What goes through my mind when I study the scriptures

Here is a recording of how I think when I study and ponder the scriptures. 

A self-improvement I should have is to make commitments as I go. (Hehe, my commitment is to make commitments.) 

 

Study Journal Recording:

On occasion, I am tempted to be upset over something that doesn't go my way. I have expectations that aren't met. I think of an ideal that I want more than I want to accept things how they are. In another expression, I feel tempted to feel entitled.

The adversary loves whispering these lies:

• Didn't Heavenly Father say that if you keep His commandments, you will receive this and this blessing? Where is it?
• Sure, Jesus Christ performed the Atonement, and He can apply it in your life. But, will He?
• You've got the full picture, you understand the full situation. Why don't you hold to your ground? You are sticking up for the truth by doing so.

The one who gave the first lie here on earth has not ceased to speak lies.

“The greater the distance between the giver and the receiver, the more the receiver develops a sense of entitlement” (Dale G Renlund).

As I pondered this principle, a vision opened in my mind, of what it means to have Christ close to me. Thinking about it now, the following scripture popped into my mind:

“…let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good…” (Alma 37:36-37).

Do I feel what He feels about my situation?

Am I thinking what He is thinking in each circumstance?

I don’t ask Him my every question. I can counsel with Him. There is a difference.

It supports my view that covenants are all about relationships. It also, though, expands my view, in how the gospel is all about relationships.

And I’m seeing it everywhere. For example, in order to rid myself or procrastination in any area of my life, I’ve worked to plan it and to work for its accomplishment.

However, Alma demonstrates another approach.

“I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance; but that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and…” (Alma 13:27-28).

Do you see it? The process Alma illustrated in teaching the people of Ammonihah consisted of first approaching God. He was effectively teaching that to improve one’s life, you seek to improve your relationship with God.

1. Humble yourselves before the Lord: we hear often of the first step of repentance being to acknowledge sins and mistakes. That is a step of humility. Also in this step is the acknowledgement of God’s love, power, mercy and justice.
   
2. Call on His name.
   
3. Watch and pray continually: it’s a mindset of watching out for things that keep you from obtaining your righteous goal. It’s approaching your plan as a team with God.
   
4. Be led by the Holy Spirit: The Holy Ghost interacts with us in multiple ways. Ways noticeable and unnoticeable.

I also notice in these verses, that to become humble, you need to humble yourself. Isn’t that strange? To me it is, having distanced myself from God for a while.

“But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord… and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble…”

I guess the lesson to be taken is, in order to demonstrate humility, you don’t need to have the attribute of humility.

And I think that’s what agency is about. God gave me the gift of agency, and with it I can choose my destiny. I can choose who I will become. I choose “who” I become by making choices that that “who” would make. This is the reason why we hear so many motivational sayings such as:

• Fake it till you make it.
•  “We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day.” – Elder Scott
• “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

So, we don’t have the excuse to say “but I’m not a kind person!” Or “I’m not very smart!” Or "That's just how I am!"

Well, go and do a kind deed every day, and soon enough you will become kind. Go and study everyday in consistency, and you will have learned hundreds of things over time. Go and do something everytday that you've never done before, and you will change.

“Rectitude is a perpetual victory, celebrated not by cries of joy but by serenity, which is joy fixed or habitual.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson