A Verse of Encouragement

When all looks too dark, too bleak, too discouraging, here is a great verse to remember. The Lord said:

I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil (D&C 10:43).

Even if things look lost, they are not when the Lord is the One in charge. We need not fear, for He will prevail in His own time, way, and manner.

The Anger Response

I remember a woman in a busy place who shoved past me and then yelled at me for being in the way. I immediately felt angry at her response. After all, she was the one that pushed me; why then was she yelling at me?

Truth be known, I wish I'd handled the situation better. I wish I'd smiled at her and had oozed kindness. She obviously was not in a happy place herself, having to rush like she was. Today I hope I would handle this scenario better. After all, I'm older and hopefully less likely to judge and rush to a response myself.

Situations like these remind me of a story from the Book of Mormon. Two groups of people, the Lamanites and the Nephites, were at odds. The Nephites knew much more of Christ and when they were living according to that knowledge, His grace was upon them. As a result, their enemies (the Lamanites) generally were mollified and rarely attacked. But sometimes their enemies still came upon them and it was the Nephites' necessary choice to determine how to handle the challenge.

One such scenario is recorded in the Book of Mormon in Alma 24. When the Lamanites come upon a particularly valiant group of believers, those individuals (called Anti-Nephi-Lehies) chose to suffer death rather than to defend themselves. They did this because prior to their conversion to Christ, they had been blood-thirsty and had murdered many. Therefore, being frightened at their previous choices and wanting to remain pure in Christ, they had buried their swords and made a covenant with the Lord never to take the life of God's children again. Their previous murdering habits disgusted them.

Here is one set of verses from the account:

Now when the people saw that they [their enemies] were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword.

And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God(Alma 24:21-22).

Can you imagine fearing your old sins so greatly that you would die rather than repeat them? That is the situation here. And yet all is not lost. Their enemies were so stung by this act of humility that here is their response:

Now when the Lamanites saw this they did forbear from slaying them; and there were many whose hearts had swollen in them for those of their brethren who had fallen under the sword, for they repented of the things which they had done.

And it came to pass that they threw down their weapons of war, and they would not take them again, for they were stung for the murders which they had committed; and they came down even as their brethren, relying upon the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them.

And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain;

And there...were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people(Alma 24:23-26).

Because of the purity of intent of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, additional people were blessed.

I think on this as I ponder the "peaceful demonstrations" being held at the "large Mormon temple" in Oakland by those who support the defeat of Proposition 8. I ponder on the response of the church members as they have to drive past the leering and screaming of those protestors. I pray for all the people involved as the vote on Proposition 8 comes closer. But I think on how essential it is that we have gentle responses toward our enemies.

Why are gentle responses usually necessary, at least in most cases? Because of what the Lord taught in Luke 6:35-36:

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful

We're not Christians simply because we say we are; we are full Christians when we act as Christ would in the various settings we find ourselves. And the conversions will come, just as they came when the Anti-Nephi-Lehies laid down their lives rather than mirror back hatred toward their offenders. Remember, to "be merciful" means to extend mercy in the face of offense -- rather than an angry response.

I may not have this learned completely. But Michelle Worley obviously has. Her experience on the frontlines with this Proposition 8 experience is beautiful. You can read more about what she's done by clicking here.

The Mercurial World We Live In

How mercurial* today's troubled world is! Yet look at what the Lord has waiting for us! (Aren't scriptures awesome?)

In Joseph Smith-History 1:29:

"...after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God...that I might know of my state and standing before him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one.

When we are in full fellowship with God, exploring our relationship with Him, it becomes much easier to know that He answers ALL our sincere prayers. It takes time to learn this process, but when we truly seek Him we grow in confidence--absolute awareness--that the Lord hears us. It may be mysterious to those who have not chosen to engage in this. But for those who have, they know with certainty that the Lord responds, not always in the same manner, but that He really does answer all earnest prayers.

In the Book of Mormon in the book of Alma we read about the word of God being compared to a seed (see Alma 32:28). If we plant the seed (the word of God) in our hearts and do not resist it, then it will grow. We begin to notice the goodness of the seed (the word of God) and its impact in our lives, much like a beautiful shade tree. We begin to feel the expanding of our souls and natures from it. But then these three verses contain a warning:

"But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.

"Now this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because...ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof.

"And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life" (Alma 32:38-40).

That particular chapter of scripture goes on to say, though, what beauty awaits us if we DO bring the word of God into our lives. We do so by planting it as a seed within our hearts using...

"...great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, [then] it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life...and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst" (Alma 32:41-42).

This is what Christ taught when He said:

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6)

and...

"...he that cometh to me shall never hunger..."John 6:35).

The world may be mercurial, but the Lord has rest for our souls...and that rest can be found in the word of God.


* Mercurial: volatile, fickle

Knock and It Shall Be Opened!

I decided last night to use the Index in the scriptures to study the topic, "Knock." And it led me to this story in Luke 11:5-8.

Part 1 of the story:

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves.

So we have a person going to a friend's house in the middle of the night for three loaves of bread. Now, think on this. I can imagine waking a friend for many important reasons, but for three loaves of bread?

Part 2 of the story. Christ continues. He quotes the midnight visitor as giving this reason for waking his friend:

'For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?'

Forget the inconvenience of the midnight hour. Forget that the individual is not prepared. What is interesting is the response of the friend woken at this unusual hour.

Part 3 of the story.

And he from within shall answer and say, 'Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.'

A pretty normal response, wouldn't you say? Yet look what the Savior adds in his telling of this story of this request. Part 4.

I say unto you, 'Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.'

And from this part forward, Christ teaches his listeners an important principle with these words:

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?Luke 11:5-13

I LOVE this story and passage of scripture! For several reasons I love it. For example, we might be asking amiss due to the timing of our request (waiting too long = midnight hour), but the Lord will still hearken and help!

Additionally, maybe our relationship with the Lord isn't that great -- referencing the woken individual would not have responded because of the level of friendship, but did respond due to the "importunity" (the urgent and persistent nature of the request). How similar God is! The message of the story is that our Father in Heaven is the same. Even though we are imperfect (maybe we previously haven't sought the Lord's companionship enough), but when we do importune Him, He will respond to our urgent and persistent requests.

The Savior taught this principle consistently through His words and His example. And that is why I love this story. For me, it teaches the veritable essence of petitioning our God for His care. We may have been short-sighted, we may not have sought Him before. But as Christ teaches so well in this story and the follow-up commentary on it, sincere prayer is ALWAYS heard by our Father in Heaven. Knock and it shall be opened!

Steadfastness in Christ

I've had guests for the past little bit, plus a few family trips. Family trumps blogging for me. :0)

But now I'm back. And today I was reading in the Book of Mormon, studying the topic of "hope." Hope seems to be dying for many people. With the stock market implosion, crazy food prices, etc., stress is increasing. Yet all the while, the Savior is extending His hands to help calm and heal people's hearts.

Here's the scripture for me today to think on throughout the day. It's beautiful. And notice the parallelism within it. It's found in 2 Nephi 31:20:

20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a ^asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of ^bhope, and a ^clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and ^dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have ^eeternal life.

Compare the two phrases. I LOVE these:
Phrase 1) "...press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope..."

Phrase 2) "...press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end..."

Within this little verse contains powerful advise on how to meet the perils of the day (see Paul's words in the New Testament). When we do the following, we are able to endure and be led by the bright light of hope which emanates from the Savior Himself!

1. Press forward. In other words, we keep moving onward not relying on our own understanding of events (which otherwise might prove too frightening).
2. Steadfastness in Christ. Christ cannot be rocked by today's events. He was unperturbed at having nails pounded through his flesh or being whipped or nailed to a cross. He is not perturbed today. Instead He has a plan of salvation for all of us if we will just receive Him and His intentions and gift of grace. His will not be moved and if/when we rely on Him, we then also can be steadfast.
3. Having a perfect brightness of hope = feasting upon the word of Christ. From the verse mentioned above, for me these two individual phrases are linked in parallelism. For me, "feasting upon the word of Christ" IS how we obtain (and then continue) in a perfect brightness of hope. The word of Christ is a "lamp unto [our] feet" (see Psalm 119:105). When all hope is gone, He and His word still contain the power to light our way in this murky and confusing world.
4. Having a perfect brightness of hope = endur[ing] to the end. Hope enables us to endure; discouragement encourages us to quit. Enduring to the end, then, is enabled by feasting on the word and remaining steadfast in Christ. We are able to be steadfast in Christ when we know Him; we get to know Him by feasting on the word. Isn't it an amazing loop and scripture?
   

The jeopardy around us is real; there are "bad" things that do happen. But this verse from the Book of Mormon contains so much real hope and truth and beauty that it helps me during down times. Truly, the scriptures are awesome things! Here is a link to online scriptures for further studies. And I especially like this link to the study of "hope." For through Christ, we can hope for much better things than some of today's events might illustrate!

How can any reasonable person...

I'm sorry, but how can any reasonable person think like this...

Just had to post this, because I'm livid. What is our world coming to that we would kill living babies? And Obama was the only senator to support this during this vote. Unbelievable.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled tame discussions on scripture.

Being Imperfect

My little seven-year-old son got very frustrated with himself last night for making a mistake. I suppose the nature of the mistake is not so important as is the anger he felt toward himself. But to make a point, I'll share what he'd done. He thought the event was worse, much worse, than I did.

Unbeknownst to me, he'd been playing around with my sewing machine, turning knobs and buttons and all kinds of gizmos. Later when I went to sew something, the needle broke down inside the machine due to his "scientific experiments" he'd been making. The result was a large piece of the needle submerged and well-stuck down inside a rather expensive sewing machine. :0)

In the realm of eternity, this was a rather small event. But I couldn't seem to help him see that. We talked about how when we make a mistake we need to make sure to fix it. But we don't need to writhe with all kinds of self-loathings. Soon enough, with the help of some tweezers, I got the needle out and everything was ready to sew.

I thought on this this morning as I was reading in D&C 49:8:

Wherefore, I will that all men shall repent, for all are under sin, except those which I have reserved unto myself, holy men that ye know not of.

The cross reference to this scripture took me to Galatians 3:22:

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

And cross-referencing THAT I came to Mosiah 16:1-2 in the Book of Mormon:

And now it came to pass that after Abinadi had spoken these words he stretched forth his hand and said: The time shall come when all shall see the salvation of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just.

And then shall the wicked be cast out, and they shall have cause to howl, and weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth; and this because they would not hearken unto the voice of the Lord; therefore the Lord redeemeth them not (emphasis added).

This is what I tried to explain to my son who last night perfectly fit the howling description from this scripture. He is a little guy who cares very much about things and is very hard on himself when he falters. But the Lord knew when He sent us to earth we would make mistakes. All of us would make mistakes; only Jesus Christ is perfect and whole. I reminded my son that it is not so much whether or not we would make mistakes in our sojourn here on earth (it's obvious we do and will). What matters, I told him, is what we do after we've realized we have made a mistake.

In the scripture above, only those who refuse to hearken to the Lord are those that need fear, tremble, howl, or even gnash teeth - simply because they will be spending an eternity without Him. On the other hand, those who do desire to live Christ-like lives, do not need to howl if they are hearkening to the voice of the Lord daily and are following the plan He laid out. In so doing, we avoid SO many mistakes, but for those mistakes that still snag us, we have hope. We have the Savior Jesus Christ who came to save all those who would put their trust in Him and have Him be their Redeemer from the sin that so easily besets us, and even the little mistakes that distract us.

THIS is what I tried to explain to my distraught little son last night. It is not so much the mistake as it is what we do after we realize we made a mistake. If we turn to the Lord in our imperfections and seek to do all we can to better our choices, then all is well. For indeed, He died to save us all. His plan is perfect; His grace is mighty; He is powerful to save. Big mistake or small, He can redeem us all if we choose Him, hearken to His word, and strive to do better each time we fall.

My little boy is learning all this; in fact, just this morning he reminded me again of what he learned last night. Oh, isn't it wonderful to know of Christ and all He's done! It lifts the load of fear, discouragement,...and even howling. :0)