessed, but he did say we would be right. Too often in the last few months I have wondered where my blessings were, I have been trying to be obedient, been trying to be better each day, but those things I really wanted have remained elusive. For years I have clung to Hebrew 11:11, Sarah received strength to conceive because she judged him faithful who had promised, I held to the knowledge God keeps his promises and I know that He does, but sometimes those blessings take time and if we are waiting to take the next step in obedience until God reciprocates we could be waiting for a very long time. If instead we choose to be obedient because we said we would and will continue being obedient even if those blessings don't come, we have grown our faith and our strength and ultimately have been given strength to resist sin and at the end of the day that is one of the greatest gifts our Heavenly Father can give us in this life. 

Kicking Against the Pricks

I have been given the very special opportunity to watch a nine/ten month old since the beginning of the semester. It is extra wonderful because I get to learn about babies at that age without getting overwhelmed, although all the graham cracker goo at the beginning of the semester almost did me in before I learned to cope and to let things go.

As I have chased this little crawler around the Institute, kept him from doing headers off of chairs, tried to keep him from choking on crackers and from sliding backward off cushions with my hand on his back I wondered if Heavenly Father ever feels that way with us. He sees the danger we're in, knows that He has offered us protection, knows how close we are to a danger we don't understand and that it is still up to our agency whether we will take his protection or not.

In Acts 26:14 Christ tells Saul that it is hard to kick against the pricks. In the ancient world a prick was a rod with a metal point used to goad an ox in the right direction while ploughing. By directing the ox to plough a straight line it makes the planted furrow more productive with a better harvest yield. Sometimes however the ox didn't want to go in a straight line and would rebel against the prick, kicking it and driving the pointed stick deeper into its leg. (1) We sometimes are like this animal, we decide that we don't want to go in the direction we are being prodded to go, we kick out against the direction from the Lord and find a heap full of discontent and unrest. The Lord is simply trying to help us to be as productive as we can and instead we lash out at Him complaining He doesn't know what is going on.

I've been struggling this week with kicking against the pricks. A few weeks ago I decided I wanted the Holy Ghost as a more constant companion in my life. My friend gave me some really good advice, do whatever He says no matter how silly or frustrating. So I've been trying to put it to the test, of course the adversary is aware of this desire and wants to muddy the waters as much as possible, cause upset and distraction. So of course enter temptation and frustration, whether my favorite tv show going naughty and knowing I need to give it up if I really want the spirit as a companion. What we give up is so small compared to what the Lord offers us, yet Satan works to make it seem so big and so trivial. He says things like "if Heavenly Father really loves you He'll let you keep doing what you want and still get blessings" he says "if your spouse really loved you he'd do this for you" or "that doesn't really matter just keep doing it, it isn't a problem" or my personal favorite "you deserve to get this one your way". These lies from Satan can cause us to forget that the Lord is in control, He sees the danger, He loves us and wants the best for us. He just wants us to be our best selves and asks things of us accordingly and he says to us as he said to Saul "it is hard for you to kick against the pricks". It is hard for us because as much as Heavenly Father wants to bless us he cannot do so if we are not obedient. His spirit cannot be with us if we are actively denying the direction He gave us, because the Spirit is not present with untruth and the adversary pounces upon this stirring up emotions while the spirit is not present to offer peace. We live in a non-neutral world, if we are not actively engaging with the Spirit and inviting the Lord into our lives then the adversary is sneaking in his lies, negativity and darkness when we kick against the pricks show to Satan we want our own way and he loves a good show of pride. Yet as the story of Paul shows us, even after kicking at the pricks we can become tools in the hands of the Lord and do wonders we never thought possible.



(1) https://gotquestions.org/kick-against-the-pricks.html

Satan minimizes your efforts, God maximizes them

In their January World Wide Devotional both Sis and Elder Nelson talked about becoming our best selves, Elder Nelson encouraged us to learn Heavenly Father's definition of millennial and apply it in our lives. Heavenly Father knows who we are because He knew us before we came to this earth, He chose us to come to earth at this time because He knew that we were to be the ones to meet our Savior when He comes back to earth. We are to be the true millennials those who are willing to stand against the crowd if necessary to stand for truth and righteousness, to see through lies and deceit, to not settle for what the world has to offer, but seek what the Lord has to offer. In order to do this we need to be desperate to become more than we currently are, to become desperate to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion, to become a disciple of Jesus Christ in word and deed. To be a disciple is a personal thing, when we read of disciples in the New Testament they were those who walked with Christ, who sat at His feet, who heard His voice and witnessed His miracles. They were those with ears to hear His parables and asked for understanding. Some of these disciples became the original 12 apostles, special witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, others left Him when questions and concerns arose. Christ wants to do wonders among us, He wants us to be those who witnesses the miracles in our lives, tender mercies yes, but more than that He wants to do wondrous miracles in our lives. He wants to be a friend and companion, to tutor us in His ways and His love. He wants us to go with Him every step of the way, because in the Garden of Gethsemane He already went every step of the way with us.

Sis Nelson talked of this desperation in her talk; she reminded us that good things can happen when we are desperate to lose weight, to get a good grade on a test..in her words

"When we’re desperate to be guided by heaven, we work harder than ever to tune in to heaven. When we’re desperate to be physically healthy, we eat and exercise accordingly. No excuses! When we’re desperate to have more money, we eagerly follow the Lord’s law of finances—which is, of course, tithing!" ..."When we’re desperate to become the people we were born to be, our vision changes. We wake up from the spiritual amnesia the adversary so cleverly administers, and suddenly we see things about ourselves, others, and our lives we’ve never seen before. The world’s “fun” and “entertainment” start to look almost ridiculous, perhaps even spiritually dangerous. We begin to see the adversary’s tricks and traps for what they really are—temptations to make us forget our true identity and our destination."..."When we’re desperate to be the true disciples of Jesus Christ we were born to be, we suddenly find the courage and determination to remove anything and everything from our lives that is unholy and impure. Our willingness to follow the advice of our leaders changes. We seek counsel and are eager to follow it. Humility pushes pride and arrogance aside. The scriptures become our “go-to source” for answers and for the comfort we may realize we’ve often been seeking online."

We are entering a phase on this earth in which we can no longer afford to be passive, to allow ourselves to be fed a steady diet of what feels good, but not seek for anything more. We need to be desperate for a close relationship with our Savior to know He knows us and more importantly that we know Him and know what He will do not just can do for us. Our Savior already knows our burdens and bore them in a garden, but unless we consciously give Him the burdens we face each day, we are both doomed to repeat the pain of being alone. Go to Christ lay at His feet concern, worry, fear, unbelief and loneliness for only He can heal and bless and brighten, Satan will send his distractions, but only Christ has peace and wholeness, only He can make us new with a desire to leave behind those things that hold us back, whether it be always wanting one more slice of cake, needing to seek forgiveness for things in our past or a propensity to reach for annoyance instead of love. Satan will minimize your efforts, God will maximize them, He offers grace, find peace and strength in that grace.

 https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/archive/worldwide-devotionals/2016/01?lang=eng

Just Because He doesn't explain it doesn't mean it isn't there

So I've been praying for two weeks to be able to hear what the Lord wanted me to know. A part of me is afraid that I was so focused on hearing something profound just for me that I missed a whole lot of good messages that apply to me and to everybody else. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to listen to these talks again and study them over the coming days and weeks so that I can ponder and apply them in my life. I loved that in the final prayer of conference he promised the Lord, for all of us, that we would study the words in the coming days and apply them in our life. Though I was not voice for that prayer, I most definitely want to be bound by that promise.

  What a magnificent blessing it is to hear the words of prophets, seers and revelators for our day, those who see around corners, our watchman on the towers, those who see what is coming and have told us what we need to make it. In years past they have talked about the temple, family home evening, family history and improving our sacrament experience. This weekend, at least to my mind, the patterns I found focused on the plan of salvation, having faith in and developing a personal relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, repenting daily so that we can have the spirit with us and become sanctified, finding joy in our circumstances because we have faith in Christ and increasing the power of the Atonement in our lives through the sacrament.

Now I could be going a bit off the wall and this could just be for me, but I find it interesting that the focused changed so much, it isn't about the programs of the church or what to do in groups, but it is what can we do as individuals to improve our relationship with Christ, what can we do to find His peace, His love and His strength. It would seem to me that there is a day coming that will require a personal relationship with the Lord, when the infrastructure of the church won't be enough, our obedience to commandments, our keeping covenants and valuing the ordinances of God will make the difference in our lives. Now is truly the time to prepare to meet God, prepare now, establish that most sacred and special individual relationship with Heavenly Father and don't wait for circumstances to force it upon you.

If there was one other message that I saw and felt in my heart is that we are known, bills may mount, teeth may crumble, isolation may seem ever building, but we are not left alone. Somehow we find peace, not because everything is explained and made right, but because we know that the most high God has us in his hands and in his sight, He has prepared a way, just because He doesn't explain it doesn't mean it isn't there.