Always Rejoice

From a book that is the most correct of any book upon the face of the earth: if God promised you, through this book, that you could ALWAYS rejoice, would you want to follow it?

At the same time, in what way do we rejoice as promised of God through King Benjamin?

I invite all to ponder his words:

Mosiah 4:9-16

9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

13 And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.

14 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.

15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.

Submissiveness

Mosiah 3:19
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

I will focus on that Christlike and childlike characteristic of submissiveness.

When I submit myself to someone, their will and wants become prioritized above my will and wants. Whatever of my will is inconsistent with theirs, I get rid of it.

God is our loving Heavenly Father, and He loves us perfectly and wants what's best for us, He is filled with all wisdom and knowledge, and has nothing more to learn.

All these qualities and characteristics – Father, loving, wise – qualify Him to be the first to whom we should submit ourselves.

So, my will becomes secondary to His will.

His will is not always communicated directly to us through the Spirit, into our mind and heart. Sometimes it is through the events of life.

Not too long ago, I prayed for a trial that would strengthen my character. I received no response to this. Even up until now. I have not heard my Heavenly Father speak to me through His Spirit on this topic.

Well, He reached me without words – never in my life have I received a speeding fine, nor a red light offence. But in the space of a few weeks, I received both despite my continuous efforts to be a righteous driver. I accept full responsibility for them.

My licence has been suspended for three months. It is a little painful, these three months, but I have forgotten the pain. My life has been filled with surprises of friends offering randomly to drive me to my destinations, and the Lord always providing for me.

Upon my disappointment in myself, discovering my offences, I committed to accept that I could not drive, and make do with what I did have. A Go Card... ah, I mean an Opal Card. Friends. My feet to walk with. More opportunities to study on public transport as I travelled. More opportunities to appreciate and admire nature as I walked.

I have been happy despite this restriction of no driving. Of course, I don't plan to have my licence suspended again.

We submit ourselves to the Saviour's will. We learn that some priorities are more important than others.

This life is designed in one particular aspect, to be a test for how much we understand the weight of priorities, given factors of time, consequences, rewards and benefits, etc.

A great example was in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had this dilemma: Adam partakes of the fruit and joins Eve in a world of loneliness and dreariness. Or, Adam chooses not to partake of the fruit, and the two are separated, with mankind not replenishing the earth.

We know their choice. It was the lesser of two evils. It was the better of two choices. We are here because of their choice. We read of no prompting given of the Spirit. We read of no third party involvement, other than Satan desiring their consumption of the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve discuss it in full, evaluating the weight of each choice for its benefits, risks and consequences.

Elder Dallin H Oaks said:

“[A person may have] a strong desire to be led by the Spirit of the Lord but … unwisely extends that desire to the point of wanting to be led in all things. A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it. For example, this is likely to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or either choice is acceptable.

“We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment. Persons who persist in seeking revelatory guidance on subjects on which the Lord has not chosen to direct us may concoct an answer out of their own fantasy or bias, or they may even receive an answer through the medium of false revelation” (“Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall,” Ensign, Oct. 1994, 13–14).

To submit to His will is to submit to His vision of us, in who we are to become in all our grand and glorious potential.

We all have the potential to become as our Heavenly Father is. How will we get there?

D&C 11:20
Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength.

Let us submit to His ways.

Let Truth Mould You

Mosiah 3:6

Evil spirits can dwell on one's heart.

I have felt that many times in life. It is bad to let them stay.

The spirits feed off your evil emotions, selfish desires, even the natural man - which King Benjamin speaks of soon hereafter. They feed on doubt, fear, despair, hate, envy, irritation, impatience, procrastination, self-centeredness.

You can have them leave through starving them to death, even introducing things in your life that repel them.

I have found the strongest cure for evil invasion is truth. Belief of truth. Commitment to living truth.

Jesus Christ said: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

Indeed, I've heard it said, "why would we listen to Plato give an excellent oration on the topic of truth, when Jesus Christ IS the truth" (Hugh B Brown).

Truths that have saved me are words such as:
• "In your timing, Lord."
• "I can choose to be happy, because the Atonement paid for (literally, like buying from a store) my guilt, pain, loneliness, suffering."
• "Heavenly Father, you are fully and perfectly invested in my happiness, because you love me."

You can also declare and repeat truths in your heart and mind that relate to the struggle at hand.

For example, tithing:
• The Lord has promised to pour me out blessings such that I will not have room to receive them all.
• I am not giving 10% to Him, it all belongs to Him anyway. He is giving me 90% of my income, with the highest interest rate ever existent on the 10% I return to Him.
• I pay my tithing because I love the Lord, and am grateful for all He has given me.
• I pay tithing on my gross income, because I want gross blessings.

These are great responses for tempting thoughts including:
• I don't have enough money for this week!
• I really want to pay of that bill.
• I haven't been to the theatre in ages!
• I am hungry (on the Sabbath).
• Why am I giving money to God? He owns worlds without number!
• The church should be fine without my contribution.

As a light switched on can fill a room with light, so can the Light, the Life and the Way fill our lives with Light. With Himself. If we let Him. And He can cast away all evil from our lives.

Not only should we see ourselves as setting goals and making plans to improve ourselves – we should understand that the Lord has prescribed a method of progression as such: we give all we have and all we are to God, so that He turns us into something greater, something better.

It is the handing over the clay of our lives and our character to the hands of the Master Potter.

Tell Him: "Father, I give all of my life to you. Tell me what you want me to do," and then listen. Move forward with something good in your life.

He frees us from evil, and leads moulds us into exalted beings, if we let Him.

Awake

Mosiah 3:2-3
"...And he said unto me: Awake; and I awoke, and behold he stood before me. And he said unto me: Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee..."

Allow me to focus on a particular part of the angel's words.

"Awake."

King Benjamin arises.

"Awake..."

Why would the angel command to awaken twice?

My hunch is that physical consciousness does not imply spiritual consciousness.

The angel could very well have used the same word used often in the Doctrine & Covenants: "Hearken."

When you are in sacrament meeting, are you "awake-awake"? You may be listening to the speaker, but you are not spiritually awake unless you are having an introspection on the speaker's sermon. You are not spiritually awake unless you are proposing in prayer, "Heavenly Father, I think I do well in this and this and this on this topic. I think I can improve on this and this. To do so, I will do this and this. What do you think?"

When studying the scriptures, of what level of spiritual consciousness are you awake at?

Just reading? Merely skimming?

Reading to learn the stories?

Drawing parallels between gospel principles and their applications as demonstrated in the scriptures?

Deeply pondering and praying regarding the role each scripture's teaching plays in your life?

Setting goals and making plans for improvement and coming closer to Heavenly Father, in serving Him?

Actually executing those plans?

Let us be awake like King Benjamin, to hear the messages God has for us every day.

Ten Lessons of Life

I saw on Facebook some friends nominating each other for listing on Facebook ten lessons they have learned in life.

I thought to myself, "that is a wonderfully awesome idea!"

And so, surprise surprise, I have listed some lessons of life I have learned.

I can't list all of them – the Millennium would have begun by then. I have listed ones that are dear to my heart.

I know they are true. They are not intentionally ordered.

1

Adapting and applying the concept of an eternal perspective in our daily lives requires having a mindset of pausing and listening. Feeling whether or not feelings and thoughts are right and eternal. Having a prayer in my heart always, meaning, I have left an open ear for receiving God's promptings when they come. The priorities of God's will is continually sought for in my life.

2

Having a strong influence on the happiness of others involves, as the highest level, engaging with them because of love for them. "Well, I just want to be with you, so I don't mind what we do," "you won't be with me, so I don't like that idea," "I'll be happy if you're happy," "let's work this out together," are great examples of words that indicate that your relationship and connection with them is important to you.

3

Morning and evening prayers are opportunities to lift your heart, mind and soul to divinity for healing, strengthening, consolation and loving correction that brings greater happiness. It is a time when you can ask to feel the love of God, and He can fill you up to overflowing with His love for you. It is a sacred experience that should be and can be received daily, alone in your figurative closet. You will not plan to pray for half an hour, but after a divine and sacred session of prayer, you will look at your watch and discover it has been a long time.

4

I have had times in my life – even lasting months – when a question of my soul, a fundamental question about life, plagued my mind and heart. I was bothered by the lack of answers, and consequently, bothered by the lack of peace I felt that brought about my questioning. You may be familiar with such examples of questions: Why is there so much suffering in this world? Why do I keep on hurting others? How do I deal with the continual, incessant abuse of others? Who am I, and what do I exist for? Why do I feel continually burdened? I have approached such questions with sincere earnestness in my whole soul, without reservation. I have prayed with my whole soul with tears and crying to God. I have diligently searched the scriptures and the words of living prophets for answers, and I have found not only the answers, but accompanying them was the sweet, peaceful witness of the Holy Ghost. Mine was like unto Alma's experience: "And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" (Alma 36:20)

5

The Atonement of Christ is applied, many times, through the Holy Ghost in softening my heart to accept God's will. To love those seemingly unlovable, to face challenges seemingly insurmountable, to become someone even better than we ever dreamed and imagined, to head into the foggy cloud of uncertainty knowing Christ is at he helm. The Atonement of Christ can change any negative into a positive. Whatever my concerns of the present, if I place my trust and faith in Him and apply His ways to myself, closer comes the day when I forget I had that concern.

6

How do you know when truth is truth, and God is speaking to you? I have come to know such when I have distinguished between the feelings I receive with each one. I have noticed a full assurance in my heart. Sometimes not immediately have I noticed it or received it, but it does come eventually, and it is the greatest feeling in the world – it is the feeling of God's love. It is His peace telling you what His ways are, and that everything will be alright.

7

When someone is showing forth pride, anger, they need someone who loves them. When I have been prideful and/or angry, I have found myself pacified by someone who was still able to reach me through love: non-judgmentality, empathy, kindness, a listening ear and heart, a willingness to serve and go the extra mile, someone who understands. I pray for those types of people in my life, and pray we all have them.

8

Everyone you see and meet each day is a child of God. They long for something that, most of the time, they know not. When I have realised the joys and perfection of Christ and the gospel, finding how He heals everything, and gives meaning to everything, I exclaim "I wish I knew this earlier!" I'm sure everyone feels, or will feel the same way.

9

Contrary to popular culture and society, the mainstream of the church following the united voice of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will never be led astray. This world will get crazier – unimaginably crazier – than it is now. More and more will we have the test of how willing we are to humble ourselves and follow the mouthpieces of God. But God has promised that He will not allow us to be led away. Give strict heed to the teachings and counsels of the Brethren. God speaks through them, and you must seek out confirmation of the truthfulness of their calling and their teachings.

10

One day, we will return to our Heavenly Father – all of us – and a personal, introspective evaluation of our lives will take place inside of us. Our memory of our lives will return, and be perfect. We will have clarity of judgment for who we have chosen to be and become. We will see the people we have blessed as well as the people we have hurt. We will see the materialism as a source of false happiness, and will see God, families, friends, learning, and progression as the things that did bring eternal happiness.

Receiving Revelation

"Revelations don’t just follow questions, they follow proposals."

J Bonner Ritchie

What's In A Name?

"And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved." - Omni 1:26

Here we read that we should partake of Christ's salvation and redemption. Even His power.

In our baptismal covenants, we took a solemn, unbreakable oath to be willing to take upon us the name of Christ. Many, including myself, have asked: what does it mean to take upon us His name?

We read that Christ is also named Saviour and Redeemer. Indeed, these are His names. Does it not make sense that we are to take upon us His saving power as Saviour, and take upon us His redeeming power as Redeemer?

His name is also Jesus. Jesus means deliverer or Saviour. Do we allow Him to deliver us from evil? Or are we like the cat in The Incredibles (Disney), who would not let go of their tree. What trees of pride, sin, or otherwise are we not letting go of?

His name is Christ. Christ means "anointed one." He was anointed and foreordained in the Premortal Life to be the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. Taking upon us the name of Christ means that we accept Him as Saviour and Redeemer just as we did in the Premortal life, and more so through our ability to exercise obedience and faith in Him in this life.

Below are web links to lists of Christ's names. All of us can read through each one, and personally evaluate how well we accept and apply the gift of each role Christ plays/can play in our lives.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1978/07/discovery/names-of-christ-in-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/christ-names-of?lang=eng

Dispelling Doubt

I don't like doubting.

When I'm in a state of doubt, I feel strangely and undesirably complacent and content in it. As misery loves company, doubt loves to call upon others to join.

Doubtfulness limits people's exercise of faith in God, themselves, and others. It is a means of Satan to drag us down. It leads us away from our potential.

Of course, Heavenly Father must have provided some way to free us from doubt. I suggest here some principles involved in the dispelling of doubtfulness.

I first note that to doubt is a choice. But like the tar and feathers on Joseph Smith's body after being tarred and feathered by those who despised him, it can take time, diligence, persistent effort and pain to be freed from doubt.

"for there is nothing which is good save it comes from the Lord: and that which is evil cometh from the devil." - Omni 1:25

I believe the first step is recognizing the doubt.

I love to say things like, "WHOA hold on a minute, I'm doubting. I'm not placing my faith in God."

Many of the times, when the doubt is not too strong, just saying those words heal me greatly! It's an amazing feeling.

At other times, I have found that the doubting feeling in me is so strong.

"Pray always that ye may come off conquerer, yea that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work." - Doctrine & Covenants 10:5

Always, I believe a step that applies in dispelling doubt is prayer.

In my prayers, I feel to say things like,
"Father, I feel overwhelmed with doubt, but my doubts are not truthful."
"Please give me strength to love, and fill me with optimism."

Words of greater positivity also help, such as,

"Lord, speak, for thy servant heareth" - 1 Samuel 3:10
"I have so many blessings, Thou hast given me a life, another day to live..."
"Thank you for this test of faith! Please walk with me through it."

"The gospel of the Savior is not simply about avoiding bad in our lives; it also is essentially about doing and becoming good. And the Atonement provides help for us to overcome and avoid bad and to do and become good. Help from the Savior is available for the entire journey of mortality—from bad to good to better and to change our very nature." - Elder Bednar

All throughout my period of undesired doubting, I keep this concept in my heart and mind: the Atonement has the power to change me.

What do I desire to change into? I want to become someone who has perfect faith in the Saviour - no doubting. It would not be in my character to doubt. No matter what in life comes my way, I would not doubt His love, His power, His hand in my life, His omniscience, His patience with me, His very plan in which I am guided in following Him into eternal life and exaltation. I would have an eternal perspective in perfect constancy throughout my life.

With this mindset, I move forward in life. It should and does automatically bring about an unremovable smile from our face and countenace.

Elder Bednar spoke about the gospel in general. While the Atonement is the provision of God for our salvation and exaltation, the living of the gospel is our applying the Atonement in our lives to obtain and hold onto salvation and exaltation.

Along with recognizing that doubt is not "full assurance in the heart," I can develop it through using the Atonement. Full assurance in my heart that God loves me. And it is full - meaning, there is no room for doubtfulness, or any other thing that contradicts that full assurance in God.

Fear has a similar acronym of "false evidence appearing real." I learn to recognize that whatever reasons I have for doubting, are reasons that are false and invalid because the Plan of Salvation is a plan of success. Even if things go wrong, not only are they conquerable, but if you "search diligently, pray always, and be believing... all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another" (D&C 90:24).

At the very roots and fundamentals of dispelling doubt, is living the gospel. Have faith in christ. Strive all your life to repent of your sins. Receive, renew, and live the covenants you have made with God, and one to another. Follow the Spirit, whose fruits are "love, joy, peace, longsuffering..." (Galatians 5:22-23). Endure "until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God" (Moroni 8:25-26).

My Life is in God's Hands

"The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept eery country and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say, the work is done."

Joseph Smith

The Kingdom of God on the earth will continue rolling forward, nothing can stop it. It is God's will and there is no telling Him otherwise.

His Kingdom is in His hands. It will succeed in its mission.



I had a profound thought this morning.

"My life is His work."

As much as I have heard it said in different ways in my life, it clicked to me this morning: "My life is His work."

I was walking up the stairs as I thought of it, and stopped walking as my mind and heart filled with light.

This is my logic for the morning:

"If God's work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of me (Moses 1:39), then rephrased, I am His work.

"And if I am His work, then He is in control of the tides and the waves of my life. He is in charge of the timing and the events that influence me.

"If I am His work, to bring to pass eternal life and exaltation, then there is no stopping Him. Only I would stop Him, but in no way would I ever try and stop Him. So I am destined to succeed!

"If I am His work, I will succeed!"

Of course, I must exercise faith and agency in pursuing His will for me. How comforting it is to know that I am a success story before the story has finished.

I believe it is the same for all of you.

Some thoughts on Not giving Up and Preparation

May the following joke not suggest that I have an unkind disposition toward blonde-haired people. I love blonde haired people - particularly the one I am dating, who I love.

It is the joke that I wish to open my thoughts with today.

A blonde-haired woman decided to swim the English channel. She swam three-quarters of the way but got tired, so she swam back.

On a similarly demonstrated idea, I invite you to absorb the communicated message in this image:

I am up to Jacob chapter 7 in my scripture reading. I think Jacob's experience with Sherem is very relatable to what we go through in this life.

In this chapter, Sherem the anti-Christ is successfully convincing many of the inexistence of, and lack of need, for Christ and His Atonement. There are many Sherems that approach us in life, such as a disbelieving boss, seemingly insurmountable trials, unkind people, lack of finances, doubts about God... the list is endless.

That's not to say that they all have the motive Sherem does.

Sherem "was learned, [in] that he had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery, and much power of speech, according to the power of the devil" (Jacob 7:4).

For many, Sherem led them to give up on Christ and the eternal life He offered, much like the blonde who went swimming, and the miner who stopped mining. (Forgive the flaws in my analogy.)

For me, Jacob not only stands out to me in how he handles Sherem, but how he prepared himself in mind, heart, soul and spirit.

"And [Sherem] had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken" (Jacob 7:5).

Jacob reflected on the experiences of great import and power in his life. He reflected upon the miracles, the revelations, the witness he had gained that truly, Christ indeed was the Son of God, and would perform the Atonement.

If God told me that He wants me to obtain diamonds, and that I would obtain them through mining long enough, then I would do it.

If God told me that He wants me to return to live with Him, and that I would obtain a presence with Him through enduring to the end in keeping His commandments, then I would do it.

And I'm doing it.

And I'm not giving up.

I do this in big ways, but also in ways small.

For example, how do you prepare for fasting?

Fast Sunday is approaching. You approximate how much you will contribute to the Lord in generous donation. You plan out when you will begin fasting and what you will fast for.

But how is your attitude?

“This is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer.” [D&C 59:14]

Fasting is rejoicing!

"Reverent behavior includes prayer, scripture study, fasting, and payment of tithes and offerings. It includes having wholesome thoughts, wearing modest clothing, and using clean, wholesome language. The depth of a person's reverence is evident in his or her choice of music and other entertainment, in the way sacred subjects are spoken of, and in the way the person dresses and acts when attending church services and worshiping in the temple. Reverence also includes making righteous choices even when no one is watching. Reverence for the Lord leads to serving other people and treating them with kindness and respect."

(https://www.lds.org/topics/reverence?lang=eng, emphasis added)

When and before I fast, I change the music I listen to, to music that assists me in keeping reverence in my heart and soul, and strengthens my commitment to "always remember Him" (D&C 20:77). It also helps me keep the right prayer in my heart regarding the things I am fasting for.

What about preparing for sacrament meeting? Is it just a weekly event for you?

What about times when you study the scriptures? Do you just whip out the scriptures daily to check off that they have been read every day?

What about prayer? My mother would feel saddened if every time I spoke with her, it was in a rush, and I never took the time to sit with her and chat about the most important things in life. Heavenly Father would be the same, I believe. He would be losing us, and we would be losing Him.

I pray we prepare well, and I pray we not give up on those worthy pursuits in life. May the prayer of "stop me if I'm wrong" be in our hearts and minds as we move forward with what we believe is God's will.