Last week I ended with the idea that we should be who God intends us to be, at the time I knew that involved letting go of the past and stepping into the present knowing God has a plan for us and trusting Him no matter what He asks, our path doesn't look like anyone else's. God's chosen people have always covenanted to be a peculiar people, that means we will look different, act differently and expect miraculous things in our lives. We promised God that we would take His Son's name upon us, that we would stand as a witness of Jesus Christ at all times, in all things and in all places. That means we expect to be different and act differently than we did before, as Emma Smith said "we expect extraordinary occasions and pressing calls..." We live in a day and age when we must expect of ourselves extraordinary opportunities to call down the powers of heaven to assist and aid us in doing the work of the Lord.
As children of God we have a divine nature and with that divine nature comes blessings that Heavenly Father wants to give to us. Many times as we read in the scriptures we think that the miraculous experiences came only to prophets, to men called of God to be special witnesses of Jesus Christ, but in Jacob 4:6 Jacob says " 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." Jacob was a prophet, but the people he spoke of were not, they were average Saints who read the words of the prophets, sought for faith in Jesus Christ, sought to follow his example and received power from heaven.
I am here to say tonight that as we live faithful to the covenants we have made and as we seek for the spirit in our lives and desire to be taught and tutored by that spirit the Holy Ghost can teach us to use the power of Jesus Christ in our lives, we can command in the name of Jesus Christ and if it be according to the will of Heavenly Father we will see results. Heavenly Father will put extraordinary experiences in our path to teach us to do extra-ordinary things. He doesn't mean to crush us or discourage us, but as His children He wants us to learn to use His power. In Moroni 7 he says that when a generation no longer sees miracles it is because of unbelief. Now unbelief and faithlessness are two different things. Faithlessness means you don't believe in Christ or don't believe he'll do what he's said he will do. Unbelief is that he can do it and he will do it, but only for everyone else not for you. Moroni says that God never changes, he wants to give the same blessings to us today that he has given to his children throughout the ages, but first we must believe that He will show us the miracles He has shown in ages past. Heavenly Father wants us to do His work in the presence of angels, He wants us to have the help of heaven each day of our lives, but we have to seek it. We have to believe that it can and will happen for us.
This week I challenge you to take a problem to the Lord, a problem only the Lord can fix and ask Him to help and assist you, then, (this next step is important) expect Him to actually assist you. Expect that as a loved child of God He will bless and help you. It might not be in the manner you expect, but I promise you He will bless you and answer your prayer. Then your faith will grow and you can begin to believe that God can and will do wonders in your life. You are His loved child and He seeks to bless you, but because of agency He can only bless you with what you ask for. This Christmas please give Christ the gift of belief. Belief that not only can He help you, but that He will, He will heal your wounded heart, He will send angels to be round about you, He will enter into your life and assist you day to day. You are known, you are loved, and you are cared for by the very creator of the Universe when you seek by the Spirit He will move heaven and earth to assist you and in the process He might even teach you how to do the same thing.
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