Sabbath Gems

Kindness Challenge

2011-06-26T13:33:00.001-07:00

There is a vital link between helping others, giving, health and happiness. Enjoy learning more about how to best enable this vital link. Enabling perfect principles of dietary health is merely an important preface to the greatest principle of health discussed herein. What is shared herein is the secret to everlasting health, strength, posterity, prosperity and happiness.

Introduction

Jesus taught that if we would become God’s heirs to heaven’s choicest blessings, including everlasting health, then we must learn to love everyone as we love ourselves, even our enemies. All men desire to receive kindness, to have their needs met, and to be okay. Learning to be kind to everyone and helping others to have their needs met and to be happy is the purpose of this life. To become God’s heirs we must come to love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds; and we must love our neighbors as we love ourselves, which occurs as we follow the Savior’s example to go about helping one another to be well and happy.

Three Lights

Three lights are given to help us learn to love as God loves. The first is the Light of Christ,which giveth light to every man. By this light we may discern between good and evil as easily as we can discern between light and darkness. Everything that persuades us to do good and to be kind is of God, and that which persuades us to not do good or to be unkind is of evil. As we choose good and kindness over evil we grow in light, truth, and love.

Choosing good over evil qualifies us to receive a second light, which is the gift of the Holy Ghost, our divine teacher. He abides in us and speaks to our hearts and minds, guiding us just as quickly as we are able and willing to receive greater light, truth, love, and knowledge. We progress to love as God loves as we suffer ourselves to do the Lord’s will in all things. His will is customized uniquely for each of us to help us become His heirs.

As we yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, we grow in faith, knowledge, and love until we qualify for the third light, which is to enter into the presence of the Lord, wherein we receive Him as our Second Comforter. (see Redemption.) He then teaches, comforts, and guides us further until we become purified as He is pure and we can be presented without spot, by Him, to the Father, which is a gift we may receive during our lifetimes. We qualify for this great blessing as we consecrate our lives to being His true and loving disciples.

Consecration
Jesus is our perfect example, guide, and teacher. If we want to become like Him, we must do as He did. He healed the sick, raised the dead, caused the blind to see, the lame to walk, walked on water, fed thousands, and went about doing good continually. He promised that His disciples would do all the things He did and even greater. We become His true disciples as our bowels our filled with charity, our thoughts are garnished with virtue, and as we heed His call to straightway leave our cares to go about doing the good He wants us to do.

To be true disciples we must place all our trust in Him and consecrate all our gifts, talents, possessions, and our very lives to do His will each day. This becomes possible as we anchor our Trust in the Savior -- to meet all our personal needs, including our temporal needs, rather than placing our trust in Babylon. The failure of the Rich Young Ruler was that he did not place all his Trust in the Savior, but placed a portion of his trust and security elsewhere. His life was secured by his riches and he sorrowed at the thought of giving up his security to lovingly meet the needs of the poor and to help them be okay, which the Master asked him to do. Wherein is our Trust? Is it all in the Lord or is a portion of it elsewhere? Consider signs of true disciples who give all trust to the Lord:

Consecrate gifts, talents, lives, and all we possess to do the Lord's will daily.
Labor for Zion and not for money. (see 2 Nephi 26:31.)
Forsake class divisions among us and esteem all flesh as one. (1 Nephi 17:35.)
Refrain from saying, "This man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just...” (Mosiah 4:17.)
Become pure in heart and familiar with all and free with our substance that all may be made rich like unto us so that there are no more poor among us (Jacob 2:17).
Be as true believers who share all goods and substances. (Acts 2:44-47)
Do not store up treasures unto ourselves to securitize ourselves. (Luke 12:16-21)
Secure needs by asking for and receiving whatsoever we need to do God’s will. (Moroni 7:26)
Do all things Christ did and even greater -- as Jesus prophesied regarding His true disciples.

The Challenge - Click here and listen, then do the following: Each day enter your private place and ask the Father who He wants you to help that day. Quiet your mind sufficiently that you are not caught up in the cares of the world. If you are distracted or your intent is not real, He will remain silent to you. As you desire with real intent to know and do His will, He will make it known to you. As you lift the burdens of others, your soul will be filled with light, love, and peace. If you would become sanctified and become His, then when He calls you to lift and help another, do as His apostles who straightway left their nets, or the cares of the world, to follow Him. It is sufficient to pray daily to know the Lord's will for that day and to then go about doing it. This is the pathway for becoming like Him. To accept this kindness challenge do the following:

Pray: Begin each day by kneeling in Prayer to express your Gratitude to the Lord. As your heart is filled with gratitude for your many blessings, allow your heart to be drawn out toward the needs of others. Ask who the the Lord wants you to help and express your desire to help. (See I’m Available Lord.) You will feel a desire in your heart to do something kind for someone. Consider carefully what it is you are to do and then do it.
Ask and Receive: Secure the faith of the Mustard Seed so that all things the Lord asks of you to do during the challenge will become possible to you. God promises that as we offer our all to do His will, He will add to our all everything else we need to accomplish His will. As you learn and do His will to help others, ask in confidence and receive whatsoever you need so that you may provide the help you are to give.
Fast: Fast 24 hours one day each week of the challenge to more fully endow yourself with the Lord’s power, influence, and pure flow of blessings. (see Fasting.)
Journal: Record your kindness experiences and the blessings you receive as you go about doing good continually. (see Sunshine, Rain, and Love.)
Any Sacrificeyou make while doing the Lord’s will is accompanied by a promise that your sacrifices will be restored unto you, even an hundred fold. Record sacrifices you make and blessings you receive as you go about helping others. Remember these as you pray (see 1 above).
Holiness: Seek to fully understand the Path of Holiness and record goals and experiences concerning holiness as you go about being kind. (See Holiness.)
Share: Please invite others to accept the Kindness Challenge and to enjoy the blessings that are predicated upon living our lives according to the highest laws of heaven. Also, we come out from the condemnation under which we labor as we "do" these things and not "say" them only. (D&C 84:53-57)

Kindness Challenge Summary

Learning to love as Jesus loves, by helping others meet their needs and to be okay and happy, is the essence and sum aim of our existence. It qualifies us to become God’s heirs and to receive everlasting blessings of health, strength, and posterity and to receive a dominion that flows unto us forever and ever without compulsory means.

Three sources of light help to guide and teach us what to do to become God’s heirs and to become recipients of Heaven’s choicest blessings. We come into this life with a promise that as fast as we are willing and able to receive light it will be given to us. It is our choice to progress in the path of goodness and love by consecrating our all to do the Lords will, or to become distracted by the cares of the world and the honors of man.

God commanded the Brother of Jared to build vessels and gave him light for the journey. Through the prophet Elijah He asked the widow of Nain to give all the food she had, and then preserved her and her son from the famine. God commands the mustard seed to grow from the tiniest of seeds into a large tree and then supplies water, sunshine, and nutrients required to enable growth. So too, as we consecrate our all to do God’s will, we secure unto ourselves a sacred promise. As we give our all God provides all else that is necessary for us to accomplish His purposes. Truly, when we are about our Father’s business, He generously gives to us everything that we need in order to do His business.

He does not want us to grow weary of heart, mind, or soul or to faint in the way. He expects us to ask with confidence for that which we need. We should find ourselves saying daily, "To do what it is you desire me to do today and that I desire to do, I will need the following..." We each have sacred duties and responsibilities, and as we go before Him we should first take time to remember His tender mercies on our behalf and express our pure love for Him. As we express our gratitude, our hearts will be drawn out toward others and we will know who to serve by those simple and pure feelings that come to us from heaven.

The wonderful blessings of the millennial state begin for each of us the moment we choose to live by the laws which govern heaven -- the highest of which are to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. As we so consecrate ourselves, the Millennium begins in that moment for us and will spread from one person and one congregation to the next -- until it covers the whole earth. (JD, B Young, 1:198; D&C 130:20-21.) Our challenge is to “do” true religion and not to “say or hear” it only. We labor under a state of condemnation by treating lightly that which has been given to us by the words of all prophets and writers of holy writ. If we do not choose to “do” rather than to “say only,” we will one day be trodden upon, scattered, and smitten. (3 Nephi 16: 8-15.) We secure our path in life as we seek to know and do the Lord’s will daily and as we consecrate all that we have and are to His will. He alone can guide our consecrated efforts; He alone knows each of us perfectly and can orchestrate what we are each to do. We alone, like the Widow of Nain who gave her all as she was preparing to die, may similarly qualify ourselves for the Lord’s unrestrained blessings as we do His will in all things and thereby become His true disciples. Consider those within your circle of influence who need your help, heed the Lord’s invitation, and go about doing good.

Hope

2011-05-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

During my youth I arose early each morning to milk cows. I enjoyed hearing the gentle lowing of the cows in the cold morning air as they eagerly and patiently awaited their turn at the entrance of our barn to be milked. Later in my life I taught my young bride Colleen to milk a cow with me. We milked the cow out of doors and not within the comfort of a barn, and we used a three-legged stool to sit on while milking the cow because all three legs of the stool would come into contact with the often bumpy, rough, and uneven surface of the earth. The three-legged stool was the simplest, best, and most stable platform for us to sit on as we milked the gentle cow.

Like the three-legged stool we used to milk the cow, hope is one leg of the three-legged stool of faith, hope, and charity. Hope anchors us in our ability to move forward rightly in life and to navigate life’s bumpy, rough, and uneven terrain. Hope keeps us from drifting aimlessly and from being tossed too and fro by perilous waves, or from running ourselves aground upon life’s rocky shoals. Hope helps to secure us fast to faith and to charity.

A perfect brightness of hope embodies happy feelings and the anticipation of good things to come. Hope secures sufficient faith to energize the body, the mind, and the spirit to fruitful action. Hope has within it the power to help us realize great happiness and to do much good. The scriptures themselves were written that we might have hope. And hope in Christ's atonement and resurrection is the foundation to our faith and essential to all righteous living.

What is the opposite to this three-legged stool that secures us? Doubt (opposite of faith), despair (opposite of hope), and inaction to do good continually (opposite of charity that leads us to do good continually). These counterfeits lead to the loss of heaven’s blessings in our lives. Despair drains us of vitality and joy, it kills ambition, ages and deteriorates our health, and deadens our hearts. It is toxic waste to the soul and pollutes all that is good within us. Hope, on the other hand, is like the sunlight that rises at dawn. It illuminates our present circumstances in a manner to enable us to go forward in faith and power. Hope enables us to endure all things and abide in trust that the Lord’s promises to us are secure as we press forward in faith.

How can our hope increase? Hope is born through faith in God. Our faith in God increases and our hope becomes bright as we come to better understand God’s perfect characteristics and attributes. For example, hope increases as we recognize that God has the power to keep His promises to us; and that He is God today and will be God from everlasting to everlasting. Hope increases as we recognize His goodness and mercy, in whom there is no variableness or changing. We hope more brightly as we believe He is a God of truth and does not and cannot lie. Our hope brightens because He is no respecter of persons and as we voluntarily act in accordance with His will we are assured His promises of eternal progression. Similarly, we hope because of our faith in His perfect love for us and because He is omniscient and does not make mistakes when He commands us. Our hope brightens as we recognize that His judgement is perfect and sound and that He is perfectly just as He exercises judgment over us. Finally, hope increases as we remember that He never asks anything of us that we cannot do, nor that will not result in our personal progression and greater light and happiness. Herein is our basis for hope and hope is critical to our progress and relationship with God. Proverbs teaches us that hope deferred maketh the heart sick (Prov. 13:12). Therefore, let us secure and not defer hope.

The fruits of hope are confidence, optimism, enthusiasm and sufficient patience to secure the fruits of faith. We should therefore strive daily for firm, sure, unwavering, and an active and lively hope. It is the fuel which enables us to wax confident in prayer before the Lord, knowing that our prayers will be answered and that as we press forward in faith we will receive all things necessary to do the Lord’s will in our lives.

We must cultivate and nurture hope as we would lovingly tend and care for a garden. We best nurture hope by doing what is right and good continually. By so doing we are filled with the Holy Ghost and enjoy fruits of righteousness in our lives, which enables us to attain even greater hope. We can come to abound in hope, even when circumstances may seem to contradict hope. Even as odds are stacked against hope we must persist and choose hope by pressing forward steadfastly and continually, abounding in good works.

Hope that is centered in truth fuels faithful action sufficient to bear the fruits of faith. Hope that is centered in error has no power to bear the fruits of faithful action. For example, hope for vibrant health without the faith to live the laws of health, has no power in it to secure vitality. By comparison hope for vibrant health that is nurtured through obedience to the laws of health, secures the vitality hoped for. Procrastination to act in faith towards our desired outcomes causes our faith to grow dormant and leads to the lessening of hope. Bright hope requires that we secure faith through action.

There are three things to hope for that secure great faith and charity in our lives:

First, is the hope to receive Christ as our Second Comforter.
Second, is the hope to be made a partaker of the heavenly gift.
Third, is the hope to improve our present condition to a Zion condition -- wherein there can be no happier people on earth.

Why do we want to hope for and to obtain great charity? In a world full of inequality, hate, and despair, to hate those who hate only begets more hate. Hate ends for us with the choice to love everyone, including those who hate us. Hope for Zion begets faithful action which leads to love sufficient to bring about Zion one person at a time.

As we seek to qualify to receive the Second Comforter, to be redeemed, and to be made a partaker of the heavenly gift, let us remember that meekness and lowliness of heart before God endows us with even greater faith, hope, and charity and qualify us insomuch that the doctrines of the priesthood begin to distill upon our souls as fast as we are willing and able to receive them. As we secure a perfect brightness of hope in Christ, our hearts also become drawn out toward the welfare of others and as we love our neighbors more perfectly, they too turn more fully to Christ and heaven’s blessings. We help to build God's kingdom as we serve and turn others to Christ.

There are many wonderful things to hope for in life such as a good education, work that you enjoy and that enables you to contribute to others, or the hope to develop a God-given talent more fully. We should never minimize any hope that leads us to do good, for all such hope is of God. We should honor the good desires and hopes that are within us through intelligent action that enables us to realize our hopes. Our hope is anchored more fully as we ask God for whatsoever things we stand in need of, both spiritual and temporal to enable us to realize our hopes; and as we return grateful loving thanks unto God for whatsoever things we receive from Him. Gratitude is a pure expression of love.

We anchor our hope further as we remain humble, submissive, gentle, easy to be entreated, and as we endure in patience and with long-suffering, and as we become temperate in all things and as we are diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times.

As our love of God and all men increases and we consecrate our all as we go about doing good continually, we become sanctified and holy and our garments are made spotless. We qualify that we too may be brought to sit down with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having our garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out. We become God’s heirs and receive eternal life. And as we so walk this life in faith, hope, and charity we secure a promise that God’s peace will rest upon us now, and upon our houses and lands, and upon our flocks and herds, and upon all that we possess, and upon our women and our children.

How important then is hope? Hope is the fuel of industry, productivity, health, and of action. Without hope, faith becomes dormant and we cease to do good, to become sanctified, and to progress along the path of redemption. Therefore, we must hope, or we cannot receive an inheritance that would otherwise be prepared for us among the mansions of our Father. And, as we become filled with faith, hope, and charity toward God and all men we qualify to enter into the rest of the Lord and to be made partakers of the heavenly gift, and we qualify ourselves more fully to help establish Zion today.

How do we know if our progress is right and if our hope is true or false? It is as easy to tell that our hope and direction is true as it is to judge the daylight from the dark. Everything that inviteth to do good and to persuade us to believe in Christ is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore we may know with a perfect knowledge that it is of God. And as we lay hold upon every good thing we become children of Christ and qualify for Zion’s blessings today.

What then may we hope for with a perfect brightness of hope?

We may hope that whatsoever thing we shall ask the Father in the name of Christ, which is good, in faith believing that we shall receive, behold it shall be done unto us. This promise secures us in any desire we have which leads us to do good.
We may hope that we will do many good works by the power and gifts of God.
We may hope that we will come unto Christ and lay hold upon every good thing.
We may hope that we will become purified even as Christ is pure and that faith, hope and charity will bring us to the fountain of all righteousness.
We may hope that our charity will always endure through diligence unto prayer and that through diligence unto prayer, strong faith and a firm mind in every form of Godliness, we will enter into the Lord's rest.
We may hope that as we do the Lord's will daily, our garments well become white through the blood of the Lamb, without spot, and we will be raised unto eternal life.
We may hope that the New Jerusalem, even the holy sanctuary of the Lord, will come down out of heaven to rest upon this land and that a holy city will be built up, and that this land we become renewed -- to be enjoyed by those who qualify to be numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, and that the tree of life will be planted upon the earth again and will bare twelve manner of fruits, and will yield her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree will be for the healing of nations.

With these hopes let us therefore awake and arise from the dust as sons and daughters of Zion to be no more confounded. Let us come unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny self of all ungodliness, and love God with all our might, mind, and strength that his grace may be sufficient that we may become perfected and sanctified in him and become holy and without spot.

Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Let us then go forward and not backward. Let us have courage and go on, on to the victory! Let our hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free. Those we love will rise again.
Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!

It is a fact that those who live most peacefully and happily live longer lives and suffer from less disease than those who are chronically stressed and who suffer regularly from spiritual disquietude. Perfect hope leads to perfect peace and happiness. As we anchor our lives to a perfect brightness of hope and upon the three-legged stool of faith, hope and charity, we come naturally to enjoy rich peace and happiness. And, as we exercise faith, we overcome its opposite -- even fear, and as we increase our hope we overcome its opposite -- even despair, and that as we love God and neighbor rightly and go about doing good continually, we overcome love's opposite -- unfruitful action and the lack of doing good continually.

Therefore, to enjoy our greatest potentials for physical health and longevity, we must obtain our greatest spiritual potential for peace and happiness. We do this most simply as we come unto the Lord each day with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and ask Him for the strength and direction needed to forsake all darkness within us (sins, errors, and weaknesses) that we may enter more fully into His perfect light and love. As we do His perfect will today our hope may be perfect that His will for us today is customized by Him to enable our greatest spiritual and physical potentials today.

Sacrifice

2011-05-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

The law of Sacrifice requires that we give to the Lord "all" He requires of our time, our earthly possessions, our energies, and even our lives if necessary. It requires also that we seek to know God's will daily and to do it. As we consecrate our time, possessions, and energies daily doing the Lord's will, our obedience and they sacrifices we make enable us to build greater faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and to advance in knowledge, light, and truth. As we straightway leave our nets to do His will we trod a very special and customized path -- one the Savior has designed perfectly for us with one end in mind, that we may lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to see His face, enter His presence, and receive Eternal Life.

From Adam until Christ, Israel was commanded to offer up the firstlings of their flocks as sacrifices unto the Lord. These were to be the very best that Israel had to offer and were to be animals blemish or spot. Offering one's best was to remind Israel that that Jesus Christ, the Firstborn of the Father, who is perfect and without blemish and would come into the world to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. (See Moses 5:5–8.)

The Savior came to minister to man and was offered up as a sacrifice for us. He overcame the bonds of death that we may all be resurrected. And, He overcame spiritual death for those who repent of their sins through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This great and last sacrifice of God's perfect Son marked the end of sacrifices by the shedding of blood.

Sacrifices Required By the Lord Today

The physical sacrifice of animals was replaced by the ordinance of the sacrament, which was given to remind us of the Savior's perfect sacrifice for each of us. The bread and water of the sacrament remind us of the body and blood of Christ, which were sacrificed for us. Let us consider the sacrifices the Lord requires of us today more carefully:

Broken Heart: We are to offer a "Broken Heart" to the Lord today. This means two things. First we are to recognize our weaknesses daily and the pain He suffered for us. This recognition causes us to feel both sorrow and gratitude as we come unto the Lord and call upon His name. It enables us to offer up hearts and to recognize our utter dependence upon Him. And, like a young horse that as he becomes "broken" learns to trust and submit to the touch of his master's hand and who learns to yield to his various commands and subtle cues, we too yield our heart without reservation to do the Lord's will as we seek to become like Him. The Lord does not yank us here and there as an untrained horseman might do to a horse. Rather, He entices us as gently, affording us the agency to yield to His slightest invitations and commands. We offer a broken heart as we both trust and yield to the Lord, just as a horse that is well broken, yields to the softest touch and most subtle cues of his master.
Contrite Spirit: What is a contrite spirit? Consider a child who has hurt her knee. She comes crying to mother contritely, who helps to comfort her. Now consider the same child a few years later who demands of the mother keys to the car. The mother may know that the car's condition imposes immediate and real risks to her child. Unless the child is willing to listen, hear and learn from her Mother, she will only believe her mother is ignoring her. We use our agency to tell God what He can and cannot say to us. Through agency we essentially say to God, “Don’t tell me anything except what I want to hear,” and God remains silent, according to our agency, or we come to Him in trust and love, desiring entirely to know and do His will. Thus, we control the flow of revelation from God. If our mind is “preset” or “predetermined", then our agency demands that God not counsel us in the matter. By comparison, as we yield perfectly to His gentle enticings we receive answers to our prayers as fast as we can receive them. This is an incredible discovery.
Sacrifice All and Come Follow Me: When the Savior called His apostles and asked them to follow Him, they left their livelihood or their nets and straightway followed Him. By comparison, the rich young ruler was asked to sell his riches and to give all to the poor. He was to thereby pick up his cross and follow the Savior. Those who trust in riches more than God do not offer their "all" to the Lord, but hold back the portion of their trust that is placed in their riches. No may can follow the custom path of the Savior to enter heaven who cannot place "all" his time, earthly possessions, life, and energy upon the alter each day. If we would enter heaven, then we must come unto the Lord daily with a broken heart and contrite spirit -- giving our all to Him -- sparing nothing.
Abrahamic Test: Nephi was asked to kill Laban; Abraham was asked to kill his son Isaac. Saints have been asked to leave their homes and comforts. A part of the path to redemption includes doing whatsoever the Lord asks of us. Along the path is included a significant test that is customized just for us in order to help us lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to enter into the presence of God. We may even believe what we are asked to do is wrong, as Nephi believed it to be wrong to kill Laban. As we sacrifice our hearts and minds yielding entirely to the Lord's will, the test will enable us to complete our journey back to the Father. We should not seek this test, but simply yield to the Lord's will daily, whereby He orchestrates a customized plan of salvation for us.

All saints in each dispensation who have been redeemed, have gained the faith and knowledge required to enter into God's presence through daily obedience and sacrifice. Each day of their lives as they have come unto the Lord and called upon his name, they have submitted their will to Him and have obeyed His voice, kept His commandments and have sacrificed whatsoever the Lord has asked of them in order to secure their exaltation. By so yielding they gradually put off the natural man entirely and become perfected in Christ.

We learn in Luke 12:16–34 that where our treasure is, there is our heart also. If we place our heart on riches and the things of this world, as did the Rich Young ruler, we will not walk our customized path of exaltation and will not be enabled to secure the faith and knowledge needed in order to become exalted. If our treasure is to become like God, then we will place our hearts upon His Son, knowing that His Son will lead us back to the Father.This blessing is only for those who lay their "all" on the alter to do the Lord's will daily.

In Luke 9:57–62 we are taught that we must sacrifice to be fit for the kingdom of God. As we yield entirely to the Master, He enables us to become entirely fit for the Kingdom. He is our coach, our master, our mentor, and our friend.

And in D&C 98:13–15, we learn that those who lose their life for the Lord will find it. As we yield entirely to the Lord's will, we quickly find our best self within His custom path for us.

And finally, let us also remember the people of Ammon who sacrificed their very lives rather than break their oath to the Lord. If all temple-going Latter-day Saints will keep their covenant to consecrate all they have for the building of the God's Kingdom and for the establishment of Zion, then all of us will find a place at the right hand of God. Today is a day of choosing and those who choose to sacrifice their "all" in order to live according to the laws of the celestial kingdom today will qualify to dwell in the Celestial Kingdom after this life.

Heavenly Gift

2011-05-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Book of Mormon teaches that exceedingly many past inhabitants of the American continent entered into the Lord's rest and were made partakers of the heavenly gift during their sojourn on earth. The did not look to the afterlife for the fulfillment of these blessings, but received these two great blessings while they lived on earth. Christ redeemed them from their fallen state and then presented them to the Father to be ordained under God's own hand into the Patriarchal Order, to become His eternal heirs.

The Book of Mormon also teaches precisely what we must do in order to receive these two gifts while we live. The greatest and most overlooked invitation within the Book of Mormon is the invitation to enter into the rest of the Lord today and to be made partakers of the heavenly gift in this life. We mistakenly believe this is meant to be an afterlife experience. Inasmuch as we believe this, we labor under condemnation, as taught by Ezra Taft Benson. Entering into the Lord’s rest is to do as the Brother of Jared and Enos did, as Nephi and Jacob did, as Alma did, and as exceeding many others did. It is to engage in a process that enables one to lay hold upon sufficient knowledge and faith to enter directly into the Lord’s presence today.

Taking up our abode with Christ is to receive Him as our Second Comforter, wherein after learning all the Holy Ghost is to teach us, the Savior then becomes our personal comforter and guide as we complete the last leg of our journey back into the presence of the Father, or in other words, as we become redeemed from this fallen state. The Holy Ghost helps us to lay the proper foundation, to construct the edifice, and to create an acceptable offering unto the Lord (Christ), but like the finisher of a fine building, the Savior Himself does the finish work on us and with us until we can be presented by Him as an offering without spot unto the Father. We need his direct assistance to finish the journey.

From the Beginning to the Present

When Adam found himself in the lone and dreary world, unlike you and I, he still had a recollection of the Garden of Eden, of being in the presence of the Lord, and of a paradisiacal condition wherein all sustenance needed for Adam and Eve came forth spontaneously and without the compulsory means involved in physical labor. Imagine the shock Adam must have felt upon entering the lone and dreary world. He immediately built an alter and began to call upon the Lord. And what do you think it was he wanted to know? He of all men who have lived upon this earth was most acutely aware of the reality of his fallen state and he did not like it one bit. He wanted to know how to get out of this fallen world and return to God to the heavenly presence from which he came.

Joseph Smith taught that if we could remember where we have come from, as Adam did, we would kill ourselves to get back there. Ancient manuscripts teach that Adam did exactly this and that God restored his life more than once before Adam finally accepted the task to bare children with Eve and to teach them how to become redeemed. Similarly, my older brother Kerry died from cancer and during the last moments before he died he was given to see where he would be going. He then told my sister Jude that it was so beautiful he could no longer stay here. As much as he loved his wife and son, once he saw, he wanted to leave this lone and dreary wilderness and move on.

Like my brother Kerry, Adam also wanted to leave this earth and get back to the more heavenly condition he enjoyed in the Garden. Thankfully he and Eve chose to do what was needed so that they could overcome their innocence and learn the difference between good and evil and to teach their children to do the same. We each come here perfectly innocent and are here to gain sufficient faith and knowledge that we may secure our exaltation. God’s cannot be ignorant, but must have a perfect knowledge of things if they are to possess an unchanging scepter of righteousness. God’s cannot be deceived or they cease to be Gods. We too must come to a knowledge of all good and all opposing evil. If we do not receive this knowledge, then our eternal progression ceases. Therefore, this earth life is designed as a vital learning ground for us.

As Adam and Eve built an alter and offered sacrifice unto the Lord an angel appeared unto them and asked them what they were doing. They did not know for sure, only that God had commanded them to do so. The angel then explained to them the purpose of offering sacrifice and that it was in similitude of the great sacrifice God would make by offering up His Son unto the world in order that they might be lifted from this fallen state and be able to return to God to be made partakers of the heavenly gift of Eternal Life.

The angel taught Adam and Eve God’s laws -- The Law of Obedience and Sacrifice, The Law of the Gospel, the Law of Chastity, and the Law of Consecration. He taught them that through faith they were to come to a knowledge of the fullness of truth, which is to know all truth and and all truth’s opposites and all that is between these extremes. God cannot be God in a state of innocence, or in other words, without knowing good from evil; neither can we progress to be like our Father in ignorance or in a state of innocence. God’s power depends upon His honor. The intelligences obey Him because they trust in His perfect ability to walk the razor’s edge of truth, which can only be done if one can navigate the eternities without becoming subject to deception and error. God has attained to a level of knowledge and understanding that enables Him to be perfect in all He does. This is our aim too.

Therefore, the angel taught Adam and Eve that as they lived according to God’s Laws during their sojourn upon the earth, they would be faced with choices and would come to learn between good and evil, truth and lies, honesty and deception. They were taught that if they chose incorrectly it would bring condemnation upon them and they would fall under Satan’s power. They were also taught they could overcome that condemnation and rise above their mistakes and Satan’s power through a plan that was prepared for us by a wise and loving Father, which centered around the sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son.

Therefore, we come to earth, we make our choices, we succeed, we fail, we pick ourselves up with the Savior’s help and through His atonement, and we turn continually to God for the greater light, knowledge, faith, and strength we need to become like Him in order that we may qualify to re-enter His presence to become Hia eternal heir -- endowed with all His power, knowledge, and other perfect characteristics and attributes. He offers us three lights to guide us in our journey to be made partakers of the heavenly gift of Eternal Life.

The Three Lights

The first light is given at birth and is the light of Christ. By this light we are enabled to discern between good and evil. As we continually choose good over evil we qualify to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the second light we must attain unto.

The Holy Ghost is a divine teacher who leads and guide us just as quickly as we are able and willing to receive greater light and truth. He teaches us all things we must do to qualify to enter into the rest of our Lord, or in other words, to enter into our Savior’s presence in this lifetime. Through the gift of the Holy Ghost we may lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to become sanctified, until like the Brother of Jared, we can no longer be held from entering into the presence of the Lord.

Christ then becomes our Second Comforter, which is the third light we must attain unto in order to be made ready to be presented to the Father. As we enter into His rest or presence, He teaches and succors us and even washes and anoints us until we can be presented, without spot, to the Father. To receive Christ as the Second Comforter is what it means to enter into the Lord’s rest. The simple formula for entering into the Lord’s rest is spelled out fully in D&C 93:1. It is such a simple formula that many miss it or do not believe it to be literal.

Be Made a Partaker of the Heavenly Gift

Entering into the rest of the Lord or taking up our abode with the Savior is not the endgame of our existence, but it is the last step of preparation before we can be presented to the Father. We require His personal help and guidance to complete the last phase of our journey back to the Father’s presence. As the author of our faith, we are guided and taught through His Spirit until we enter His presence to learn directly from Him what we must do to finish our faith. For Abraham, a part of the last part of his journey to the Father required a great test wherein he secured Eternal Life unto himself. So too will we receive a test that, if passed, will enable us to lay hold upon sufficient faith to enter into God's presence.

It doesn’t require a lifetime to enter into the Lord’s rest or God's presence. King Lamoni did so rather swiftly; because his intent was utterly real. There was no fudge factor in him and he was willing to forsake and give up all sins to know God. As we become committed with utterly "real intent," we too progress at much more a rapid pace.

What are we to do? Just as D&C 93:1 instructs. Each day we are to forsake all sin, come unto the Lord offering our whole heart and soul while holding nothing in reserve. In such an attitude of prayer, we are to call upon His name and learn what it is He would have us do today. As He makes His will known through His voice, we are to take up our cross straightway, leave our nets, and go do His will. As we do His will daily, His will leads us along a customized path that enables us to secure greater light, knowledge, and faith. This is a sweet journey and we will come to know when it is time to meet our Lord. We are always aware of our many imperfections, which keeps us humble, yet He encourages us and whispers hope to us.

He has caused me to reflect upon the great love I have for my children. For example, one night as I shared my insecurities about entering into His rest, I was immediately prompted to go and lay by a son who was very ill recently. As I held my youngest son, who I am grateful to still be able to hug, I reflected upon my insecurities about entering into the presence of my Savior. As I pondered my love and gratitude for my young son my Savior asked me if I believed His love for me is any less than that which I have for my Son?

I know my Savior’s love is infinitely greater than even the great love I feel for my son, and He assured me that entering into His rest, while frightful, turns into rejoicing over His infinite love for us and that such love casts out all initial fear. We then wax confident in His glorified presence. Without entering into His rest and securing the added faith and light we need, we cannot be washed clean without spot and anointed by our Savior to be presented by Him to the Father. And, we cannot receive the heavenly gift.

St John 14:6 teaches the following: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. We cannot come unto the Father to be made partakers of the heavenly gift until we enter into the presence of the Lord, as did Enos, the Brother of Jared, and exceeding many other Lamanites and Nephites. And we are to seek and attain unto this gift in this lifetime by following His formula as outlined in D&C 93:! (See also "Prayer".)

We must be washed clean and without spot and qualified by the Savior to enter God’s presence. Anyone so qualified is then ordained under God’s own hand to become His heir within the Patriarchal Order, which is to receive the heavenly gift of Eternal Life. This ordination under God’s own hand secures our exaltation and gives to us the same power by which Christ did all things (Study carefully Alma 13). As we read about the exceeding many people in the Book of Mormon who entered into the rest of our Lord and who also were made partakers of the heavenly gift, is it any wonder that they were able to raise the dead and do all other thing Christ did and wrought many mighty miracles among the children of men?

While it is true that we do much good with the Melchizedek Priesthood today, can we really say that we do "all things Christ did and even greater" and that we thereby qualify as the disciples of whom He prophesied would come after him? If we are not yet those disciples, then do we only lack entering Christ's presence to be "finished" and then to be presented to the Father to become a partaker of the heavenly gift? After being ordained into the Patriarchal order -- the highest level of the Melchizedek Priesthood, might we then be endowed with the power of which Christ prophesied?

If we believe ourselves to already possess such power, then let us ask, can we yet walk on water, turn water into wine, move mountains, raise the dead, cause the blind to see, the deaf to hear, restore a perfect body to the maimed and so forth? If not, why not? Is such power possible only to those who possess an unchanging scepter of righteousness, whereby the intelligences of the universe honor and obey us and use their agency to do our wills? Is such power only ordained upon our heads by God directly? Is Christ alone the only one who can prepare us to receive this blessing? (see Alma 13). Will exceeding many today enter into the Lord's rest and be made partakers of the heavenly gift?

As we consider God’s laws, as they are given in scripture -- The Law of Obedience and Sacrifice, the Law of the Gospel, the Law of Chastity, and the Law of Consecration, each of these laws are critical to the Path of Holiness, wherein we day-by-day overcome the natural man and this fallen state to be made perfect in Christ. The sum purpose of the gospel is this -- to be redeemed from this fallen state and to enter into Christ’s presence to be made a partaker of the heavenly gift. We best qualify ourselves as we forsake all sin, come unto the Lord, call upon his name, obey His voice and keep His commandments. As we do His will daily we lay hold upon sufficient knowledge and faith to become redeemed and to enjoy these sacred blessings in our very lifetimes.

Obedience

2011-05-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

In the article on faith the compelling attributes, characteristics, and perfections of God are described. Coming to understand God's perfections and great love, capacity, and desire to help us enables us with perfect faith and a great desire to strive to know and do His will in all things, and to obey His voice always. The Savior became our Redeemer by suffering the will of the Father in all things from the beginning. We attain a righteous influence and fulfill our life's missions similarly, by coming to know and then to be obedient to the will of the Lord in all things. Let's review God's perfections and the principle of obedience more fully:

God's Perfections: We choose to obey God's will because he has the power to keep His promises to us; He is God today and will be God from everlasting to everlasting. We obey His will because of His goodness and mercy, in whom there is no variableness or changing. We obey His will because He is a God of truth and does not and cannot lie. We obey His will because He is no respecter of persons and as we voluntarily act in accordance with His will we are assured His promises of eternal progression. We obey His will because of His perfect love for us. We obey His will because He is omniscient and does not make mistakes when He commands us; His judgement is perfect and sound, and He is perfectly just as He exercises judgment over us. Finally, we obey His will because He never asks anything of us that we cannot do, nor that will not result in our personal progression and greater light and happiness.
Revelation: God promised us that He will send us light and truth just as fast as we are able and willing to receive it, which is the pathway to happiness. The receipt of this light is conditioned upon our obedience to live according to the light or revelations we receive. Hence, the windows of heaven are opened wide through obedience and are closed through disobedience. As we become both willing and obedient the windows of heaven open to us and the blessings of revelation distill upon us as the dews from heaven. We receive the Holy Ghost as our constant companion and as a fullness of God's knowledge distills upon us, we receive an unchanging scepter of righteousness forever. The ability to receive continuing revelation from God is required for our exaltation.
Disobedient Example: King Saul was a man whom the Lord chose to reign over Israel. Saul started out right before the Lord and the Lord would have established his kingdom upon Israel for ever, but Saul was disobedient and the Lord rent the kingdom of Israel from Him and gave it to another who was better and more obedient than Saul. Similarly, no matter how gifted, talented, and fair we may be, if we become a law unto ourselves and choose the path of disobedience over humble submission to God's will, we fall and cannot be exalted unless we fully repent and fully embrace obedience.
Obedient Example: We read the following about Christ in Luke 22:41-44: "And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." Through obedience Christ became the light and life of the world. He trusted and loved God perfectly and drunk the bitter cup which the Father gave Him. He glorified the Father by taking upon himself the sins of the world and became the perfect example of one willing to submit Himself fully to the will of the Father in all things from the beginning. By so doing He became the Redeemer of the world. Similarly, we fulfill our missions in life as we also submit obediently to the Lord's will in all things -- each and everyday of our lives.
Promises to Us if We are Obedient: In John we read, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," and "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him." Through obedience to His voice (his will) we qualify to receive continuing revelation and to see His face. In the book of Mosiah (2:41) we read, "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it. Obedience leads to a continual flow of blessings, light, faith, and knowledge until we receive Eternal Life.
Pure Flow of Blessings: All the blessings, happiness, power, and worlds without number that God enjoys are predicated upon His obedience to the laws which govern heaven. "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." (D&C 130: 20-21) We too may receive a pure flow of blessings, just as fast as we can come to live the laws upon which those blessings are predicated. We can come to enjoy a happy Zion state, just as swiftly as we choose to live the celestial laws of love upon which it is predicated (see Divine Drummer).

God said, "For behold, this is my work and my glory -- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) God's perfect objective for each of us is to help raise us to a state that we can enjoy all the blessings and happiness that He and His Son enjoy. Therefore, we can place our full trust in God because His desires concerning us and His capacity to help us is perfect. He is capable of helping us become like Him, conditioned upon our perfect obedience to Him and upon repentance. Disobedience leads to lost blessings and opportunities to grow further to be like Him. Obedience leads to growth and to the fulfillment of our missions in this life. And, as we successfully keep God's commandments and do His will, we come to live by every law of heaven. It is by obedience to these laws that we grow to experience God's love and blessings both temporally and spiritually and progress to a state of never-ending happiness wherein we can dwell with God in a perfect heavenly state forever.

Divine Drummer

2011-05-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

How to Secure Temporal Blessings the Lord's Way

Dear James,
I am pleased you are enjoying your labors as a missionary. In the most recent women's conference, Sister Julie Beck said that the ability to receive and to act upon revelation, is the single most important ability that we can acquire in life. This capacity alone assures us our ability to be able to know and do the Lord's will daily in our lives, which is the only sure path to exaltation. It is through acting in faith according to God's will for us each day that we obtain the incremental growth in light, truth, knowledge, and faith that leads to our exaltation. Also, if we are to fulfill our individual missions in life, we must be able to ask and receive or knock and have things opened to us as we progress along the path.

Grandpa Simmons, sent me a letter while I was in college that forever changed my life and defined in a sense my life's mission. He said, “There are two drummers who offer temporal security to us, one is Christ and the other Satan.” He wanted me to learn to follow the beat of the Divine Drummer when it came to my temporal needs and told me that he had not understood the difference between the two as he had sought to meet the temporal needs of his family. His letter caught my attention for I was in college seeking to gain a competitive career advantage so that like my father, I too would be enabled to provide well for my future family. His letter surprised me and caused me great concern.

Dad was exceedingly intelligent, quiet, thoughtful, and was not prone to exaggeration. When he spoke, it was relevant, direct, sound, and often humorous! He challenged me to learn to receive my temporal needs by learning to follow Christ more perfectly than he had done. I was confused by his letter, for he was a good man and a wonderful father.

Over time I have come to understand the laws that governed temporal security in ancient Israel. Similar to their receiving manna in the wilderness, each family was commanded to keep only sufficient each harvest season to see them through until the following year’s harvest. All excess was to be given as a freewill offering to be used to bless those who did not have sufficient for the year to come. Thus the only retirement plan available in Israel was to secure the Lord’s promises through obedience to covenants. Then, as statutes and covenants were obeyed, an inheritance of land, posterity, protection, and the blessings from heaven were secured for another year. Through disobedience Israel was trodden upon, scattered, and smitten.

The Book of Mormon also teaches how to secure our temporal needs and sheds more light on the subject. Through applying the Lord’s higher laws, the Nephites enjoyed a 165-year utopia wherein there were no contentions and disputations among them and every man did deal justly one with another. They had all things (goods and substances) common among them and did not buy, sell, traffic, or trade their goods. This led to a society wherein there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free and partakers of the heavenly gift, which is to be redeemed and to receive eternal life as you live. (See "Redemption".)

This happy condition continued for 165 years. At the height of their prosperity some began to be lifted up in pride, such as in the wearing of costly apparel, all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the world, at which time they ceased to have all goods and substance common among them and began to traffic and trade their goods. This led to division and classes of rich and poor and to false Christian churches that were built up to get gain. While professing to know Christ, they suffered inequality to enter among them. Yet, to be equal in heavenly things we must become equal in earthly things (D&C 78:6). They also began to administer that which is sacred to those who were unworthy.

About ten years after I received Dad’s letter, I was invited into Great Uncle President Ezra Taft Benson’s office, where he taught me that we labor under condemnation as a church because we “say” but do not “do” that which is taught within the pages of the Book of Mormon (D&C 84:53-62). What is it we do not do? I don't recall exactly what he said, but this much I know we read every time we read the Book of Mormon: there were exceeding many Nephites who entered into the Lord's rest and became partakers of the heavenly gift during their lifetimes. The Book of Mormon also teaches us about a successful blueprint for living the higher laws of heaven (see 4 Nephi 1). We discussed what He could do to help the Church come out from under condemnation. Two weeks later I heard him repeat to the Church in General Conference some of what he had discussed with me. I was inspired by his concern and read the Book of Mormon cover to cover each month for the next two years and began to recognize the full invitation of this book. First is to qualify to enter into the Lord's presence and to be redeemed during our lifetimes. Second is that we live according to the higher laws, which lead to a Zion society.

All the Law and the Prophets

We become sanctified and enter into the rest of the Lord to become heirs of our Father in Heaven as we come to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds and as we love our neighbor as ourselves. Heaven’s choicest blessings rest upon these two laws. For example, the Widow of Nain, who fed the last of what she had to the prophet Elijah while preparing herself and her son to die, received blessings from her sacrifice which enabled an endless supply of food for her and her son. Jesus turned water into wine and He multiplied a few fish and loaves of bread into enough food to feed 5,000. By these same two laws He qualified to act with God's power and He walked on water, healed the sick, the blind, the lame, and the deaf, and He raised the dead. Perfect love and virtue enables us with God's pure knowledge or the doctrines of the priesthood, the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and an unchanging scepter of righteousness in our lives, which is the basis for receiving God’s power in our lives.

Nephites who followed Christ’s perfect example and lived in harmony with the two higher laws of heaven (love) healed the sick, raised the dead, caused the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and they performed all manner of miracles among the children of men. While such services are sold in Satan’s economy for money, they are given and received without money and without price in the Savior’s economy.

While Satan says, “You can buy anything in this world with money,” the Savior teaches the higher laws whereby all our needs may be met without money and without price. Although few today qualify to receive their needs in this manner, it is possible because the requirement to receive any blessing from God is the same -- to obey the laws upon which those blessings are predicated. How then do we follow the Savior’s example to secure food, housing, education, medical care, protection from enemies and other temporal needs without money or price? This is a foreign concept to most members of the Church today, yet it is a condition to which many saints of various dispensations have attained unto through God's laws.

The Lord has taught that everything has its opposite, including the ways in which our temporal needs are to be met. In order to understand how to secure your temporal needs without money or price you must first come to understand the two laws upon which hang all the laws and the prophets. Let’s consider these two laws more fully.

Law #1: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

What is it to so love God, and how do we attain such love?

Faith in God: Come to understand God’s divine characteristics, attributes, and perfections which enable great faith in Him. I've written two articles on faith that help to more fully understand how to lay hold upon great faith. Great faith in God enables us with great love for Him. (See “Faith” and “Mustard Seed”.)
Obedience: As you secure faith in God, learn to recognize His voice and to obey it with exactness. As you do, you will come to recognize His unfailing and perfect love for you and His hand in your life and you will feel great reciprocal love towards Him.
Sacrifice: As you obey God’s voice, you will be called upon to make certain real sacrifices for the benefit of others. As you do so, you will come to receive blessings, even an hundred fold, to exceed your sacrifices. This will cause you to find even greater love and trust within your heart, soul, and mind for God.
Law of the Gospel: Through faith in Christ’s atonement, repentance, and a covenant between you and God, you enter the process of sanctification, which is the steady putting off of the natural man to become as Christ, attribute for divine attribute. As you so strive in faith, God sends His Spirit to teach you more perfectly. As you walk this path of holiness (see “Holiness”), you will find in God, His Son, and His Spirit a refuge wherein you can entrust your entire heart, soul, and mind. As you keep God’s will, varying neither to the left nor the right, you will grow in faith and knowledge and He will never forsake you and you will recognize and love Him for it.
Prayer and a Hungering Soul: The further you trod this path, the greater the hunger you will feel to learn and do all that is required in order to enter into the Lord’s rest and to see His face. You will love Him even more deeply as you discover that this hunger leads to great confidence before Him in prayer, and you will discover that you receive light and knowledge from Him just as fast as you are willing and able to receive it. You will feel the hunger for and be directed in the very things to ask of God. As we come to Him as little children who are eager to learn, He withholds nothing from us and delights to bless us. We cannot help but love Him with all our hearts, souls, and minds . (See “Prayer”.)
Gratitude: As you pray and walk this path, the Holy Ghost will open your eyes to see what God has done and is doing for you and you will feel great outpourings of love and gratitude to the Lord that cause your heart to swell. You will feel pure love for Him and in turn will feel His pure love reciprocated back to you. You will increasingly thank Him for every blessing and will feel it from the bottom of your heart. I thank Him for being able to hug my children yet one more day; I thank Him for the food we enjoy; I thank Him for allowing me to write; I thank Him for His unfailing patience with me; and I especially thank Him for a noble companion who walks with me through life and who shares my thoughts, dreams, and prayers. (See “Gratitude”.)
Love Thyself: As you recognize your worth to God and His perfect love for you and your love for Him, you will also love yourself more perfectly, in spite of your mistakes and shortcomings. You cannot love God and others perfectly until you so love yourself. Recognition of His perfect love for you in spite of your imperfections will enable you to love yourself and your imperfect neighbors as God loves you.

Law # 2: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
What is it to love our neighbor as we love ourselves? As you follow the divine process above for coming to love God and yourself with all your heart, soul, and mind, you will knock and He will open things unto you. You will ask and receive whatsoever you need from Him. And as you so proceed to put off the natural man and to become a new creature in Christ, your thoughts will turn to your neighbors: your children, your extended family, your neighborhood, and all other persons within your circle of influence. You will begin to recognize the following:

Prayer: Whether or not your neighbor is a friend or enemy, you will desire the Lord’s choicest blessings to be upon him with the same kind of desire that drove Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah to teach the Lamanites. You learn as you come to love God more perfectly that as you first seek your own best interests in righteous prayer, He answers your every prayer and fulfills your every need. But then, just like Enos, whose prayers in his own behalf were first answered, after which his desires were drawn out to pray for his brethren the Lamanites, you too begin to love your neighbor as yourself and your heart turns from prayers offered up for self to prayers offered up for your neighbor. Therefore, you commence to love neighbor more fully as you pray and do for neighbor just as you pray and do for yourself. (See "Prayer".)
Daily Consecration: Consecration of all one is and all one possesses means that whatever stewardship of gifts, talents, and resources the Lord has blessed you with or may yet bless you with, you will lay it all upon the alter before Him daily. You will use your “all” to bless, lift, serve, and to bring others fully unto Him -- according to His divine will today. It also implies that your security will remain in the Lord and not upon any possessions, which at anytime He may ask you to dispose of in order to do His will on behalf of a neighbor. You eagerly seek to know His will daily and to do it, knowing that upon the path of consecration alone you will enter into His rest, become redeemed, become an heir to the Father, and secure your exaltation.
Obedience: As you obey God’s voice daily, He will guide and direct your efforts to serve, lift, and bless others. (See "I'm Available Lord".) Your heart will be poured out towards loving and doing for others in love what God desires you to do. As you thrust in your sickle with might, you will help many people, and you will thereby bring salvation to your soul through obedience. Faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, enable you to love your neighbor as yourself. Whatsoever you ask you will receive, and as you knock it shall be opened unto you. Loving your neighbor as yourself then means that just as you pray to God for yourself and do as He commands you, you will also pray and obey His will on behalf of your neighbor.

What is the Condemnation under Which We Labor, and How Can We be made Partakers of the Heavenly Gift?

How do we follow the beat of the Divine Drummer today and where is the pendulum that swings between the safety of righteousness and the destruction coming upon the wicked (Alma 16:17, Alma 12:36, Heleman 4:11-13)? The day of calling is past and today is a day of choosing, a self-selection process determined by our obedience to what the Lord has taught us about following Him (D&C 105:34-37). Consider the following we have been asked to do if we desire to come out from the condemnation under which we labor to become chosen:

Are we qualifying ourselves to be chosen for Eternal Life by doing our all to live the Celestial law? (D&C 105:5)
Are we fully consecrating ourselves to do the Lord's will daily? (Ex: 32:29)
Have we truly forsaken class divisions among us? (3 Nephi 6:12, 4 Nephi 1:24, 26)
Do we truly esteem all flesh as one? (1 Nephi 17:35)
Are we familiar with all and free with our substance so that our brethren may be rich like unto ourselves? (Jacob 2:17)
Are we pure in heart and are there no more poor among us today? (Moses 7:18)
Do some possess that which is above another or do we share God's gifts equally today? (D&C 49:20)
Are we true believers who have all goods and substances common among us so that there are no more rich and poor, bond and free, and have we ceased seeking to lay up in store wealth or to traffic (buy, sell, trade) in all manner of traffic? (Acts 2:44-47, 4 Nephi 1:3, 4 Nephi 1:25, 4 Nephi 1:46)
Are we truly equal in earthly things so that we can be equal in heavenly things tomorrow? (D&C 76:4-7)
Do we understand the significant difference between storing up retirements and great abundance unto ourselves such as 401ks, stocks and bonds, insurances, cash, gold, silver, precious gems, and so forth, whereby we seek to securitize ourselves (Luke 12:16-21), versus securitizing ourselves through covenant as we lay our lives, our gifts, talents, and earthly possessions upon the alter daily as we covenant to do the Lord's will today? Do we cleave unto the spirit of the manna principle wherein we trust the Lord's will daily, committing our all to Him, rather than trust in the accumulations of riches? (Exodus 16:14-36)?
Do we understand and live by the spirit of ancient Israel's freewill offerings, wherein they stored up only sufficient to last until the next year's harvest and consecrated their annual excesses to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and to the afflicted and not to enrich oneself? (Jacob 2:18-19)
Do we understand and live according to Israel's Retirement Plan, which is to obey God's statutes and covenants, wherein temporal needs are secured by covenant? Or, do we rely upon the arm of flesh and seek to squirrel away excess, even more than the Lord requires of us, and in this are we justified or do we thereby commit idolatry?
Have we forsaken all sin, and do we come unto the Lord and call upon His name with the real intent to obey His voice (do His will each day) and keep his commandments, that we may become sanctified and perfected in Him and come to see His face? (D&C 93:1, Moroni 10:32)
Does our confidence wax strong as we come before God in prayer? Does His pure knowledge distill upon our souls as our bowels are filled with charity and our minds are garnished unceasingly with virtue? Is the Holy Ghost our constant companion? And have we received the unchanging scepter of righteousness that qualifies us to possess God's power and enables us to receive an everlasting dominion that flows unto us without compulsory means forever and ever? (D&C 121:45-46)
Are there a great many of us today whose faith is so exceedingly strong that we cannot be kept from within the veil but truly have seen with our eyes the Savior and have entered into His rest? (Ether 12:19, Ether 12:19, Moroni 7:3, Alma 12:36-37, Alma 13:12, 16)
Have we qualified to be presented to the Father by Christ to receive the heavenly gift, which is to be ordained by God’s own hand into His Patriarchal Order, or in other words to receive Eternal Life. (Read John 14:6, Alma 13 carefully to recognize this sacred ordination that comes only from God's own hand.)
Do we understand that we receive all the above blessings by virtue of the two great commandments -- to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves which is enabled within us through consecration?

Because many today are caught up by the cares of the world and the honors of men, they become distracted from the purposes for which we are here and fail to consecrate themselves fully to do the Lord's will today, which is required in order to become chosen. Thus, as Hugh B. Brown taught in the 1950s, many are called to the priesthood, but few are chosen to enter into the Lord's rest and be made partakers of the heavenly gift. Similarly, of the 30,000 men who began the journey with Gideon, only 300 were chosen to finish the job. Those chosen after a long and dusty march, knelt by a river and with one hand forward, scooped up water to drink, and with the other hand, palm down, they balanced themselves, as they kept their head up and eyes forward and watchful. The men who were not chosen laid on their bellies and lapped up water from the river like dogs and did not remain watchful. So too, if we would be chosen to enter into the Lord's rest and to be made a partaker of the heavenly gift in our lifetimes, we must keep our eyes forward on the Savior at all times and remain watchful of our common enemy. As we remain ever watchful and do His will daily, there comes a time when we are chosen to be sealed up unto Eternal Life. This is the endgame, the target, and should be the focus of our existence.

Take time to study each of the above principles and then reread D&C 84:53-62 to fully understand the condemnation under which we labor and to know exactly what the Lord has said we can do to receive forgiveness and to become acceptable unto Him. The Lord called us to do these things in the early days of this dispensation. President Benson told our family that his mouth was closed to the Church when we failed to understand the condemnation under which we labor. The Lord stated in the early days of the Church that the calling had been made to do these things and then proclaimed that now is a time of choosing (D&C 105:34-37). Choosing is a self-selection process that occurs as we "do" rather than merely "say".

James, just imagine how wonderful it will be when we fully embrace these principles as a people. I believe that if we live to be so chosen, we will help to establish the New Jerusalem in our lifetimes. In the meantime, anyone who will live by the laws of heaven today and will come to love God and Neighbor perfectly will receive all the blessings pertaining to these laws -- even if he or she is the only person on earth to abide by them. We are to do what we do for others out of love of God and neighbor and not for money. What if we are the only people on earth to do this? Can we still receive what we need from God to exist? Brigham Young taught the Saints in his day that the Millennium begins for us the moment we choose to live by all laws that govern heaven, and so it will spread from one person to the next until it covers the whole earth. (JD, B Young, 1:198; D&C 130:20-21)

As we live by these laws we qualify for and receive the blessings that are predicated upon these laws. It is merely an act of faith and obedience. Let us then today enable the blessings of the Millennium in our lives and as we do so we will observe the ground beneath our feet become strengthened and yield forth in her strength. And like the Widow of Nain, all things necessary will be provided by God to us as we do His will each day. As with the mustard seed, nothing He asks of us will be impossible.

Prayer

2011-05-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Son,
As a young boy Grandma Simmons taught me that if I asked for help, God would answer my prayers. I often asked God to teach me how to pray more effectively because I didn’t have confidence that my prayers would always be answered. Sometimes my prayers would be answered in ways that were easy for me to discern. Other times it seemed as if the heavens were brass above me and I didn’t know why. For much of my life, I did not pray with the confidence or certitude that I would necessarily receive answers to every prayer. Over time I have come to realize that the most important relationship any of us can have in life is the relationship we have with the Father wherein our confidence before Him waxes strong in prayer and wherein whatsoever we ask is answered or received. Over time, I have come to recognize what enables me to wax confident when I come unto the Lord and call upon His name. Allow me to share what works and does not work for me, in the hopes that you may be able to come to pray with greater certitude and so that your confidence will wax strong as you come unto the Lord and call upon His name. Let’s review the requirements the Lord has given to us in order that we might pray with confidence, certitude, and power:

Broken Heart: We are instructed to come before Him with a “Broken Heart". This does not necessarily mean that we are sad because of problems we face; although, there are times when we our very best is insufficient and it humbles to tears; we recognize our utter dependency upon the Lord. But there is another important meaning. As you children are aware, I’ve trained horses for much of my lifetime. The process of taming a horse is called “the breaking of a horse". What is a ‘broken horse” and how do I break it? First, I train the horse to accept my touch. From the moment the foal first hits the earth I begin to pick up its feet and pat him all over. I rub its ankles, its legs, and every spot upon its body until it trusts my touch implicitly. I also fit a halter to its head and attach a rope to that halter. I begin to lead the foal where I want it to go, but at first the foal fights the rope and struggles against it mightily. With gentle persuasion the colt begins to yield to the rope, just as it yields to the touch of my hand. I then introduce a saddle blanket, then a saddle, then weight upon the saddle. With each step the horse resists somewhat before it yields to the process I am putting it through. As I finally mount and ride the horse, it has learned that it can “trust” me and although tentative, it allows me to train it further until it yields to very gentle pressure of the reigns and even to pressure from my heals or to slight shifts in how I sit in the saddle. I can teach it to slide to a halt just by shifting my weight in a certain manner, or to spin left or right with the gentle touch of my heal. A broken and finished horse yields entirely to subtle cues I give it. A broken heart is not necessarily a sad heart at all, but a heart that yields to the softest and most gentle commands of the Lord and that trust Him fully. The Lord does not yank us here and there, but in order to respect agency, He entices us as gently as possible. A broken heart yields to the slightest enticings of the Lord and trusts the Lord implicitly to lead it.
Contrite Spirit: What is a contrite spirit? Consider a child who has hurt her knee. She comes crying to mother who helps comfort immediately. Now consider the same child a few years later who begins demanding of the mother keys to the car and has no interest whatsoever to know why the mother is resistant to giving her the keys. The mother may know that the car is nearly out of gas, or the car’s radiator is in a failure mode, or tires may need to be changed, or anyone of a number of other things that causes immediate and real risks to car and child. Until the child’s heart is willing to hear more perfectly, all it understands is that Mother is ignoring her. Well, sometimes we approach God similarly when we come to Him for help and begin dictating conditions. In so doing, we use our agency to tell God what He can and cannot say to us because our hearts and spirits are essentially saying to God, “Don’t tell me anything but what I want to hear.” Our hearts are not broken and our spirits are not contrite as a little child’s spirit. Until we use our agency to submit our will to the will of the Father, God remains silent, according to our agency. In essence, we control completely the flow of revelation from God as our hearts and spirits trust and desire his perfect will, or if they are resistant to Him as the teenager. He has promised to send us light and truth just as fast as we will receive it. I know this to be true. Again, if our mind is “preset” or “predetermined", then our agency demands that God not give us His perfect answers. Therefore, He respects agency perfectly and remains utterly silent -- similar to Christ remaining silent before His accusers. By comparison, as we yield perfectly to His gentle enticings we receive answers to our prayers as fast as we can receive them. It’s all a matter of choice or agency to either silence Him up or to open Him up to us more fully.
Faith: As we come to truly understand God’s characteristics, attributes, and perfections, we come to know that He will never ask anything of us but that which is for our greater good and eternal progression, and our faith in doing His will increases. We know that any sacrifices we are asked to make will be restored unto us, even an hundred fold. We know that He cannot err and that His judgment regarding what we can do is perfect. We know that He is no respecter of persons and that as we follow His will, it will always lead us to greater light, truth, and knowledge. We also know that He loves us perfectly and therefore, when it comes to our agency, our spirits contritely and eagerly submit fully to his gentle commands, or in other words, to His voice or will. We trust Him as would a little child who possesses a contrite spirit. We are not like the demanding teenager. In fact, we eagerly give our will to Him knowing that our best course is always the one marked by His will, as is the shortest path to our redemption. Sometimes He will challenge us greatly, as He did with Abraham. Because of Abraham’s great trust in God, he secured his exaltation, even as he prepared to sacrifice his only son.
Obedience: Sometimes, the Lord speaks plainly to us, other times His communications are more insubstantial or subtle. At times He may send a messenger to bring us timely instruction, or to test us, or to warn us. We should not seek the spectacular in every communication with God, but trust Him to choose the level of inspiration and communication that is most appropriate for the need of the moment and to instruct in a manner that respects our agency and that enables us further in light and truth. Sometimes we may doubt that our thoughts are truly from Him. As we ask, He will help us to know. It is our responsibility to find out because if He does provide guidance and we do not act upon it, He will cease sending revelation to us until we repent and become more perfectly obedient. Conversely, as we act with certitude and exactness to fulfill His will, the frequency of inspiration received increases to just as fast as we will receive greater light, truth, and knowledge.
Charity: As our hearts are filled with love towards God and all men, the nature of our prayers reflect our desire to consecrate all that we are and and all that we have toward turning others fully to God and Christ, who alone can guide anyone perfectly. While man may teach correct principles and do much good of his own free will, God alone knows each of us perfectly, including our temporal, physical, and spiritual needs. Neighbor can do much good for neighbor and is often the conduit through which God blesses us, but God alone is the perfect orchestrator and conductor of the flow of light, knowledge, and His timely and tender mercies. As we ask God daily what we can do today to serve our neighbor, He will employ us to do much good, and as we do so our hearts and souls will become increasingly filled with compassion, charity, and true love toward others. As this occurs the heavens open up to us and pure doctrines of the priesthood (God’s perfect knowledge) distill upon our souls as the dews from heaven. He literally answers every prayer and we know and recognize this pure flow of His guidance, light, and love.
Forsake Sin and Become Virtuous: King Lamoni gave up all his sins to know God. His “real intent” to forsake “all sin” was known perfectly by God and Lamoni thereby qualified to be instructed more perfectly in the truths of the Kingdom. He met his Redeemer and his life was forever changed. We are each encumbered by sins that we commit through rebellion or in other words -- through personal choice. We also each suffer from iniquities. These are generational sins that are passed to us from our Fathers going back several generations. Their weaknesses pass on to us as we are born carrying the sins of the Fathers within us. Sound fair? It really is once you come to understand the promises made by the Fathers to the Children and the promises we made to the Fathers before our turn on earth. Consider the following: Isaiah describes seven levels of heaven, and to ascend to the highest level of heaven we must ascend one level at a time as we would ascend seven rungs of a ladder. Each rung consists of greater charity, greater virtue, and greater righteousness and truth and a greater knowledge of truth. Our fathers agreed to come to earth at a time when their fathers had only ascended the ladder partially. We are born with all the light and knowledge that our Fathers ascended unto. It is the sacred duty of the Children to continue to ascend the ladder by attaining even greater light, truth, righteousness and knowledge. Just as the Children are beneficiaries at birth of the efforts of the Fathers who preceded them and come to earth already ascended part way up the ladder, so too do the Fathers become direct beneficiaries as the Children ascend the ladder even further. Therefore, it should be our aim in life, to ascend the ladder of heaven to the uttermost level possible in our lives. As we do so, we wash clean our family line, backwards, forwards, and sideways, and each who has formerly done his or her part, by fulfilling former promises, is lifted to the level we achieve. We each have sacred missions to fulfill and we are to do all that we have promised to do. As we do our part, the whole is benefited thereby. We best ascend the ladder when, as King Lamoni, we too determine to forsake “all sins” and iniquities and we set a course in life that enables us to put off the natural man and to become perfected in Christ. As we do so, like the receiver on a radio, we become increasingly more perfectly attuned to the Father’s frequency and we are enabled to become increasingly filled with light, truth, and pure knowledge, even as fast as we are able to receive it into our lives. As we become increasingly pure, clean, and holy -- with clean hands and a pure heart -- we are no more strangers before the Lord but become like Him, and as His true children we come confidently before Him, eager to learn and to receive freely from Him. As our lives more perfectly reflect the Savior’s perfections, the doctrines of the priesthood flow to us ever increasingly without measure. The Holy Ghost becomes our constant companion and we receive an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth. What is this? It is God’s perfect knowledge, which enables us to walk the razor’s edge of truth without ever being deceived and without ever making mistakes. As we attain this unchanging scepter of righteousness, great power comes into our lives, in fact the very power by which God commands and the intelligences of the universe obey. He commands perfectly and without mistake and intelligences know that He only asks that which enables them to progress eternally. This scepter enables us to not only overcome all deception forever, and not only to walk the razor’s edge of truth perfectly forever and ever, but it enables us to receive an everlasting dominion, which flows to us without compulsory means forever and ever. We are blessed with everlasting health, strength, and the very power by which God operates in the heavens.
Agency: This bears repeating. As we come unto the Lord and call upon His name let us always remember that Heavenly Father stands ready at all times to teach us and to guide us perfectly. Now remember, If I go before Him in a spirit that is somewhat insistent upon what I want and what I think, He allows me perfect agency to think, insist, and do as I will. And, when my heart is neither broken nor my spirit contrite, I do not yield to his perfect and gentle enticements. He then remains silent and respects the agency I demand. He permits me to have things my way until I desire to follow Him. Powerful prayer begins only as our spirits surrender our will (agency) to Him and our hearts yield perfectly to His enticements and invitations of the Spirit. Therefore, we literally choose, by our hearts and our spirits, whether or not our prayers will yield powerful results, or whether the heaven’s will be silent and as impenetrable brass. It’s our choice. I do not want to give the impression here that we are not to fully consider the topic which we bring unto the Lord. We are and we are to present to Him our best thoughts. He wants us to reason as He reasons, and to think soundly as He thinks soundly. But after we do our best and eagerly present it to Him, we must be even more eager to receive anything from Him that He might have for us. It’s a beautiful process.

The Gospel, like the ocean, is vast and deep and is as deep as you are able and willing to receive. The Brethren teach the gospel basics, sufficient to enable you with the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation. Once you possess that, you will learn all that you need to know directly from God. This is as it should be for Joseph taught that exaltation is between you and God alone. To better appreciate how much you will learn consider some more words of Joseph Smith:

“I could explain a hundred fold more than I ever have of the glories of the kingdoms manifested to me in the vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive them. “ Joseph Smith, Jr.

“If I revealed all that has been made known to me, scarcely a man on this stand would stay with me." and "Brethren, if I were to tell you all I know of the kingdom of God, I do know that you would rise up and kill me.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

“I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all. How many will be able to abide a celestial law, and go through and receive their exaltation, I am unable to say, as many are called, but few are chosen.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

“Had I inspiration, revelation, and lungs to communicate what my soul has contemplated in times past, there is not a soul in this congregation but would go to their homes and shut their mouths in everlasting silence on religion till they had learned something.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

“If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven. What many people call sin is not sin; I do many things to break down superstition, and I will break it down.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

“It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind. Oh! how I would delight to bring before you things which you never thought of! But poverty and the cares of the world prevent. But I am glad I have the privilege of communicating to you some things which, if grasped closely, will be a help to you when earthquakes bellow, the clouds gather, the lightnings flash, and the storms are ready to burst upon you like peals of thunder. Lay hold of these things and let not your knees or joints tremble, nor your hearts faint; and then what can earthquakes, wars and tornadoes do? Nothing.” Joseph Smith, Jr.

"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world."

"What did Jesus do? Why I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds came rolling into existence. My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt him in glory. He will then take a HIGHER EXALTATION, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself."

Conclusion

I commend to you to learn and live by heaven’s laws just as fast as you are able to receive them. As you come unto Him, as the colt who becomes well broken and who easily yields to the master’s touch and as teachable as a child, He will instructs you and teach you perfectly.

And, never allow anyone, as the Prophet Joseph taught -- to come between you and the Father’s will in your life, not even me. It isn’t so much what you learn from the pulpit that will exalt you, but how well you enable the Spirit of Prophesy and Revelation in your daily life.

Exaltation comes in and through our personal relationship with the Father. Prophets guide, instruct, warn, and in all things seek to lead us to become independent in receiving the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation. However, God alone knows you perfectly and He alone can and will enable you with perfect knowledge and faith sufficient for you to become exalted.

I love you and am so very pleased with your desire to serve the Lord. Dad

Money

2011-04-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

Money is a medium of exchange used to buy goods and services in societies that have not yet evolved to a condition in which they live in harmony with the natural laws that govern the free flow of temporal needs. Societies of people who are pure in heart, perfect, and holy enjoy fellowship with people wherein "all" members of the society, direct their desires and motivations toward the happiness and welfare of one another rather than to self. In fact, there is no need to concern oneself with one's "personal" interest or desires in a society wherein everyone truly loves you as they love themselves. The love you give "freely" to others is multiplied back to you an hundred fold. It is impossible not to have your desires and needs fulfilled when everyone truly loves you as much as you love them. Each member in such societies express their love by using their sacred gifts to help meet one another's needs.

God's higher laws of love cannot be brought into operation by compulsion, such as occurs in socialistic and communistic societies. How then is one admitted into such a society or how does one become an heir to such a blessed state of existence? It is by overcoming the natural man that one possesses. The natural man forever seeks to make self happy and secure, without sufficient though or desire toward others. The natural man tramples upon many sacred and holy laws as it always places "self-interest" over the welfare of others. It never learns this one simple lesson, that "self-interest" is best and most naturally served as one discovers their greatest joy in using their unique gifts and talents to serve the interest, welfare, and happiness of others.

For example, in the true laws that govern temporal welfare it is not given that one man should ever possess that which is above another. The natural resources of the earth are here for all men and are a gift of the earth for man, but not to used by extortion or to excess. Each man is only to take from the earth sufficient for his needs. No man is to collect more than is sufficient and to usurp and then extort money from others so that they can then enjoy what is already a gift of mother earth to them. All men who do such things are filthy and evil. They are the pimps, prostitutes, whores, and false rulers of the earth.

Therefore, that which cometh of the earth is ordained for the use of man, for food, for raiment, for shelter, that all man might have in abundance and always sufficient for their needs. It is sinful and an abomination against all that is sacred and holy when one man seeks to place himself between the gifts of the earth and those to whom the gifts rightfully belong. All such greedy and evil men will be cast down to hell as abominations to all that is sacred and holy, for it is an abomination to desire more than is sufficient for one's own needs, unless the desire to possess more is strictly motivated out of a desire to take all excess and distribute it to the poor, the widow, the fatherless, and the needy. There is no place or admittance into the heavenly family or society for those who do not overcome the natural man that seeks his own welfare above others, or to those who "trust" in accumulating riches more than they trust in the higher laws of love.

How does one put off the natural man to become worthy to overcome a society that employs only "me-centered economics" wherein everyone tends to grub away their lives in the continual pursuit of "self-interest?" And how is that same person made worthy to become an heir of a society that lives in complete harmony with the natural laws of abundance?

All men once enjoyed life in a heavenly society, but they lived in innocence for they knew no evil. They did not know of men who are abominations to all that is good and right and holy. Therefore, in order for innocent members of a holy society to know the difference between these two opposites, it was necessary that they leave their heavenly home to learn for themselves the difference between that which is good, sacred, and holy, and that which is evil, corrupt, and abominable. They would go to earth where they would have the choice to learn to live according to the "higher laws" of heaven or where they could also choose to live according to the laws of unrighteousness and misery. For the one, they would learn by faith, how to become sanctified and holy, or in other words, filled with pure love, virtue, and a fullness of knowledge. And through the operation of that love, virtue, and pure knowledge, they would obtain an "unchanging scepter of righteousness," just as the scepter of righteousness which their Heavenly Father possesses and which governs his characteristics, attributes, and perfections. Once a person obtains this scepter, they then are qualified to receive a dominion that flows to them forever and ever without compulsory means. Through perfect love, unceasing virtue, and the receipt of God's pure knowledge (pure doctrines of the priesthood) such a person qualifies as an heir to the heavenly family.

The opposition to all that is sacred, pure, and holy encountered by innocents spirits who come to this earth is for a singular purpose. For ever perfect truth, there is its corrupted and abominable opposite. In order to obtain an unchanging scepter of righteousness, one must not only become filled with perfect love and virtue, but must also possess a fullness of knowledge. Without the knowledge of how hell operates, or in other words a perfect knowledge of the laws which oppose truth, one is not prepared sufficiently to become a permanent member of a heavenly society. We must come to understand every truth, as well as its opposite, if we will be enabled to walk the razor's edge of truth and righteousness for eternity, or in other words, if we will possess an unchanging scepter of righteousness.

There is only one who can redeem us from the fallen state in which we now exist and who is capable of enabling us with all the love, virtue, and knowledge which we must ultimately possess in order that we may become redeemed from our fallen state. His name is Jesus Christ. His light exists in the hearts of all men when they are born into existence upon this earth. As a man walks in truth according to that light, the light grows brighter and brighter, until at last that man possesses sufficient love, virtue, and knowledge that he meets the Christ whilst still in the flesh and sees his face and knows that he is.

Christ is the author of such a persons faith by supplying him with the initial light, and Christ authors greater and greater faith within that person as he comes to fully place his faith and trust in Christ. After a person obtains sufficient light to enter Christ's presence, then Christ commences a finishing process where he further enables this person until he becomes sanctified, holy, and washed clean of all the sins and corruption of this world. After a process of time, Christ then introduces such a person directly to the Father of all spirits and that person is chosen and accepted into the Eternal Family of God. This entire process is to occur during a person's lifetime upon this earth, and has been called the "Path of Redemption" by every saint in every dispensation who has successfully walked this path.

Summary
We come to this earth where we are subjected to people who live both the higher laws that govern a heavenly society and to people who do not place their "trust" in these higher laws, but cling to false and foolish traditions and precepts of man. We ourselves are subjected to concerns for our personal welfare and happiness, causing us to have to choose between "trusting" in the laws of hell, or the laws of heaven. Hell promotes fear in man, causing us to worry about what will become of us if we do not have money. Heaven promotes a trust in the laws which govern that natural flow of temporal blessings. Heaven provides a perfect example -- even Jesus Christ -- who issues an invitation to each of us.

His invitation is this: Come Follow Me! He is our perfect example; he is our perfect mentor, master, and guide. He has mastered the laws of pure love and virtue and has obtained the pure knowledge required to lay hold upon his unchanging scepter of righteousness. His dominion is already flowing to him forever and ever without compulsory means. If we will but forsake all sin, come unto him with a pure and real desire to be led by him, and we call upon him to receive the guidance we need to day, and if we keep his commandments and obey his voice each and every day, then we shall put off the natural man one day at a time and we will become perfected in Him -- attribute for divine attribute.

When we have proven sufficiently that we will not depart from this path, he will accept us into his presence and will succor and comfort us personally as we become fully clean without spot and are prepared by him to meet the Father. He then introduces us to the Father and our faith in God passes to a sure knowledge as we behold his face and know that he is. We are then chosen and anointed as heirs to his Eternal Heavenly Family, wherein we will enjoy a perfect and holy society forever.

If our life's mission is not complete, after meeting the Father we will then be given a mission to fulfill to help others on earth become redeemed and also chosen as members of the heavenly society. It is the right of every child of God to come to know and live according the each and every law that governs heaven as they live upon this earth. It is the right for them to also exist as pure and holy societies. Becoming chosen to live in such a society is a "self-selection" process wherein each person can receive all the light, knowledge, and truth they need, in order to live by these higher laws, just as fast as they are willing to receive that light. To the extent any man resists the enticings of the Holy Spirit to embrace this light fully, they are not forced to do so, nor do they enjoy the attendant blessings that are achieved only through laying hold upon pure love, virtue, and perfect knowledge.

Members of lower societies that exist upon this earth, extort from the earth and usurp or take that which is not theirs. They do not share of the earth's bounty "freely" as the natural laws of abundance demand. Rather, they are filled with greed and lust, and they trust in storing up riches rather than abiding by the perfect laws that govern their own infinite security, welfare, and happiness. Money is a non-essential in societies of sanctified and holy people because all members of higher societies spend their labor only to serve the happiness of the society. They consecrate all that they have and are to serving the happiness of one another. They never consider the lower laws of "fair exchange" of energy, because energy flows freely and infinitely to all who live by higher laws, thus they give their all to others always by their very nature. They never worry about laying up in store for tomorrow, but like the ancient children of Israel who received manna daily for 40 years, they too always receive sufficient for their needs.

Prophets

2011-04-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

From my perspective as a teacher of dietary lifestyle, I know the following: I cannot help anyone to receive all the help they need to make necessary dietary transitions in their own lives. I can teach the principles, I can provide helpful principle-based recipes, I can answer questions, and I can discern issues quite readily. However, I do not live in anyone's skin but my own skin 24/7 and unfortunately I cannot be at the crossroads when others really need the help in the moment. Therefore, about two years ago I came to fully realize the critical importance of teaching others to enable the Savior as their personal coach in these matters. Those who have learned how to do so, have learned that he can help you far better than I can to actually enable the principles, the recipes, the ideas, and so forth that I diligently seek to share. In a flash of intelligence, he can help you when you aren't even sure what to fix as you browse your refrigerator or pantry. He enables you to be taught more perfectly than anyone else could ever teach you, and he is available as your private mentor for no charge whatsoever.

Well, a prophet faces a similar dilemma to the one I experienced teaching diet. We have a bit of a mistaken or incomplete notion of the purpose of a prophet. He can provide timely guidance and counsel, but if you had only a few words to describe his true mission statement, it would be the following, "To Teach Others How to Be Prophets." Start a topic and figure out why this is the primary role of a prophet and why it is critical that you not only live daily with the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation, but that salvation isn't possible to anyone who does not become a prophet.

Just as the pathway to a successful dietary lifestyle is very customized, so too is the path of salvation. General Authorites are like a really good general nutritionist. They teach how to receive and live by revelation, but they certainly cannot receive for you what the Lord's will is for you today. We must go beyond a prophet's general and wise counsel directly to the Lord if we are to be taught more perfectly what has been given to us generally. God alone is available 24/7 and requires that we come to Him for instruction and timely help. We are not to wait upon the Prophet, any more than we would wait upon the Road to Damascus for a visit from an angel. Rather, we are to seek the Lord's Spirit and to heed it daily. All revelation, including that which we receive from Prophets fulfill one central role in our lives, to provide the added understanding that we need today, which enables us to walk in obedience to greater light and knowledge today.

As our lives so move forward daily, we only are grateful for the light that comes that enables further ascension and we care not from whence it comes, be it a ministering angel, from God's own voice, or from the silent whisperings of the spirit. Each provides specific light we must come to terms with if that light is to have any saving power in our lives. Ultimately, only the spirit of prophecy and revelation that operates within us daily through faith, repentance and a continual remission of our sins, and obedience and submission to greater light, enables us with greater faith and knowledge. If we hold back regarding any light we receive, our faith grows dormant in that thing and it does us no good, whether we receive it from the quiet and insubstantial whisperings of the spirit, or as the dews from heaven, or from an angel, or from God's own voice. None of this adds to our faith or knowledge unless we act upon the light given. Therein we render the veil to a degree and the Lord's power and influence then operates more fully in our physical worlds.

A Prophet's primary role is to instruct us sufficiently in repentance, faith, action, and obedience that the spirit of prophecy and revelation comes to flow to us daily and we become independent in our relationship with God, the only one who can take us beyond the "general" to the customized path we must walk.

When I awoke this morning I was impressed thoroughly that we must become entirely confident and capable of receiving all the light and knowledge we need from the Lord. There is no other way. It's the only way. I'm sure President Monson would say as did Moses, "I would that all my people were prophets."

Sunshine, Rain, and Love

2011-04-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

As I rode horses with a special friend one day I asked him if he had ever become angry in his lifetime, for I had never seen him remotely angry, not ever. He paused thoughtfully, and eventually replied, "No, I don't believe so." When I asked how this was possible he replied, "My mother taught me very early in life that the way I choose to see the events that unfold in my life determines how and what I think; and my feelings then become the offspring of my thoughts; and my actions and all that I do and am are the byproducts of how I choose to see, think, and feel." He said, "Mom taught me how to always seek to see, think, feel, and act as my Father in Heaven would act if he were walking in my shoes." He said, "Many times a day we are enticed by stimuli, and if we pause sufficient to seek the Father's face, we quickly see the stimuli as he does; then our thoughts, feelings, and actions become as if he were walking in our shoes."

In the Sermon on the Mount the Savior taught that we become our Father in Heaven's children as we love the way God loves. It is easy to love those who love us and even the wicked love those who love them. However, to qualify ourselves as Eternal Heirs to the Father, we must come to love as he loves. God sheds forth the sun and the rain upon everyone, not just those who do right. Are the sun and the rain spoken of by the Savior also a shadow and type to teach us how to love as our Father loves? If so, what can we learn from the sun and from the rain?

The Sun as a Type
As I consider the farm upbringing I enjoyed I am grateful to the Lord for providing the sunshine that worked to energize the plants and to supply the energy required to fuel the 1000s of chemical reactions that enable the growth and health of the plant. The sun's rays provide energy within the plants to sustain the very life of the plant. As I consider the sunshine, I think of infinite rays of energy that energize and sustain life. The sun shines continuously whether the skies are overcast and no matter whether it is day or night. The sun is ever constant and infinite in its shedding forth its infinite light and warmth.

The Rain as a Type
The winter snows and the summer rains enabled sufficient water to flow down our river, and from our river into our ditches, which carry life-preserving water to our crops. Mother Earth provides the vitamins, minerals, proteins, and so forth that are carried into the plants through the medium of water. Without proper nourishment that is carried by water, the plant cannot survive or thrive. Water can also help to transform the drooping, wilting, and dying plant into a robust, full, and resplendent plant.

Liken Unto Us
Let's now consider the Sun and the Rain in context with the very purpose of life, or in other words to be made perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. The higher law was given to help us be made perfect and to be able to enter into the presence of the Lord. As we come to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength and as we come to love our neighbor's as ourselves we are made perfect.

Recently I learned that when my heart shines for love to another, that person is enabled with sufficient trust to share their burdens and their sorrows in a manner that they could otherwise not do. Most of the time we tend to keep our problems to ourselves because the world has taught us it does not want to know about our problems. However, we are not meant to carry our burdens alone; therefore, when someone truly allows their light to shine upon us, we readily share our innermost self with them. Therefore, to come to love others as we ourselves want to be loved, we must first shine forth as the sun with warmth and love. As we do so, only then are the secrets of the heart and mind revealed to us.

I recall a moment when a neighbor "trusted" me because I chose to love them. As she unburdened her heart, I was touched deeply. I had thought her to be just a cranky person and had no idea regarding the terrible burdens that she had locked away tight within her. She had actually done harm to my wife and my initial intent was to set her in her place. However, I succumbed to heavenly enticements and expressed my families great desire to be neighbors whom she knew loved her.

In the moments that followed she shared sorrows and burdens that were weighing upon her. They were so terrible that my heart swelled in size that day. I truly felt her burdens and my eyes began to form tears that formed into the shape of rain drops. As they fell to the ground new understanding flooded into my mind and heart and like the rain's water, I quite suddenly new what my wife and I could do to lift the burden of a new sister. We knew how to nourish a soul that needed lifting and in the years that followed we did what some said could not be done. We came to cherish this sister and her family and beheld the transformation that occurred as our tears of understanding transformed to graceful nourishment.

Conclusion
As the sun shines continually in the heavens and casts forth its infinite and loving rays, it strengthens all that it touches, and it continues to do so for as long as we live; so too must our hearts and our countenances shine forth with infinite and loving light to our neighbor, regardless of the circumstances or the clouds that may exist or whether it is day or night in their lives.

As the rain falls upon the earth and carries the nutrients into the plants and causes plants to become robust, full, and resplendent, we must come to know our neighbor's burdens and sorrows, to the extent that our hearts swell to overflowing and our eyes brim with water and pour forth tears -- as drops of rain. Only as the understanding of these burdens swells within us do we come to know how to nourish and love the wilted and drooping soul, that we may thereby strengthen our neighbor perfectly in her need.

As I see and feel the sun on a bright and sunny day, it reminds me that my light, love, and warmth is to shine forth both continually and infinitely, even to those who may dislike or hate me, or who may persecute, rob, lie, or abuse me in myriad ways. As the sun remains constant in the skies and as it shines forth its infinite warm and strength, so too must my heart shed forth my Savior's love upon all within my reach.

As I watch the rain and the snows fall, they remind me that until I truly come to know my neighbor's, then I cannot possibly come to love them as I would love myself. And, that only as I come to know their burdens and their sorrows will my eyes brim and overflow with tears that bring forth perfect understanding, so that I may know how to love my neighbor gracefully and as tenderly as water that enters and nourishes a plant.

As we come to see, think, feel, and act as the Savior towards our neighbor, both enemy and friend, we qualify to become eternal heirs of our Father. As we choose to love a neighbor whom we dislike, or who has abused or taken advantage of us, and as we choose to shine forth our warmth upon them and pray for the Lord's choicest blessings to be upon them anyway, amazingly, the doors to their hearts and the windows to their minds will open unto us insomuch that we can come to know their burdens, sorrows, and thoughts and by so knowing and feeling we can commence to lift their burdens and strengthen them, as gracefully as the rain's water causes a wilted plant to become resplendent and the entire plant to become nourished.

I'm Available Lord

2011-04-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

My brother worked in a U.S. Embassy in Pakistan for several years at the time of the first Gulf war. At this time, there were no Pakistani church members in the country and he and his family began to fast weekly and pray daily that the Gospel could somehow be introduced to the nation of Pakistan. It was against the law to proselyte and he did not know what to do, except to "fast and pray."

After several weeks of daily prayer and weekly fasts, he received a phone call one day from a Pakistani man who had joined the church while visiting America. He had just returned home and called my brother to ask if he was a member of the church. He asked Bob, "When are we going to start the work in Pakistan?" They met and my brother's new Pakistani friend agreed to bring people to my brother's home if Bob would teach them the gospel.

Soon several Pakistanis came to my brother's home to be taught and were subsequently baptized members of the church. Elder Nelson and Elder Maxwell then came to officially open the country of Pakistan to missionary work. Bob baptized, and trained the first full-time, native, Pakistani missionaries who were called to serve in other countries. After returning to Pakistan following their missions, He set one apart as the first "Pakistani" Elder's Quorum President and the other as the first Pakistani Branch President. During his five years in Pakistan, Bob's family participated in helping to lay the groundwork so that the gospel could take root in that nation.

Bob gained a simple but important testimony that the Lord has job openings in his vineyard and that as we make ourselves available to him, he invites us to pick up the cross and to follow Him. When Jesus called his ancient apostles, they straightway left their nets and followed Him.

This article is not about missionary work per se, but is about becoming a servant of the Master. Qualification in his service begins by fasting, praying, and asking the Father what you can do today to help someone. There are opportunities all around us to lift and help others.

Recently two people came to my door who suffered from serious physical ailments. Their physical suffering was caused by unusual stress. They asked me how to overcome the real stresses that plagued them. I asked them what they thought was the opposite of stress and they replied, "Peace and Love." I then asked what they could do to be filled with peace and love. They replied that as you lift another's burdens a spirit of love and peace fills your own heart.

I then shared my brothers feelings concerning "availability" and invited them to pray and ask the Lord daily who they could help. They became excited as they considered the peace and love that might come into their lives through earnestly and purposely seeking to help others.

I too was inspired by the conversation and commenced that day to do likewise. I quickly learned that the moment we make ourselves available, the Lord has "open positions" for "all" who are under-employed and who desire to work in His service. Similar to my brother's experience, it has not taken long for the Lord to provide ample opportunities to serve Him. The sweet joy, peace, and love I have experienced from yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit in these matters, surpasses my greatest expectations.

I do not know what the Lord will ask of you or me today, but this much I know, if we will ask who we may help today with real intent, the Lord will call to us gently and lovingly and encouragingly to pick up the cross and to follow Him today. And, as we lift one another's burdens our souls are filled with light, truth, and love and peace. If we would become sanctified and if we would see the Lord's face and become His, we must only pray daily to know the Lord's will for us today and then when he calls, we are to leave our nets and straightway follow Him.

Come Follow Me

2011-03-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Colleen reminded me recently of a story in our early marriage. We lacked sufficient means to eat our daily bread on one occasion. Although we both worked full time, we fell short financially and had insufficient to eat. We prayed to God and felt prompted to go to a place near a river to pray and to enjoy one another’s company. We sat together beneath water that cascaded over us into a pool below. Suddenly a fish landed on the bank next to us and wiggled to get back into the pool of water below us. I picked it up, pulled off my sweatshirt, tied closed the arms and the neck holes and placed the fish into my sweatshirt. Then another fish jumped into the cascading water above us and fell to the bank beside us. This repeated itself until we had collected several fish. We went home joyful and prepared a meal, and thanked God for His unexpected blessing -- which was quite an exciting haul for two who were not even fishing.

God has been good to us during our marriage as we have striven to hear and obey his voice daily and as we confess our weaknesses and express our needs to him. He succors, teaches, lifts, edifies, and provides sufficient that we may follow Him.

For Colleen and I on that day it was impossible to feed ourselves, but with God, all things are possible and we were saved from our hunger. From that day forward we determined that if we were to be saved, then our security and trust relied upon accepting the Savior’s invitation, “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” He has promised that by so doing we will be blessed with an inheritance and He will supply our temporal needs, He will bless us with and eternal posterity forever and ever, and He will protect us from our enemies forever and ever. And, if He should ever ask that we lay down our lives for Him or make any other our sacrifice, His promise is that our loss will be restored to us even an one hundred fold.

Consider more carefully the call to take up our cross and to follow the Savior:

St Mark Chapter 10:17 - 30
17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?

27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.

29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,

30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

There are many points to consider from this exchange. First, it isn’t sufficient to keep God’s commandments alone if one would inherit Eternal Life. Those who “trust” in riches rather than the call to take up the cross and follow Jesus will have great difficulty inheriting Eternal life (verse 24 above). Why?

What does it mean to “trust” in riches? We come into this life and need food, shelter, and clothing to survive and to secure our existence. We are reminded of this daily as the mortgage and other bills become due and as we need to acquire food to eat or clothing to wear. As an outgrowth of this never-ending pressure, we desire to attain sufficient “security” so that we will never be without.

We are faced with two choices to “securitize” our existence, Satan’s socio-economic plan or God’s socio-economic plan. The following words describes Satan’s invite to security, “You can buy anything in this world you want for money.” He subtly implants fear into us by causing us to ask, “What will become of me without money if I lose my employ in Babylon?” Hence we learn to survive in the world of “compulsion” where we must sweat to “earn” every dollar if we are to survive.

It isn’t any wonder that we may begin to place our “trust” in accumulating wealth. In fact the more the better, for it guarantees the “security” we each desire. We learn to trust in our real estate holdings, accumulations of cash and other financial securities, as well as reserves of food, clothing, and shelter.

What is it about placing our “trust” and “security” in such things that inhibits our ability to inherit Eternal Life? Was this test for the Rich Young Ruler also a literal test for each of us, and if so, what is the true nature of the test? And if we are not to “securitize” our lives in such a manner, wherein are we to place our “trust?” Is their an opposite to this false approach to security, which also leads us to Eternal Life? Where are we to place our trust that will ensure us that we can eat, clothe, and shelter ourselves?

We know that Satan’s “false socio-economic plan” is described by the prophets as Babylon -- an economic system that at some point in the future history of the earth will fail and perish in “one” hour -- according to the apostle John and to the prophet Isaiah. We also know that those who have entrusted their hearts, to this “false socio-economic model” for “security” will perish with Babylon. Therefore, not only Eternal Life is contingent upon trusting in a higher way to securitize our lives, but even the very lives of those who live when Babylon perishes will depend entirely upon trusting rightly for security.

Every truth has its opposite and a fullness of truth requires that we understand Heaven and Hell’s plan for security -- if we are to gain sufficient knowledge regarding the laws upon which “security” are predicated. To the extent we understand and obey these laws we become “self-reliant” and “independent” now and in the eternities. Do you want to make a mortgage payment and pay taxes by the sweat of your brow for eternity, or do you want your dominion to flow unto you forever and ever -- without compulsory means?

What then is God’s plan for securitizing our lives and how is it different from what we’ve all come to know as we dwell in Babylon? Upon what principles does God’s “socio-economic plan” operate? How does He “securitize” himself and what is His invitation to us that we too may become secure?

Jacob provides a hint in Jacob 2:17 wherein he teaches to, “think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like you.”

What does it mean to be rich? Does Jacob point us to the higher law that teaches us how to be perfect and how Israel is to qualify to enter into God’s presence. Is Jacob suggesting that “Eternal Security” is predicated upon our learning to love our neighbor as ourselves? How does thinking of our brethren and becoming familiar with all and free with our substance enable us in matters of love or, even more pressing, how does giving all we have and all our living to others create security?

Consider the following in Mark chapter 12:41 - 44:

41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.

42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.

43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:

44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

What trust motivates one to casts in all she has, even all her living? Has she discovered a truer source wherein to place trust? How then does such a woman “securitize” her life toward having adequate food, shelter, and clothing that is sufficient for her needs if she gives all? What is the nature of the “trust” that enables her to meet basic needs for subsistence with such a counterintuitive display of faith? Is giving one's "all" practical, foolish, or is it the "straight gait" by which one enters a very narrow pathway that leads to heaven? What is it to love God with "all" your heart, might, mind, and strength, and what is it to love a neighbor as you would love yourself? In giving her "all" Did this widow act with such love? Does giving with such love somehow enable us to live the higher laws upon which "true security" is predicated?

Consider further the prophet Elijah who asks the widow for the last of her food, or her "all." The widow obliges and then she prepares herself and her son to die? But they did not die... Are higher laws of security therefore enabled when we act free with our substance in order to secure the life of another? What precisely is the law that enabled the “higher security” received by the widow wherein her container of oil and of flour never failed her again? Similarly, by what law did the prophet Elijah act that caused Ravins to later bring food to him for a period of the three years as he weathered out the sore famine? How do we become the Lord’s servants and qualify for “like” security?

Is perfect love of god and neighbor the true fountain of security, and as we learn to truly love God with all our hearts and to do His will in all things, is such love the key to “Eternal Security?” Is love, therefore, more powerful than a seemingly endless supply of money? If we are to become heirs to Eternal Life, then what is it we must come to understand about true and false security? What is it we are to understand regarding our trust and attitude toward riches so that entering the Kingdom of Heaven may be made possible. Didn’t Peter retain money, sufficient for his needs? In giving our "all" are we to "hold back" sufficient for our needs? These are important questions to ponder and to ask God.

The lesser law was given to teach Israel how not to sin. Forsaking sin is a pre-requisite to being able to walk the path of the “higher law,” which was given to perfect us and prepare us to enter the Lord’s presence. What does the higher law then help us achieve? It leads us to become filled with “charity,” or “perfect love.” It enables us to put off the natural man and to become perfect in Christ.

The laws of abundance which govern the universe are all predicated upon perfect love. Becoming free with our substance to all and taking sufficient interest in our neighbors that we help them become “rich” like unto ourselves is the only pathway to “endless security.” King Benjamin warned that perhaps we might be tempted to say, "The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just." Then he reminds us that we are all beggars before God and are to "never" harbor such foolish thoughts. Such thoughts are not aligned with the "narrow way" of perfect love. Giving "all" we have then is counterintuitive to receiving without measure and therein lies the answer to why so few will ever truly discover the gateway and will walk the narrow path to Eternal Life?

In the Sermon on the Mount we are taught that we only become children of our Father as we love everyone, including our enemies. We are reminded that both the sunshine and the rain are given to everyone by God and in like manner are we to love everyone. Allowing our bowels to be filled with "charity or perfect love" towards "all" men enables with a pure understanding of saving doctrine, it enables us with the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and it enables us to make the shift from "security" that is based upon compulsion to establish an everlasting dominion without compulsory means that will flow to us forever and ever (D&C 121: 45 - 46).

Here we are taught how to obtain the “security” we so desire, and also wherein we must place our trust if we are to inherit Eternal Life. To act with such love was counter-intuitive to the rich young ruler’s sense of self-preservation and saddened him, causing him to go away, rather than to follow Jesus. He could not bring himself to provide the promised inheritance to the poor and to the meek or to make them rich like unto himself.

Satan’s socioeconomic plan disinherits the Lords true servants, such as the widow who had only a mite. By asking us to make our neighbor rich like unto ourselves, or to sell all we have and give it to the poor, the Lord is asking that we give to the poor an inheritance that they too may be made like us, that they too might receive their bread daily as they “work” their inheritance. Consider the people of Ammon and the land of Jershon. Did not the people of this region entirely give up what they possessed so that the people of Ammon might receive an inheritance whereby they might subsist. Now consider the sacrifice of the Nephites and how it blessed them more than one-hundred fold. The people of Ammon who inherited Jershon produced the mighty warriors who ultimately saved their nation during its darkest hour.

Perhaps as we so choose to love, those we help from low to high will become the very people who one day preserve us when the storms fall upon our lives. Perfect love, what an amazing law; it even enables the doctrines of the priesthood to distill upon our souls as the dews from heaven, that we may come to understand the very laws upon which we may become “secure” forever.

We must come to this knowledge through faith. In faith the widow gave the last of her food to the prophet Elijah and then prepared herself and her son to die. She obtained a brighter knowledge through that act of faith and learned that “sanctified sacrifice” and “perfect love” leads to a flow of abundance without compulsory means forever, or in other words Eternal Life or God’s perfect way of life.

We remain under condemnation as believers so long as we “hear only” and fail “to do” or to walk in accordance with the covenants we have already made. Perfect Zion awaits only our faith to walk according to what we have already covenanted to do through the New and Everlasting Covenant, the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, and the Law of Consecration, which are designed by the Master to lead us to become filled with God’s perfect love.

Colleen reminded me of the Savior’s teachings within the Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 7:12-17, and continuing with King James version of Mathew 7:9-12:

12 Say unto them, Ask of God; ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

13 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

14 And then said his disciples unto him, they will say unto us, We ourselves are righteous, and need not that any man should teach us. God, we know, heard Moses and some of the prophets; but us he will not hear.

15 And they will say, We have the law for our salvation, and that is sufficient for us.

16 Then Jesus answered, and said unto his disciples, thus shall ye say unto them,

17 What man among you, having a son, and he shall be standing out, and shall say, Father, open thy house that I may come in and sup with thee, will not say, Come in, my son; for mine is thine, and thine is mine?

(continue in King James version)

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

The Lord provided Colleen and I fish so that we could live, which helped to turn our “trust” more fully to Him and to take up our cross and follow Him. What steps may we take in our lives to insure that we successfully take up our cross to follow the Savior more perfectly? D&C 93:1 provides the Lord’s own formula for success.

First, in D&C 93:1 we are instructed that we must forsake all of our sins. Until we forsake sin and recognize and confess our weaknesses before God and give up all our sins to know God, we cannot properly tune our hearts into the “frequency” by which the Lord can communicate directly with us. Consider a child who seeks to hide his/her wrong-doings. That child is seeking to be comfortable in her own skin, even though a violation of integrity has occurred and she cannot be “truly comfortable” until she becomes whole again. True healing, therefore, cannot occur until we recognize and confess our weakness to God, wherein He can then begin to heal us. To hear God’s voice we must come unto him and call upon his name with a heart and mind that is perfectly attuned to “hear,” “receive,” and “obey” Him.
Second, we are to come unto the Lord and call upon his name with true power, or in other words, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We must become as a well-broken horse that submits to every command and cue of its rider. Our hearts are similarly broken as they yield perfectly to subtle and insubstantial communications of the the Lord, as well as to His direct voice, or to a messenger that He may send to us.
Third, we must obey his voice or communications to us, which is to act in faith according to his will. He is the perfect judge of our capacity “to do today.” As we seek to obey his voice or to do his will “today,” we are guaranteed that the added light and knowledge we will receive today is in accordance with our capacity to receive it. And, we are to ask in faith for whatsoever we need to accomplish His will, believing we shall receive.
Fourth, we must keep His commandments without exception if we would continue to qualify to hear his voice and understand his perfect will and thereby receive the added knowledge and light that He can offer us today. Justification for sin is “self-defeating” in the same manner that a child sins and then seeks to “hide” her sin from a parent. The parent’s loving influence is of no effect until the child’s heart and mind is ready to learn and grow and receive influence.
Fifth, as we do these four things faithfully, we will come to see his face. It is important to note here that the first four steps in the above process are to be repeated daily. This process is a daily “walk in faith” that is rewarded by our receiving ever-increasing light, knowledge, faith, hope, and love. Where does this ever-increasing path lead us? His promise here is that we will “see his face and know that he is.” We must understand exactly what he is offering here. Christ as offered to be both the author and finisher of our faith. As we place sufficient faith in Him to forsake sin, to keep the commandments, and to come unto Him and call upon His name, He will give us “daily instruction” through the voice of His spirit. As we obey his voice it leads us to acquire further saving light and knowledge. Through daily obedience to his will we pass from faith to greater light and knowledge. Only as we so continue our lives do we at length lay hold upon sufficient knowledge and faith to enter His presence, “see” his face, and “know” that he is. This is a literal promise and formula for taking up our abode with Christ, as did Enos, the Brother of Jared, and so forth. The light and knowledge we gain through applying this formula in our lives leads us to put off the natural man a day at a time and to become as our Savior. This process and its outcome is not reserved for “ancient or past prophets,” rather, it is the one and only true path that every saint from every dispensation has followed to Know the Lord and to receive Eternal Life.

Therefore, as we forsake sin, come unto the Lord, call upon His name, obey his voice and keep his commandments, He invites us toward a “higher trust and a higher law” one that is based upon receiving His perfect love. God promised Ancient Israel that as they walked daily according to His statutes and covenants, He would lead them to receive this perfect love, and as they walked according to each statute and covenant they would receive the following everlasting promise: One, an inheritance or a promised land would be given to them and the continuous flow of all needed temporal blessings would be given; two, they would receive and everlasting posterity and three, God would fight their battles and protect them from their enemies forever and ever, so long as they kept their covenants with Him.

God taught ancient Israel to “trust” and “securitize their lives by freeing themselves from sin, by coming unto Him and calling upon His name, by obeying His voice, and by obeying His commandments. As they walked more rightly according to his statutes and covenants, they received his everlasting promises. As they ceased to so do, condemnation fell upon them and they were ultimately overrun by their enemies and were scattered throughout the earth. This is a type and shadow for modern Israel. As we make and keep covenants, we too secure everlasting promises. However, as we do not keep sacred covenants, we forfeit the Lord's promises to us.

Ancient American prophets have stated that the same promises and condemnations will be ours today, unless we repent, come out from under condemnation under which we now labor and take up our cross to follow Jesus according to the covenants we have made. As we do so, we come to receive the gift of charity, which is a gift that operates upon the highest laws of heaven and upon the highest laws that pertain to receiving heaven’s abundance and protection without compulsory means.

If we “trust” God sufficient to so live today, then all that we need and want is promised unto us. An inheritance and everlasting flow of temporal blessings, an everlasting posterity, and protection from our enemies. If we would come out from condemnation so that we may not be run upon, smitten, and scattered, then let us “do” and not “hear and say only.” Let us forsake the darkness that is upon us because we have “trusted” ourselves to Satan’s “false socio-economic plan,” and let us embrace and “trust” his holy order of perfect love forever -- which is the Lord's own socio-economic plan for His people. Let us learn to love God with all our hearts, might, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors and we love ourselves.

As a young farm boy, I would often end a hard and sweaty day's work by retiring to a lake near my home where I could catch fish. I would bait my hook and cast in my line and wait for a fish to bite; then I would set the hook and reel the fish in with great compulsion until I landed it and then secured my catch into a "holding bag." By tricking the fish with bait and using compulsion to land the fish, I could enjoy food to eat. Years later as Colleen and I were unhungered and secreted ourselves together upon the bank of a river beneath falling water, we were given a glimpse of what it means to "receive" and to have what we need flow to us without compulsory means.

The Lord gave an everlasting promise to ancient Israel, that if they would "trust" Him by walking in strict accordance with every covenant they had made with Him, He then would not only provide them with an inheritance of land, but would ensure the continual flow of temporal blessings, and would protect them from their enemies. All was contingent upon not only "hearing" and "saying" the Lord's word, but by "doing" as the Lord asks of them. Let us retire the condemnation from under which we labor by "doing" as we have covenanted to do. Let us become sanctified and consecrate "all" we have to establish Zion and to build God's Kingdom by learning and doing the Lord's will each day that we live.

Trust

2011-03-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

When Moses fasted for 40 days and went upon the mount to speak to God, he received the higher law from God in order that he could teach Israel how to qualify to enter the Lord's presence. When he came off the mount he discovered Israel was in a state of idolatry and sin. He broke the tablets that contained God's higher law and returned to the mountain and commenced another 40-day fast. He spoke to God again and this time was given the lesser law. The lesser law was given to teach Israel how to overcome sin. By comparison, the higher law, which Israel lost the right to receive through sin, was given to them to teach them how to become perfect and holy and to enter into the Lord's presence and to become redeemed from their fallen state.

The higher law is marked by loving God with all our hearts, might, mind, and strength and also by coming to love our neighbor as ourselves. The higher law leads us to perfection or to become perfect and holy as the Lord is perfect and holy. To live the higher law one must become pure by forsaking all sin, and must come unto the Lord and call upon His name and obey His commandments, and obey His voice. By so doing they come to know God. Perhaps the key to this successful journey is to come to know God's will daily and then to do it.

Without first forsaking sin and without possessing a "real intent" to obey all of God's commandments and to obey His voice always, it is impossible to come to understand God's will on a daily basis; impurity causes us to become like a radio that is insufficiently tuned in to the desired frequency to receive the proper sound and messages. Without forsaking all sin it is impossible to hear and obey the Lord's voice and to grow according to His wisdom. God alone knows and judges best the growth we each need today, and only by living His will daily do we achieve the step-by-step and timely growth that is most needed today.

By becoming pure and obedient, it is possible to learn and do His will daily and thus progress along the path of redemption -- one day at a time -- until we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to enter into the Lord's presence. Saints from each dispensation of Israel who overcome sin and who then come to live according the higher laws of love through a process of repentance and a continual remission of sin, steadily put off the natural man to take on the divine attributes of the Lord -- attribute for divine attribute. Such persons grow in light, truth, knowledge, faith, and love until entering into the Lord's presence. The Savior then becomes their Second Comforter and succors and comforts them as he or she completes the hardest part of the remaining journey back to the Father. If he/she succeeds through the Savior's succor and comfort, the Savior then introduces him/her to the Father and he/she becomes an eternal heir to the family of God.

Since Adam was first sent forth from the Garden into this fallen Telestial state, Adam and every subsequent prophet has sought to teach Israel the pathway to return to Zion (a closer step towards heaven on earth) or in other words, to be redeemed from this fallen state in which we live -- which is referred to by Israel's prophets as Babylon, or the great whore of the earth. Where we choose to place our trust in this life is the basis for all growth and experience we will receive during the course of our lives. It determines whether or not we receive a continual flow of revelation and ministrations from heaven to help us in our journey back to the Father's presence or whether we follow another path.

For example, trusting in the building of wealth and increased possessions and holdings to securitize our lives, or in other words bowing down to Mammon, leads us to become bound more firmly to the earth and our fallen state; it diminishes our connection to our heavenly home. Such a focus is a misguided distraction from becoming redeemed from the fallen state. Placing trust and comfort in wealth and possessions, rather than in God, moves us towards an ever increasing state of idolatry or false trust and worship in our lives and it diminishes our opportunity to receive heavenly communications and to realize our greatest potential for growth. We have only two choices, to trust God or to trust Mammon. The first leads to continual revelation and ministrations from heaven; the second leads to a false trust in the arm of flesh, or in other words, it leads to idolatry.

When a man says or thinks that he has at last found his place in the world, what he is really saying is that he has learned to thrive in Babylon and has distanced himself from heaven's laws and his true home. Heaven is home to us; earth is a laboratory of special learning. Both Zion and our heavenly home operate on higher laws than the economy in which we operate on this earth. We are here to come to understand the difference between these two extremes and, by faith, to choose the higher laws of existence upon which our heavenly home is based.

It was never intended that we leave our heavenly home to become firmly attached to our earthly home. Rather, Adam upon finding himself here was in a state of shock and immediately built an altar and made offerings unto the Lord, desiring to know how to leave this fallen state and return to his perfect heavenly home. He was then taught by an angel everything he and his posterity needed to do in order for them to qualify for a return of heaven's blessings in their lives.

Adam and his posterity were to walk according to certain covenants and sacrifices and through obedience were to become perfect and holy. In so becoming they established the basis for Zion. First, perfect hearts and minds are established through God's higher laws, and then the physical Zion immediately follows. Zion cannot be established by imperfect and impure people. We must first come to truly love one another and care for one another as much as we care for ourselves. Without truly loving others as much as we love ourselves and without loving God with all our hearts, in a manner that leads us to do His perfect will in all things, self-serving outcomes always result, which destroys the opportunity to build Zion. Zion is unalloyed and perfect and cannot be built by imperfect hearts and minds who do not yet grasp pure love. Only when we love God with all our hearts, might, mind, and souls, and love each other perfectly can a perfect Zion spring forth. Until we ascend to such a state, we cannot comprehend it fully or accurately.

In the Garden of Eden, the earth yielded forth in her strength and flowers and trees produced spontaneously; no effort was required by Adam to enjoy the abundance that existed. He and Eve were completely secure and protected in Eden enjoying every needful thing. However, even Eden was not the Celestial or Heavenly State, but was a Terrestrial state. Adam and Eve were in a state of innocence for they knew no evil. They did not possess a fullness of truth that is required to experience the full joy that attends the Celestial State. Joy is an outgrowth of a fullness of knowledge -- of both truth and the opposition of truth and misery. Without knowing opposition and misery we remain innocent and without true joy.

Adam and his posterity are required to learn to distinguish between good and evil and how to avoid deception that is associated with all opposition to truth. Gaining this saving knowledge is a pre-requisite to becoming an heir to highest realms of heaven. No saint can become an heir to glory without the saving knowledge that comes from understanding every truth and the opposition to each and every truth. We must pass through hell and this state called Babylon in order to reach heaven and to understand all that is in between heaven and hell. We cannot ascend to the highest realms of glory in ignorance, for we are not allowed to ascend any faster than we gain power over evil. A fullness of knowledge of good and evil is what gives us power over evil. Thus we pass through hell to get to heaven and come to understand truth and all truth's opposites (evil).

Earth is governed by Babylon's economy, which stands in direct opposition to heaven's laws. By coming to earth we learn first hand what it means to live in opposition to heaven's higher laws. For example, on earth I pay you a dollar and you give me vegetables that you have grown from your garden. All is done for an equal exchange of energy, whether we trade money for goods or we exchange goods for goods. In Babylon, all is based upon an exchange of energy. Seems fair and normal, right?

Heaven operates upon entirely different laws. All is done out of love and a desire to improve the happiness of others, without thought for the exchange of energy. For example, if I am a musician in Zion, I do not perform to earn money or food or clothing or shelter; rather, I compose and perform music solely to improve the state in which I and others live in order to produce greater happiness and love.

Why do I do this? Because I have gifts and talents that I can use in a manner that I know will help others enjoy greater happiness -- and since I love them as I love myself, I give freely and serve freely using my talents to enable greater love and happiness. That is my sole motivation for developing and sharing my gifts and talents with others. Therefore, I do not keep my music to myself or sell it to others; rather, I compose it and produce it and share it -- all with the object to spread greater love and happiness.

Consider a berry bush upon a mountain: it fulfills the measure of its creation without setting up a till and collecting money each and every time we pluck a berry from its vines. Rather, it finds joy in giving to us what it has to give that can further enable our happiness. This is a divine pattern.

When each person in Zion lives likewise, there is absolutely no need for an "exchange of energies." Rather, energy becomes exponential and infinite -- like the sun's rays -- and abundance is a natural consequence wherein there are no rich or poor, but all gifts and talents, all natural resources, and all the strength of the earth, and so forth each belong to Zion. Even strangers that enter the gates may enjoy freely of the gifts of Zion and so too become converted to heaven's laws.

Today we are so accustom to the economy of Babylon or this "fallen state" in which we now live that most all of us consider that a "fair exchange of energy" is the norm and even the right way to live, and we have lost the heavenly perspective that drove Adam to want to return to his heavenly state where everything from food, to shelter, to music and such came forth spontaneously. We have lost perspective that energy can grow exponentially and even become infinite and hence we grub away and squirrel away with a limited and narrow perspective regarding the best use of our time and talents. Our focus becomes to "securitize" our lives rather than to lay down our lives for one another.

Adam and all other prophets desired to return to living according to our perfect heavenly state and were taught by God the path for returning home and the pathway for becoming pure and holy and for establishing Zion or a state of heaven upon this earth. Take a moment to reflect and you will find that this earth possesses everything we need to live according to the laws of heaven. If you believe that the "fair exchange of energy" is the pure gospel, then explain how on earth you will ever repay the sunshine for its gifts to you, or how you will repay mother earth for her gifts to you. Rather, ask how you might live to always receive rain and sunshine in their due times or seasons and in order that mother earth will yield to you her greatest strength -- where even food produces spontaneously for you as it did in Eden and as it does in heaven.

Passing through Babylon, or this fallen Terrestrial state, is necessary in order to come to know the difference between good and evil. However, we should not seek to prosper according to the laws of Babylon; rather, we are here to learn the difference between Babylon's laws and heaven's laws and to learn to prosper according to the laws of heaven. Of course it is our choice to choose between these two diametrically opposed economies. And it is necessary that we come to fully understand Babylon in order to fully understand Zion. This knowledge is a prerequisite to becoming a part of the Eternal Heavenly Family. No one can be saved or exalted in ignorance but must come to a full understanding of truth and its opposites. However, we also must choose Heaven's higher laws now, if we desire to enjoy them later. We cannot bow to Babylon now and expect to enjoy the highest realms of heaven later. Obtaining the knowledge of these two extremes is our purpose for being here. Our purpose is not to become a "king" or "rich" in Babylon, but to earn heavenly robes of royalty through our agency to follow God's will, which leads us to love and serve the happiness of others the way he loves and serves our happiness.

Therefore, as we learn and progress in light and knowledge, our focus and goal during our sojourn on earth should never be to "securitize" our futures by bowing before and placing idolatrous faith in the God of Mammon. The true gospel teaches an entirely different way to go forward including where to place our "trust" and how we are to enjoy "security." Only a proper focus and complete trust in God for our temporal needs separates us from those who pause and enter into idolatry through bowing before the God of Mammon (all financial transactions and exchanges of energy for profit).

If we desire to be numbered among those who trust and worship the true and living God and who seek to become perfect and holy, as He is perfect and holy, then we must first forsake all sin and then learn to trust Him sufficiently to do His will in all things. As we do His will always, He will lead us to enable the higher laws of Zion in our lives. Even if you are the only person on earth to live according to the higher laws of heaven or Zion, you will receive all the attendant blessings that are associated with living these laws, including temporal blessings that are associated with these laws.

Therefore, there is no need to wait to live the higher laws until others choose to live them. As you learn to love others more perfectly and to love and trust God with all your heart and soul, and as you do God's will always -- you qualify for God's abundance in your life now. Why? Because God knows that no matter what you receive you will do with it as He asks, to bless and serve others, rather than to use the abundance to "secure" yourself. God becomes your continual source of "security" and not the abundance He sends to you. At any moment He may ask you to give up all the abundance you possess to another. And, if that is His will and you do it, you continue to remain "secure" because you cannot follow God's will or laws without binding His promises to you. God's promises remain with you always by your obedience, and as you trust Him in obedience you are "secured" by His everlasting promises.

Why do we generally move towards idolatry and false worship as we increase our wealth, possessions, and holdings upon this earth? Because, it is almost impossible to prevent ourselves from shifting from a humble desire to do the Lord's will in all things to a state wherein we want "Our Will TO Be Done." Comforts and possessions tend to bind us to earth rather than to heaven. We don't want to lose our comforts; we fear what will become of us without money and we begin to strategize how we can be guaranteed that we will have a pile of money tomorrow also. This is the false call of Mammon. The only true guarantee for "security" is based in living the higher laws of love and holiness and in keeping our covenants and promises to God, and in doing His will daily. Love is the answer to security, not money. True love places us within a pure and everlasting flow of abundance.

It is counterintuitive to us because it requires that we give all we have, our hearts, our minds, our soul, our gifts, our talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed us or with which He may bless us. All is consecrated for bringing about this pure and holy society of love known as Zion. None of what we come to possess may be consecrated to "secure" ourselves, not even one penny, because in Zion all is received and given without money and without price. It is given and received in love. In Zion, if a neighbor suffers we suffer and rush to lift the burdens of a suffering neighbor. When we love another as ourself, we cannot bear to see them suffer without suffering equally. We cannot be "rich" if even one person is "poor." We cannot have opportunities for education without those opportunities being available to all whom we love as we love ourselves, which is everyone. Only in learning to love purely lies the secret to infinite abundance. We give all we have and somehow receive back to us more than we can possibly give. We give our "all" and it comes back multiplied to us. Like the sun's rays that shine infinitely, there is no end to abundance once one lives fully by the laws of heaven. You can never out give the abundance God has built into His universe.

While here in Babylon, surrounded by Babylon's realities, we too easily shift focus from trusting God for our security to trusting Mammon for our security. The shift moves us from being content with daily manna to wanting to store up in our barns, in our bank accounts, and otherwise to "secure" ourselves and our family's future as far into the future as possible. God taught Israel, after they entered the promised land, to only store up sufficient to last one year or season and that all the rest of their harvest was to be given as a "freewill offering" to the storehouse -- to be used to feed the hungry, the poor, the needy, the sick, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger that comes within our gates. What, no retirement plan? Is this really the true gospel? Of course, because the true gospel is marked by everlasting abundance and prosperity wherein there are no rich or poor. To enjoy prosperity when others do not is the antithesis of Zion or heaven.

There were no retirement plans in Israel, except one -- to endlessly keep all the statutes and covenants God had given and by so doing Israel enabled a perpetual claim to an endless flow of temporal blessings, as well as perpetual protection from her enemies. However, with possessions we easily become lulled by Mammon's call, "You can have anything in this world for money." And as we give way to Mammon's call, the call of Zion fades, which is, "Become pure and holy by learning to love others as you would have them love you, and by loving God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength." Ancient Israel was lulled away by Babylon's call and lost the blessings of the covenant. A return to obedience to Zion's laws promises Israel a return of the covenant blessings.

Zion's beckoning call to us is too often offset by the Mammon-placed fear that a time may come when we will be "without" food, shelter, clothing, and comforts. If we do not check that fear through faith and trust in the Living God we will consequently grub away our lives to prevent such an outcome. In that very act we forget that the command to work is a command to do God's will and that it is not a command to accumulate security. The real work we are to do is to become pure and holy and to do His will always. A lack of trust in His promises leads us to prefer to fill our barns, IRAs, stock portfolios, bank accounts, and so forth wherein we seek to "securitize" our future without enabling God's promises.

Even in piles of wealth that we can successfully squirrel away, we easily find disappointment and a lack of "true security." A change in the economy, a robber, someone who sues us, or myriad of other instances can wipe away our sense of security (because it's "false security") in the stroke of a brush. The Lord Himself promises that a time will come when the great Babylon (the world's present economic system) will fail in "one" day. All those who conspire for the riches of the world will see their plans come to naught and the wise ones who have taken counsel together to enrich themselves and to gain power over others will shake and fear. Does this sound like security to you? If not, then consider more fully the security offered by God to those who love and serve Him by covenant.

By comparison to Mammon's false call to "security," the prophet Elijah was fed by ravens who brought food to him for three years as he remained in the wilderness during a sore famine. The ravens were sent by the Lord to preserve a "true servant" of the Lord, as per the covenant that is available to all who will do "His" will in all things and who will be His true servants.

Consider the manna in the wilderness. For forty years the children of Israel received every morsel of food from heaven -- simply for the taking. Consider Christ's feeding the 5000, or the quail that came into the camps of modern Israel during the harsh winter cold after exiting Nauvoo and crossing the river during their exodus. Any people of any dispensation who will covenant and live according to the Lord's will and who refuse to bow to Mammon receive the Lord's preserving promises. Only by living the laws do the attached or associated blessing follow.

The sure path to Zion is based upon agency to make choices between good and evil, that we may gain a pure and fullness of knowledge regarding the differences between good and evil. Therefore, when we choose to trust Mammon rather than to trust the Lord's voice and will in our lives, the Lord accepts our choice to ignore Him. His pure and free-flow of revelations and ministrations to us cease the moment we begin to worship and follow the God of Mammon (Hebrew term for all profit-making transactions).

Consider the early saints in Kirtland and other places who were mobbed, burned out, and fled one city after another until they arrived in Nauvoo where they enjoyed a season of abundance and prosperity. They were subsequently displaced from Nauvoo and fled to the Rocky Mountains. In their extremities they sought and kept God's will and opened wide the channels of revelation in their lives. Being clean and doing His will has always been and will always be the foundation upon which continuos revelation is received. Through our agency alone do we allow God to become our constant guide and our security.

It has been common for angels to appear and minister to the needs of the saints of Israel in every dispensation -- when they humbly do the Lord's will. But consider that it wasn't long after modern saints arrived in the valley that they once again bowed down to the God of Mammon in an attempt to "securitize" their future. In the moment they began looking to themselves for security, their personal religion ceased to be a religion of spiritual power and progression that was marked by substantial communication from heaven. Revelations and ministrations from heaven cease the moment our hearts turn to Mammon. As we serve ourselves rather than Zion, we dissociate with heaven.

It wasn't long before angelic visitations and other such manifestations of the spirit went out of fashion within the valleys; although the humble followers of Christ who refused to bow before Mammon and who continued to put God's will above their own will, and who chose to "build-up" Zion rather than their own portfolios, consequently continued to receive revelation, angelic visitors, and direct communication with the Savior. However, they were often thought to be deluded by "well-meaning" members of the Church who had given themselves over to the God of Mammon. As trust shifted from God's promises and the "true" building of Zion to Mammon's call to security, revelations and a continual flow of heavenly ministrations slowed to a crawl by comparison to what it had been. This ebb and flow of revelation is viewed in every dispensation of Israel. It should only concern us sufficiently to awake us to our condition. If you do not receive ministering angels, then Moroni has proclaimed that your faith is weak and the Lord has proclaimed that this occurs when we become preoccupied with the cares of the world and the honors of man, rather than seeking, learning, and doing His specific will for us daily.

If a religion ceases to be a religion of power and progress and becomes a religion of convenience, then it has no power to enable one to render the veil to enter into Christ's presence and to become redeemed from a fallen state. As a litmus test to evaluate where we stand today within this ebb and flow, ask yourself "How many saints today walk and talk with angels?" "How many have taken up their abode with Christ?" "How many concern themselves with securitizing their future by prospering in Babylon, rather than by learning to walk according to the laws that govern Zion?" "Have you, your brother, or sister, your mother, your father, or your grandparents entered into Christ's presence while in the flesh?" These are hard questions, the same type of questions Christ asked of the authorized "High Priests" of His day, and the same type of questions Zenoch and Zenos asked the authorized "High Priests" in their day, and the same hard questions that were asked by Samuel the Lamanite, and by Abinadi to another group of "authorized" High Priests. One of the most powerful messages in the Book of Mormon is that "exceeding many entered into the rest of the Lord and were made partakers of the heavenly gift." Do we even know what this means? Do we realize that we are being instructed and taught what true Christians do and that if we are not doing this, but are saying it only, then we are not "true Christians."

Are we above asking ourselves if we have slipped into the common apostasy that is marked by placing trust in Mammon over trust in God? Are we unable to recognize this ebb and flow that has always plagued Israel? Can we even ask these questions honestly? Are you willing to consider the following litmus test? Are there both rich and poor among us, or have we truly chosen to consecrate all we have to the building of Zion -- wherein there are no rich and poor? Are we justified in our failure to truly consecrate all that we have and are to build Zion today? How long would it take us to establish Zion if we threw off Mammon's yoke as we've been commanded to do? How long did it take the Nephites after Christ's visit and invitation to them to build Zion? It took about three and one-half years. How long did Brigham Young say it would have taken to establish Zion had the saints not brought Babylon to the mountains within their hearts? He said that in just one year Zion would have been established within the valleys of the Rocky Mountains had one man not sought to be the King of Iron or to thus secure his and his family's future in perpetuity, and another to be the King of Coal, and so on and so on. If each would have done his part by consecrating his "all" for the whole of Zion, rather than to build up security for "Self and Family," a perfect society wherein there are no rich or poor would have been established. We brought Babylon with us and it remains in our hearts to this very day and like ancient Israel and as Book of Mormon prophets prophesied, we preach among ourselves vain and foolish things to justify our poor choice to not "do" as the Lord has commanded us to do. We are each serve one another according to our gifts and talents and to do so out of love and not for money.

Does the Lord speak directly to you? Do angels visit you? Can you ask for whatsoever you need and receive it, or are you utterly dependent upon following Babylon's laws for your personal security? If you do not enjoy two-way communications with God, if angels do not minister to you, and if you do not receive your temporal needs from God or God's servants, then perhaps you ought to consider more fully how such things become ordinary events to any saint within any dispensation. The same laws exist today that have enabled these things in every other dispensation. We are well warned in the Book of Mormon concerning the fate of the gentile nation that was lifted up upon this land, if we do not repent and become a Zion people. This requires us to forsake Babylon and her ways.

Is it coincidence that in the very last chapter of the Book of Mormon, Moroni warns that if the power and gifts of God shall be done away among us, it shall be because of unbelief. Unbelief in what? Unbelief in Him and that He will provide all things we need as we do His will. As we shift our trust toward Mammon for our security, we cease to believe in God's promises to us. This is the state of idolatry and unbelief that leads to the loss of all heavenly power and spiritual gifts. As we turn our hearts to Mammon and to securitizing our futures, we leave off the humble following of God's will and we never come to understand what it means to love others as we love ourselves. We cease trusting in God or loving him with all our heart, all our might, all our mind, all our strength, and all of our soul.

We render the veil (see supporting article - Redemption) and receive His power and influence, only as we act in faith, according to inspiration and revelations He gives to us -- only as we do His will by heeding His voice. The path to Zion is marked by a step-by-step process, a climbing of a ladder as it were, that requires that we receive continual revelation from God and that also requires that we act continually upon that revelation in faith.

Each obedient act of faith renders the veil in part to allow more of God's influence, light, knowledge, and truth to enter our physical world and to shape the outcomes of events in our lives. All such acts cease when we do "our" will instead of "His." The Brother of Jared attained sufficient knowledge and faith by living and acting according to God's will that through the step-by-step process mentioned above he could no longer be held from within the veil and he subsequently parted the veil and entered into the Lord's presence.

Each of us is required to follow this path if we wish to receive exaltation; there is no other way. It is a path marked by covenant, and by trust in the Lord's will, and by acting upon His will to us. Each new step and act of obedience is like starting over again; we must overcome doubts and fears and proceed forward, acting in faith, and thereby rendering the veil to receive even more light, knowledge, and truth. It never gets easier and always requires faith. Why? Because each step is progressively harder or more challenging than the last and we only grow in faith and knowledge sufficient to take the next step.

If we are not receiving revelations daily, if we do not receive ministrations from heavenly messengers, the only way we can renew revelations and ministrations is to forsake all sin, including the sin of disbelief that leads us to do our will instead of His will. We must come unto Him, call upon His name, keep His commandments and commit with "real intent" to obey His voice (His will for us) in all things. If what He asks of us causes doubt, then we must do as Nephi did when His father said they must leave Jerusalem. We must go before the Lord and secure adequate faith to act according to His will. Nephi was not above doubt; he simply took his doubts to the Lord and worked them out with Him.

If we ask for faith it is always given to us, no matter how hard the thing is He asks of us or how large the Goliath may appear to be. A commitment to "real intent" to do God's will always is an exercise of our agency that enables God to "light" our lives. As we act in faith we literally give God the permission, through agency, to light our path. By the same token, He will not interfere if we bow before the God of Mammon and will wait patiently for many generations until a group of His saints will finally choose to live by the New and Everlasting Covenant, and by the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, and by the Law of Consecration -- in order to become pure and holy and to build and fully establish Zion.

God has never withheld these blessings from us; they are available to us even now, through the covenants we have made. We alone withhold the blessings of Zion and they commence in our lives the moment we choose to live by Zion's laws. As we prove our trustworthiness to always follow Him, we then receive revelation upon revelation -- including heavenly messengers and other manifestations and ministrations that have attended saints of every dispensation. We need these things in order to walk the path required to establish Zion. We cannot establish Zion without heaven's help.

As we follow His will, the path is marked first by subtle impressions, then by more substantial revelations; and, as we continue to act faithfully according to His voice our communications with heaven become increasingly more substantial. We hear His voice from time to time, and as we act faithfully according to His voice we begin to enjoy two-way open dialogue with Him and then the ministering of angels from time to time who bring us further light and knowledge. A natural and eventual outcome of "always" acting in faith according to the Lord's voice or will is that we are guided in a path of increased light, truth, and knowledge until we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to enter Christ's presence. As we can no longer be held from within the veil because of the faith and knowledge we have received, He then takes up His abode with us and succors us personally and prepares us until we qualify to be introduced to the Father and to enter into God's presence and to receive membership into His eternal family.

Upon returning from a two-year mission, wherein I had given of my whole heart, might, mind, strength, and soul to the Lord, I was faced with the decision of what to do next in my life. I enjoyed serving the Lord so much that I wanted to continue to do so for the rest of my life. I reasoned, that if I could become adequately rich, I could retire and then serve God for the rest of my life. In this reasoning I fell into the trap that has snared many a soul. The reasoning is a lie, no matter who says differently because in not so many words I unwittingly believed that I could bow down to Mammon to secure my future, and once it was secured I could leave Mammon's employ to then serve God more fully. This has always been a popular notion among saints of every dispensation. However, it is a false notion because true security comes only from the abundance that follows to those who act according to God's will and who follow Zion's laws rather than the laws of Babylon.

Rather than seek to become wealthy, I should have gone into my mountains and remained there until I knew the Lord's will for that period of my life. Then, I could have gone forward knowing that all my needs would have been met as I worked and endeavored to do His will. It could have been sufficient for me to know His will even one day at a time because even doing His will today is accompanied by His promises today. It can be sufficient for anyone to live according to God's will a day at a time. God alone determines if it is appropriate to share more with you. Some saints who enter God's presence are given very specific missions to perform, but until that happens to you, be content to do God's will daily. Sufficient is the day...

As we bow down to the God of Babylon, we place God's will for us on hold, and we will receive no further revelation concerning His will until we repent and seek to know and heed His voice with "real intent." As we do our will instead of His, we will not hear His voice from time to time, nor will we enjoy two-way conversations with Him, and we will not receive ministering angels and other celestial beings to help us grow further in light, truth, knowledge, and faith. The moment we place ourselves fully in His hands and prove our intent, He begins to enable our complete redemption and we enjoy a free-flow of pure revelation, just as fast as we are able and willing to receive it.

The notion that I will earn sufficient money to retire and then devote my time to the Lord is flawed and will be so forever. He can make money of stones. And we may "get rich" and be able to go serve missions and such, but even that is a poor substitute for doing today exactly what is God's will is for us today. Serving a mission does not justify or sanctify a willful life. Even serving a full-time mission is a poor second choice compared to doing exactly what God's will is for us today. By placing our faith in the arm of flesh, or in our will rather than God's will, we trust that we know what is best for our eternal progression more than God. In this we do greatly err.

Agency is such a critical factor in our eternal progress that the Lord will allow us to waste countless years in our vain pursuits until we at last come to the realization that following His will today is the happiest, most inspiring pursuit of all. He alone knows us perfectly; He alone knows precisely the growth, light, faith, and knowledge we are capable of receiving today; and He alone can judge perfectly regarding what the next step should be in our lives to continue in our return to Him and the Father. Any step we take following our will instead of His is always a "false step" and ultimately requires that we backtrack and start over where we left-off following Him. This occurs through repentance.

In this Telestial state in which we live -- that the ancients referred to as Babylon -- it is easy to ask, "What will become of me if I leave its employ to follow God's will?" By following His will we are taught the true gospel and the laws of Zion. Zion and Babylon are in direct opposition to each other. Babylon teaches scarcity and fear. Zion teaches that all temporal needs are a gift from God to be received abundantly through learning to live His laws. We do not need to work for money when we are in God's service.

"But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish." 2 Nephi 26:31

Did not Christ receive the money He needed to pay Caesar from the mouth of a fish? Christ's servants never concern themselves with having more money than is sufficient for their needs.

When we are doing God's will He promises that as we give our all to do his will, He will provide all else that is needed so that we may do His will successfully. We will have sufficient for our needs, and we will enjoy the basic comforts of life as we continue in His will. What greater security can we have than this. And, if by chance His will leads to great abundance and prosperity in our lives, that abundance is not ours, but is His and the test for us then is whether or not we will be familiar with all and free with our substance, that our brethren may be rich like unto us (see Jacob 2:17).

Too often, in the name of good stewardship, we can fall into the trap that is taught in scriptures when Christ asked of the Young Rich man to sell all that he had and to give the money to the poor. The trap is when our trust shifts to the "security" of the prosperity we enjoy, and away from trusting God's will implicitly. If we prosper and would continue to receive heavenly manifestations, then we must never lose sight that "true security" comes from always doing as the Lord asks of us, and not from any prosperity that may flow to us as we do His will.

The Lord taught through the manna and later through the freewill offering that we are not to store up more than we need today or for the present season, but that through obedience to sacred covenants and statutes we tap into divine security through His eternal promise to those who do His will -- to always meet their temporal needs. Just as God sent ravens to feed Elijah each day during an extended three-year drought, when we do the Lord's will rather than our own will, we qualify to receive our temporal needs.

The widow of Nain who used the last of her flour to feed Elijah as she prepared herself and her son to die, was unexpectedly blessed by the Lord that her pantry would never fail her. In following the Lord's will and making such a sacrifice, she received the sacred blessing that her barrel of flour and her container of oil would never empty and that she and her son would never go without in the midst of the sore famine that afflicted all the land.

Trusting in God's will and in the keeping of sacred covenants with Him leads to further light, knowledge, and faith -- including faith that enables us to ask for that which we truly need and to receive it freely of the Lord. Ancient Israel was instructed by Moses and made sacred covenants with the Lord. As they kept those covenants, Israel did not suffer from the plagues, as did Egypt. When they left Egypt, through covenants they kept, God fought their battles for them and also provided them with food to eat. When they entered the Promise land, he continued to bless them according to the covenants and statutes. As Israel abided by those statutes and covenants, their crops faired well and they were also protected from their enemies. When they failed to keep their covenants, Israel became the recipient of condemnation that is linked to disobedience to covenant. Their crops failed them and they ceased to prosper over their enemies but fell into bondage and were carried away and scattered throughout the earth.

Consider that the making of our nation was by a humble God-fearing people fleeing oppression. In their extremes and poverty, they learned to trust and to rely upon the Lord and to obey His commandments. They enjoyed heavenly visitors, protection in battles, and prosperity sufficient to build this nation. What has happened to our trust in God once we were lifted as a nation above all other nations on earth? What is the outcome of nations who forsake sacred covenants and deny God? What has been prophesied concerning us if we do not forsake foolish traditions and false precepts of man and come to live "true religion," which is to "do" and not "say" only these very principles. We must be a Zion people or we will perish.

Consider many of Israel's prophets who walked and talked with God -- face to face. Many were wanderers who depended upon God each day for their support. Similar to the pioneers, many had to face opposition and their very existence depended upon calling upon the Lord's strength and protection. It was not uncommon for saints of various dispensations to not only receive promptings of the Spirit but to also be instructed and helped directly by angels. They were sometimes shown things past, present, and future. Through trusting upon the Lord's Spirit they walked paths that enabled them to lay hold upon sufficient faith to part the veil and to take up their abode with Jesus whilst they still lived in the flesh. Such blessings were never intended to be reserved for one group of saints and not another; rather they are the common lot of all saints who abide by the statutes and covenants they receive from God. If such blessings have ceased, it is because we are not walking the path of redemption in the manner that has been required of every dispensation or of any of the Lord's covenant people.

Adam was a wanderer who sought to establish Zion in his day; Enos did the same in his day, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, Alma the Elder, King Benjamin, Alma the Younger, Christ's Apostles, the Nephites, and Joseph Smith each attempted and succeeded to some extent to establish a Zion in their day; or in other words, they established a society that attempted to live by the laws that govern heaven, rather than heaven's opposite -- Babylon.

What is the call to Zion? And, what does it mean to seek to establish Zion? The establishment of Zion has always been an attempt to leave Babylon and her false socio-economic laws and to return to the heavenly state from whence we came, a state that operates on higher and much happier laws. The three pillars that have been given to us upon which Zion can be established in our day are: first, the New and Everlasting Covenant; second, the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood; and third, the Law of Consecration.

We will establish Zion not one second sooner or later than we come to abide fully by these laws and covenants. As soon as we trust God to live according to these laws, the abundant blessings that attended Enoch and his people, or the Nephites following Christ's visit to Americas, or the city of Salem in the Old Testament, or various other Zion successes will also be enjoyed by us. By living according to higher law, we immediately release the attendant blessings that are associated with those laws, even if we are the only people on earth to live according to those laws.

Adam was so distressed after being cast from the Garden into this fallen state that he immediately began to offer sacrifice to the Lord and was subsequently taught how to return to Zion or heaven. He then went about teaching his posterity the path of redemption, or how to be redeemed from this Telestial, fallen state to the heavenly state from whence we came. Each succeeding prophet who sought to establish Zion was motivated by the same objective. As we witness the events that are upon this Earth, we too must become pure and sanctified and we too must seek to learn to live by every law that governs heaven. There is a silver lining to the prophecies of doom and destruction that will surely come upon the earth.

The wicked will be destroyed by the wicked and those who live and abide by God's covenants will be gathered and will be led to safety, similar to when Moses led the people of Israel. The qualification to be a part of that gathering is to forsake all sin, come unto the Lord, call upon His name, obey His commandments, and heed His voice in all things. As we do these things with "real intent" we not only "secure" our physical future, but we also come to know our Lord personally and to Know the Father, which is to be redeemed and to receive Eternal Life.

Trust then becomes pivotal in the path of redemption. We must first trust sufficiently to forsake sin and to attain a level of purity that enables us to hear God's voice and to act in accordance with God's will. This enables us to progress and move in a step-by-step fashion to gain required light, knowledge, and truth, and to acquire each and every divine attribute of Christ. Each step also enables us to lay hold upon sufficient faith to take the following step and to eventually obtain sufficient knowledge and faith to part the veil and to enter into the Lord's presence.

The only way we can fully live the higher law is to become perfect and holy and to love God with all our hearts and to care for one another deeply and enough to desire that their are no poor among us. We must become Christ's true disciples. Consider therefore the signs of true discipleship:

We consecrate our gifts, talents, lives, and all we possess to do the Lord's will daily.
We forsake class divisions among us and esteem all flesh as one.
We refrain from saying, "This man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just--”
We become pure in heart and familiar with all and free with our substance that all may be made rich like unto us so that there are no more poor among us. (Jacob 2:17)
We are as true believers who share all goods and substances. (Acts 2:44-47)
We do not store up treasures unto ourselves to securitize ourselves. (Luke 12:16-21)
We secure our lives by asking and receiving whatsoever we need to do God’s will.
We do all things Christ did and even greater -- just as He prophesied.
We go about doing good continually, receiving ministering angels and a free-flow of divine communications to aid us in our path.

Each of the patriarchal wanderers on this earth trusted God sufficient to do His will in all things and thereby opened heaven's revelatory gates. Where you place your trust will determine the flow of revelation, truth, light, knowledge, and faith in your life. And it will determine the rate at which you become redeemed from this fallen state called Babylon. Trust is such an important word; take the time to consider fully wherein you have placed your trust and come to know that the flow of revelations and ministrations you need in order to be redeemed comes down to a matter of trust. Are you willing to give your gifts, talents, possessions, and very life to do whatsoever the Lord asks you? If so, then you have chosen to receive milk and honey without price, to work for Zion and not for money, and to have all things you ask for provided to you, whatsoever you need to do the Lord's will. This is the path of true discipleship and the path wherein your trust will enable you to enter into the presence of the Lord and to be made a partaker of the heavenly gift.

Pure Love

2011-02-11T17:28:00.000-08:00

I was 12 years old and it was the first time I wanted to show a girl I liked her. It was Valentine’s Day and I was too faint-hearted to give her the box of chocolates myself, let alone tell her that I was crushing on her, so my sister gave them to her for me. I remember as if it were yesterday; Joanie had sandy hair, beautiful eyes, nice cheeks, and a very pretty smile. Just one week earlier my closest 12-year old buddies and I were convinced that girls had cooties, were tattletales, and were non-intelligible lifeforms. They existed only as trials to help boys toughen into manhood. We supposed that no respectable boy would ever give a girl a second glance.

How were we to know that a single, well-aimed smile in our direction would crush our mighty defense systems? I was too overcome to notice then that while Joanie worked her magic spell on me, a girl named Charlene had worked a similar spell on both David and Marcus. My mind had forgotten GI-Joe, model airplanes and race cars. I was dreaming of giving Joanie a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day. Also, I needed to figure out how I was going to tell Dave and Marcus that Joanie was different than other girls. I mean, she glowed way too sweetly to have any cooties, and I knew she would never tattletale or whither in the face of danger.

I went over to my friend’s homes, not sure what I would say. When I got to Marcus’s house, they were both there and they weren’t their usual selves, engrossed in a war game or over the latest model ship or airplane; they were talking about Charlene. It took me only a moment to realize that for all our girl-hating bluster, three boy’s boys had been utterly slain and overcome by the weaker sex. It had all happened in a Sunday School class right after the teacher had mentioned “Eternal Marriage.” Joanie had looked me in the eyes and smiled sweetly. Charlene had done the same but to two boys! Holy smokes, score three knockouts for just two weak girls.

Can you remember times when your heart was stirred with love? Since that day, I’ve noticed my heart grow warm in me on many occasions. I thought my heart would explode when my father gave me my first horse and later my first real gun, and when he first took me fishing with him, and later my heart exploded again when one morning he awoke me early with a grin during pre-dawn hours. He invited me to slip out of the house and into the hills with him for my first mighty elk hunt.

My parents gave me a trumpet and I played it with so much love that I was lead trumpet from elementary school through high school. I discovered a true love for writing; while writing I found I could pierce the veil and bring God’s Spirit into my heart and mind. I later learned that when I was troubled, I could sit down with a pen and write until my troubles were sorted. In fact, it was one day while in the college library that my heart was troubled for reasons I could not understand. I wrote for four hours--until at last it appeared on paper that I loved Colleen and was going to marry her--an important fact that had escaped my knowledge previously.

When my folks moved us to a farm, I discovered a love of agriculture and animal husbandry. My love for horses also continued to grow until one day I had ponies, riding horses of all breeds, and even draft horses and mules. I took people far and wide through the mountains on horseback. I also had a love of telling stories and named my horse business Stories, Steaks, and Saddle Sores. I would take folks riding through the mountains and we would occasionally pause to rest. As we did so I would recount true stories of miners, Indian uprisings, and so forth that occurred in the very places we were riding. I would then bring them back to camp where Colleen and our daughters would feed these good folks a five-star meal among the pines.

It is important to recognize love in all its forms; in relationships with people, in a bond that forms between humans and their animal friends; love flows forth from us through God-given gifts that we work hard with to improve. Those gifts allow us to reach and lift others more fully and as we do so we experience true love and joy. My father recognized love in the delivery room as a physician--love that inevitably melted the hearts of even the toughest men on earth as they witness the birth of a newborn son or daughter and take that infant into their arms for the first time.

True love is not to be feared, but is the truest and most pure vibration that binds all of nature into a harmony. When we live according to that harmony we enjoy its peace, sweetness, and strength. The frequency of love should be recognized and embraced as the guidepost for the highest form of existence. I treasure what I’ve learned from every person, animal, gift, talent, and otherwise that has taught me something about love.

The sum of our love-filled experiences are evidence enough that abiding love is well-worth the effort. For as any boy’s boy can tell you, who has been smitten by a well-aimed smile, or even the toughest man can tell you who has first held his newborn child, love is the most powerful force of nature. It makes all of us bow in reverence. It makes all of us vibrate at a perfect frequency; it binds broken hearts and heals deep wounds. It can even overcome cancer, heart disease, devastating injury. Nothing catalyzes life like love.

In this volume of Living Young, I’m not going to presume to tell you how to embrace and receive love fully in your life. Spiritual writers, poets, song writers, and others have added much to the discussion. I do want to say, however, that it is a gift to be received and to be given and the more it is given the more it grows within. I read last week of a woman who set a goal to blog about a daily act of kindness and love for an entire year. As her attempts to show kindness and love progressed through the year, and as she described them through writing, extraordinary outcomes were achieved. It became one of those forever, life-changing efforts. She learned that the greatest way to receive love is to give it freely and abundantly. You simply cannot out-give the universe when what you give is love--it is utterly impossible. By comparison, self-centered living makes prunes of all of us and causes us to whither and die prematurely.

As I served a two-year mission for my church as a young man, I spent seven days a week seeking to serve the needs of others. It was an amazing experience to have been able to entirely forget myself for two whole years. It was during that period of time that I experienced love that far eclipsed the well-aimed smile of my youth that first toppled me over. As I progressed in the service of others during my mission a time came when love poured into my life from heaven with such measure that I cannot aptly describe it, except to say it was if a balloon had been steadily filled with love throughout my mission and that when it burst, I experienced greater joy and tangible sweetness than words can possibly describe. I realized, because of these experiences, that God is a Being of Loveand His entire purpose is to guide us and help us understand how to live to enjoy a fullness of love, as He does. As with any law of science the gift of pure love is bound by natural laws. When we act in harmony with those laws, we receive pure love freely, but as we act outside those laws it is as if to us love does not exist in the world.

Colleen and I met in College. Much like my experience falling in love with Joanie many years before, Colleen’s eye caught my eye one day and we took an interest in getting to know one another. We spent many hours and much time studying together, working together, playing together, and spending time with friends together. With all that and the enjoyment that accompanied it, we didn’t come into marriage with all the tools necessary to hold onto our love easily. She brought strengths and weaknesses into our marriage from her family and I from mine. We did not know how to live the pure laws of love together.

Our family traditions combined to contribute to both happiness and to unhappiness. Certain contrasts led to head-on collisions that we did not see coming during our courtship. Love grew cold on occasions and even extinguished entirely from time to time. In those moments, life was pure hell. We discovered that as dead as love may seem, love may be rekindled. When I think back of all that love and hell has taught us, I remember that I loved the trumpet because I gave my soul to it as I played it and to all within the sound of it. I played the trumpet with love. I loved animals because I cared for animals; I saw to their needs, I helped them become whole when they were sick, we enjoyed nature together, and we served the happiness of others together. I love Colleen as I serve Colleen's happiness. Nothing Colleen can do for me enable's my love for her. It is only what I choose to do for her that fills my heart with love for her. Similarly, she loves me truly and serves me continually.

Do you feel happy when you help enable a child to be happy? Do you feel love toward the child? Do you feel happy when you enable anyone else to feel truly happy and do you feel love toward them? Friends passed the hat to help me receive an emergency hip surgery. Such a gift was nearly impossible for me to receive, but their kindness and encouragement made it possible for even this independent farm boy to receive a great and needed act of charity. Later, I lost my ability to write one day when my instrument for writing was utterly destroyed. Someone who has appreciated my writing learned of what happened and purchased me an instrument that is ten times that which I used before. How do you ever thank someone adequately who reaches out in such a manner? You pay it forward?

Many years ago, after a snowstorm, I was running the blade behind our tractor down the lane to clear it so that my father, who was the town physician, could more easily traverse the half mile from the highway to our home that sat back by the river. As I neared a stream that went through a culvert running under our lane, my blade hit a large frozen chunk of earth and within less than a second the force and leverage-action caused the hind wheel of my tractor to fall off the side of the road and into the water. We didn’t have anything large enough to pull the tractor out of that predicament. It was tipped over so far on it's side it nearly tipped over. As I sat there pondering my options and dilemma, an out-of-state truck pulled slowly over at the end of our lane. A man hollered, “Could you use some help?" I nodded sheepishly, knowing that I did not possess the power to undo the mistake I had made. I was fiercely independent, but welcomed his help.

He backed down our lane in an outfit that was heavy enough and powerful enough to help my tractor back up onto the lane. It took only a minute to accomplish and when it was over I reached in my pocket and pulled out my wallet. I handed him a $10 dollar bill and He looked crestfallen and said, “No son, I don’t want your money; I’m glad we could get your tractor back onto the lane again and it makes me happy to see the relief in your face that something you could not do for yourself is now done.” Then he said, “Son, as payment to me I want you to promise me that whenever you see a true need that exists, that you will serve that need freely if you can; don't accept payment, but ask them to return the favor to someone else in need; someone helped me when I was about your age and asked me to do the same; the choice to reciprocate in such a manner has been the greatest joy of my life.”

Well, I wondered if I could keep such a promise and did not respond immediately. But it felt right to me so I promised him that I would surely try. He said that was good enough for him and he left leaving me feeling richly rewarded and happy. I was relieved on many accounts; first, to be able to complete the job of clearing the lane of the heavy snowfall. Second, I did not feel good when my father returned from such long hours as a doctor, only to find I had created burdens for him while he was gone. I was so happy he would have a clean and safe lane to drive home upon and that he wouldn't have to bundle up to face the freezing cold weather, just to go out and undo a mistake his son had made. I was grateful for the unknown stranger that gave me a moment of his time and lent the power of his beautiful truck, which far exceeded anything we owned.

Is it possible for you to notice a need in another and to reach out and fill that need, without experiencing an enlargement of your heart? I cannot do it, unless I help for reasons other than a desire to help another. The man who helped me felt joy as he witnessed my utterly real, farm-boy relief. He somehow understood and it made him happy. Do you feel happy when you lovingly care for your garden or flowers and watch them grow in beauty? Can you give your heart to the need of anything without filling your heart in some measure?

From time to time each of us have experienced pain that is brought on through how we perceive and respond to unkindness or thoughtlessness of others. If so, what is the cause and effect? Are we dependent upon what others do in order to be happy, or is there some higher natural law that enables happiness within us more surely?

An author once penned these words. Forgiveness is not required of all men, it is only required of men who have made the mistake of letting love leave their hearts because of the actions of another. He went on to teach that forgiveness is the process of us repenting for having allowed love out of our hearts; forgiveness is the repentance process for returning our hearts to a pure and loving state. He challenges that if we choose not to be offended by improper actions of others, we would have no need to forgive or to return to a pure and loving state, since we never departed from that state. What wise foresight.

Consider this, since the earth was formed, created, and man was placed upon it the sun has never once ceased to shine within the heavens. Consider also the possibilities of maintaining a radiant loving heart that never ceases to radiate love, not even once. It is interesting to me that the great Master teacher taught that in order to be our Father in Heaven’s children we must pray for God’s blessings to be upon our enemies; we must come to love them just as God allows the sun to shine and the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. By this we know that if we want to become as our Father in Heaven, we must learn to radiate goodness to all, always--for surly the sun’s rays are given to us all and it does not withdraw itself from the heavens on account of our good or evil. So must we become toward all men for God radiates nothing but goodness.

As you consider the natural laws that govern the most healthful state possible for the human body, which is a state of true love, one of the first principles of the law of love is that true and pure love has never been contingent upon the actions of others, but is contingent only upon the way you view the world, how you think about it, how you feel about it, and what you do about it. God’s purpose is to lead you to see, think, feel, and act as He does and to help qualify you to live within a perfect state of pure, abiding love--or in other words, the identical state in which He lives. This is Eternal life, for Eternal is His name. Eternal Life then is to live within a state of perfect love forever, just as God lives. We can receive that love just as quickly as we will learn and master the laws upon which it is predicated. Just like 2+2=4, mastering each law upon which love is predicated is the only path to the love that we all so much desire.

Just as the natural laws of science govern the rotation of the earth, the ebb and flow of the tides, and the workings of the universe itself love is also based upon natural law. Colleen and I have noted through the years, that the happiest and most peaceful people we know manage to see the world through the eyes of love. They see differently, they think differently, they act differently, and they feel differently. They most closely see, think, feel, and act as God and therefore peace and love flow unto them and from them like an endless river. We became attracted to such older couples many years ago and set a goal to become as they were before we reached their ages. All would do well to achieve a similar goal.

Our physical bodies vibrate and thrive best when tuned-in to the frequency of love. This is now a scientific fact, not hyperbole. By molecule count, we are composed of more than 99% water. Water molecules help to bind all other elements within us into their form throughout our bodies. That is why a sweetheart's lips, which contain the same carbon of a rock, are soft, beautiful, and supple while the rock is “rock hard.” The rock is not filled with water and the carbon molecules within the rock are not structured and suspended within and between countless water molecules.

Anyone who has studied the effects of love and hate upon the structure of water can begin to understand the influence upon our physical nature as we spiritually vibrate at the frequency of love. With expressions of love through music, word, and feelings the same water, as revealed under powerful microscopes, bursts into celestial, radiant structures. By comparison, the structure of water immediately changes to dark and deathly structures whenever hateful music, words, and feelings are projected upon it. This incredible science is landmark in helping us begin to understand why our bodies quickly deteriorate under stress, hate, and bitterness, and also why others who live with similar stressful conditions, but who enable love fully in their lives, maintain extraordinary health in spite of harsh conditions.

May you learn to always live by the laws which govern radiant love, health, and peace. This Valentine’s Season, please take a few minutes to consider fully how love has catalyzed resplendent health within you during your lifetime, and how the lack of it has led to lesser states of health from time to time. As you pause to remember truly great love in your life, please take a moment in the comment section below to share your experiences and thoughts about love with us. Please share how you have seen love expressed through the gifts and talents of others, and describe all the various forms of love you have seen. Comments shared will be organized and published more fully (with the permission of contributors) in the near future within an important forthcoming publication that will be written to better inspire and sustain health in others.

Parable of the Pumpkin

2011-02-03T08:39:00.001-08:00

It was nearly halloween and a mother had taken her young children to a nearby farmer’s field to see all the pumpkins the farmer had grown. The farmer was gentle and kind and invited the children to go out into his pumpkin patch and to gather pumpkins of every size and shape. Some were small, some tall, some large, and some were round. He gave the little children a candle to place inside each pumpkin and invited them to take the pumpkins home and to help Him clean them up and to make them glow for the whole world to see.

The children helped their mother take the pumpkins home to clean them up, to clean them out, and to create unique and lovely pumpkin faces that could be lit aglow with a candle from the kind farmer. The children loved all the pumpkin faces; some were serious, some were silly, some made you laugh, and some were very scary. What they loved the most is that when halloween came, each pumpkin was lit beautifully aglow with light from within and was set upon the front porch for the whole world to see.

The children asked their mother if Jesus liked halloween. She said, “Yes dears, for Jesus calls little children to go forth into His patch to gather pumpkins; and as they are gathered, to then help wash the dirt from exteriors and to help scoop out and remove the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed; and although every pumpkin has his or her own unique personality, shape, size, and face Jesus’s light can be placed inside of any pumpkin who will receive Him.”

May your unique and beautiful size, shape, design and personality always be found shining with His light. The Lord and Master of the great pumpkin patch, even the Bridegroom, will someday come again, and whoso is found shining brightly with His light and has helped others to do the same, will be invited to be with Him at the great wedding feast...

As you seek to improve your health, remember that you are part physical and part spiritual. To enjoy your greatest potential and capacity to contribute and to do good and to live and love life fully, enable yourself fully--both physically and spiritually.

Soul

2011-01-31T15:28:00.001-08:00

Recently, I've observed failures in marriage, in business, in health, and in many other arenas of life. No failure is worthy of our losing our sense of "Divine." We have duel natures, one part physical that is made literally of the dust of the earth, which has been organized into human form; we are also part spirit or intelligence, which enables live within our bodies. Mother Earth has lent us our bodies, and God, who is known by many names, is the Father of our spirits. We cannot see God in this life without walking a very special path, but we are not limited from being able to feel and hear Him immediately. His light is in everything, and if we will use the gift we possess to feel His Spirit and to hear His voice, we can live in such a manner that enables us to also see His face while we still live.

The veil that disables us from seeing Him at present is thin; however, it is rent in part anytime we act in harmony with His Spirit. One day I walked to a neighbor's home with the intent to give her a piece of my mind for having spread gossip about my wife, which was entirely unfounded or true. My wife had spilled many tears because of the gossip. I thought I was doing my duty to put my neighbor in her place and such was my intent. The moment before I opened my mouth to share my displeasure, God's Infinite Spirit rested upon my soul. I had a choice to speak in harmony with that spirit, or to succumb a baser spirit. I found myself looking her deeply in the eyes and telling her how much we care about her and expressed my hope and desire that we could be good neighbors, that were unaware that we had offended her; I asked her forgiveness and reasserted our desires toward her.

She commenced to cry and told me that the gossip she had spread about my wife was because of a misunderstanding and because of great pain she was suffering. She had recently lost a child she had been carrying in the womb. Her parents, celebrated the loss of the child and hurt this woman's soul terribly. During the next few minutes, a bond was forged, understanding was enlarged, and permanent love was established between two neighbors. Rather than bring more hurt to her soul, I succeeded in bringing God's perfect influence through the veil to shape and mold an important relationship. How so? Simply by acting in harmony and obedience to the omnipresent Spirit of the Infinite. By resisting the natural man within me and by speaking in harmony with the Spirit, an amazing spirit and power rested upon our conversation. It healed the breach between neighbors, and helped ease pain that my wife and I were entirely unaware of. We eased her burden and a wonderful relationship ensued between our families.

Holy writers have promised that as we live in harmony by choosing to act in harmony with the Spirit of the Infinite, we qualify ourselves to see God's face whilst we live and to know that He is. In this very moment we can feel His deep and unconditional love; stop, pause, be still, and know that He is; know that He loves you immeasurably, that your best efforts--mistakes and all--are sufficient before Him because anyone who will do there best will receive compensating help from Him to learn to do better than their best. To God you are priceless and amazingly beautiful. He never dwells upon your mistakes, only how to enable your forward progression as a spiritual being. Take a moment right now to look in a mirror deeply, look into your eyes and while doing so pause to remember just how beautiful and perfect you are, not the dust you are made of, but "You." See yourself as the Father of your spirit sees you, and envision where He wants your life to go...

You are not required to be like your earthly father, your mother, your heros, or anyone else. You are required to simply live in harmony with the Spirit of the Almighty daily. That is enough! This life and all its quirks, turns, trials, joys, adventures, fairness, unfairness, and sorrows is to give you experience that can be had in no other way. Revel in every experience; ponder deeply to learn all you can from every experience; the path to heaven goes through hell; we are intended to experience deep adversity in order that we may fully contemplate and lay hold upon redeeming knowledge. The darkness of adversity enables us to more fully understand and embrace light, knowledge, and truth.

Right now, you can learn to live in harmony with the Infinite; it doesn't matter your religion; it doesn't matter your ethnicity, and it doesn't matter your status among men. Your successes and failures are irrelevant. He is no respector of persons and will visit anyone who will forsake disharmony with Him, and who will strive to come unto Him, and who will call upon His name, and who will obey His Voice and permeating influence. As you grow in this path, first you will "feel" His influence, then you will feel it and will receive "pure thoughts" from Him; as you act upon these inspirations, you qualify to hear His voice and it will come to you distinctly from time to time. You must act upon inspirations received or they will cease to come to you until you repent and act in harmony with all that has already been given to you. As you continue to grow in this path, you will continue to grow in light, truth, knowledge, and faith. From time to time you will also receive both earthly and divine messengers that are sent to enable you with even more light and understanding. As you continue to act in harmony with the Spirit of the Infinite, there will come a time when you will see God's face and your faith in Him will pass to "sure knowledge."

No disbeliever possesses any direct evidence to the contrary regarding the path described above; yet, every saint from every period of earth's history who has walked this path has born testimony of its truthfulness and reality. In addition, over 13 million accounts have been collected in recent years from people whose spirits have temporarily left their bodies during near-death experiences (NDE). The weight of evidence regarding what occurs after the spirit leaves the body has grown to such a proportion that even hard-core scientists conclude that it is more rationale to believe in the eternal existence of our spirits than it is to believe otherwise.

God has come to me as a boy, as a young man, as a husband, as a father, as a friend, and I know that His perfect and powerful influence touches every aspect of our lives--as we live in harmony. His tender mercies surround us, they are in us, they reach out from us to others, and they are showered from heaven upon us. If we allow Him to be in us always, His power and influence can mold and shape the events of our lives on a day-to-day basis. Like the Hebrew boy David who faced Goliath and learned that Goliath's power, strength, and ferocity were mere illusions, we too can face our Goliath's or great struggles similarly. By acting according to the Spirit of the Lord within Him, even in the face of extreme and real danger, David successfully rent the veil and through obedience to the Spirit that encouraged him to confront Goliath, David brought forth God's power and strength from heaven, through the veil, and into the confrontation. David learned that Goliath was a mere illusion when compared to God's power, grace, and perfecting influence.

Everyday Goliaths, such as gossiping and hurtful friends, neighbors, and family must be confronted similarly. As we act in harmony with God's Spirit with every Goliath we face, our "great" problems will also become illusions to us. We must believe in "real time" or we miss the opportunity to act in faith and to bring forth His power in the moments we need it.

I took a moment to consider the many names of God; the Father of our spirits is called by many names; He is known as the Infinite; He is known as Allah; the qur’an contains the Ninety-nine Most Beautiful Names of Allah. Judaism refers to 72 Divine names for God. The Mahabharata contains a thousand names for Vishnu, the Supreme God in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. What is in these various names that can teach us about attaining spiritual health in our quest to enable the spiritual part of our natures more fully? Whether from the Kabbalah, Christianity, Hebrew, Shinto, Buddhism, or otherwise, God’s names pass into common forms of thought and are symbolic of the characteristics, attributes, and perfections that are used by sacred writers of holy writ to describe Him.

Every culture speaks according to their language and understanding, according to traditions that influence them, and according to the light and truth they possess as a culture. God works among all who will receive further light and truth. He is no respecter of persons or religion, or belief. He is patient and will come to anyone who will approach Him. His Son, who was sent to earth, is known by many people and by various names and has revealed Himself in the flesh to many people. The Father enjoys characteristics, attributes, and perfections that He seeks to share with all men who will strive to live in harmony with Him and the teachings of His son. His many names merely reflect His characteristics, divine attributes, and perfections and influence the writings found among all religions today.

For example, The Almighty is a name given that reflects God’s omnipotence and His power to do as He says, declares, or promises. Other names are symbolic of His omniscience or of His all-seeing ability to see the end from the beginning, or of His truthfulness and inability to lie or to deceive us, or they symbolize His mercy, kindness, and slowness to anger. Some names remind us there is no variableness or changing in Him--that He is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be tomorrow. Some names remind us that one’s personal rank, stature, wealth, or power does not elevate his spiritual health or position before God; rather, our status before God is based solely upon the truth and light that is within us--obtained through our obedience to His Spirit. Because He is no respecter of persons, anyone who will receive more light from Him, grows in stature before Him.

His various names symbolize a being in whom we can trust. We are reminded that He is perfect, just, and that His judgement is always perfect. Therefore any difficulty or suffering we may face while obeying His Spirit will be perfectly judged and justly rewarded. Perhaps most inspiring are names which remind us of His perfect and unconditional love toward each of us. Each of His names are guides to help us better understand how our spirits can achieve health through total harmony with His Spirit.

Friends, the devil and His minions believe in and fear God; believing in God is utterly insufficient. If you believe in God; if you have felt His Spirit and perfecting influence, please know that believing in Him is not sufficient. If you would live young all the days of your life; if you would continue the wonder, the joy, and the adventure you felt intuitively as an infant and young child, then you must live in complete harmony with God today. You must choose to act upon His omnipresent influence today. You must choose to deal with your neighbor according to that Spirit today. The veil will not rend for you one moment sooner or later than your willingness to act in obedience to His perfecting influence--today!

It isn't sufficient to "believe in Him." We must come to live everyday so that we "Believe" Him today in a manner that can bring His power and influence through the veil to shape and mold outcomes in our lives today. Are you abused by someone incapable of changing? Learn how to bring God's power through the veil in your behalf and in behalf of the one who cannot change. Miracles only happen when we "believe" that all the wonderful religious stories are not just stories, but are examples of how we are to conduct ourselves and how we are to receive miracles today. Do you know anyone who walks on water? Do you know anyone who raises the dead? Who causes the blind to see? If not, why not? Did not the Son of man prophecy that His disciples would do all things He did and even greater? Who do you know today who is actually doing all things He did and even greater? Are you? Only by acting in harmony with the impressions He gives today, or in harmony with His direct voice that He sends from time to time, or to messengers He sends to those who continually follow Him, can you continue to grow and to preserve wonder, joy, and high adventure that marks the path of those who live in continual harmony with His Spirit. Only through this path is true belief expressed and are true miracles wrought. When they are not wrought and are only spoken of, sang of, and prayed of, then our faith is weak. We draw near unto Him with our lips, but we deny His power by not bringing His power into our lives to help us in our day-to-day crossroads. I offer this not as criticism, but as a reflection concerning believing, versus believing in. True belief regarding His goodness and power leads to bringing that power directly into your life in "real-time" as you face life's real challenges.

Now, please consider the following: Beliefs not founded in reality are defined correctly by medicine as insanity. Therefore, consider carefully the reality of your "duel nature." For in that duel nature lies the only sane balance of realities that can establish a foundation for Living Young all your life. You are part spirit and part matter (body); you must serve honorably and rationally the needs of both your body and spirit if you hope to Live Young for a lifetime.

Billions of dollars are spent annually to preserve and lengthen lifespans by focusing upon the physical aspects of our duel nature. Expenditures are made toward a range of healthcare services, treatments, drugs, surgeries, nutrition, and upon various areas of health research. Thirty million will be spent during the next few years on anti-aging research alone. As a result of these expenditures and research some promising discoveries have been made, which demonstrate the ability to slow down, arrest, and reverse the physical metabolic aging processes.

A desire to improve vitality and to extend lifespan has been of interest to just about everyone whose eyes have dimmed, whose hearing has lessoned, whose mind has weakened, or whose body has experienced aging or disease. A time comes when each of us is awakened in some degree with a desire to slow down, arrest, and reverse needless aging processes. However, to truly understand the secrets of Living Young we must go beyond our physical health. The soul of man is part spirit (intelligence) and part matter (dust). To maximize vitality we must address both the spirit and the body of man. Let's speak for a moment about the physical aspect of our duel nature.

Science teaches that the elements used to create humans, plants, and animals in their various forms can neither be created nor destroyed. Elements or matter are building blocks, which are organized into the myriad life forms we recognize. Similar to my son’s legos, matter is inert and has no power in and of itself to act, but all matter must be acted upon in order to take on or to be organized into various forms. Just as my son’s creative genius leads to various lego forms, creative genius has also led to various forms of plants, animals, and people. As Einstein and many other scientists have concluded, the forms of life we know are not random accidents; rather, they are outcomes of purposeful, superior, creative design. Each species multiplies and replenishes according to the genetics or creative plan that is embedded within the DNA that exists inside the nuclei of nearly all living cells.

Science has come a long ways in understanding the biology of each species. It also has recognized that spirit, like matter, can neither be created nor destroyed. It is a part of the duel nature of creation. The spirit or life that exists within an embryo acts to form two cells from one, and then four cells from two, and so forth until trillions of cells are created and diversified into twelve body systems that form a perfect body, one that is capable of surviving, thriving, and producing offspring. How does this happen? Without this intelligence within the cell, no such multiplication of cells could possibly occur. We cannot ignore the bedrock requirements associated with spiritual health, without suffering negative and even harmful physical consequences. Now consider the following process:

A pregnant mother eats plants and animals of the earth to sustain her physical needs. As she does so, the embryo within her womb is nourished by earth’s elements. The spirit or intelligence within the embryo acts upon these elements of matter provided by Mother Earth to form a person, according to a blueprint contained within the DNA of each cell. Mathematically the process is expressed as follows:

A human genetic blueprint + Intelligence that acts upon matter according to a human genetic blueprint + inert elements or matter = a unique human life form.

This repeating pattern or mathematical formula, which includes spirit acting upon matter to create life forms, is seen throughout the whole of nature--within plants, animals, birds, and in everything that creeps upon the earth or lives within the seas. God has placed a pattern of growth within the DNA of nearly every living cell. The intelligences assigned to those cells choose to follow that pattern of operation and are 100% responsible for growth, repair, maintenance, and all inner workings of the cell that enables it to survive and thrive.

Each life form is part dust or matter and part spirit; together the physical and spiritual form the soul of man, plant, or animal and live together as a soul until it is time for the elements to separate to return to Mother Earth from whence they came and for the spirits to return to their home. At my father’s funeral it was impressed upon my soul that the mortal remains I viewed were not the man whom I loved and cherished. Rather, they were merely a shadow of what was once him. What I viewed possessed no intelligence, life, or spirit and utterly lacked my father's personality, wit, humor, and love. He was gone. Only inert matter remained, and even that was rapidly on its way back to the dust.

Elements that form our bodies return to the earth, similar to the elements found in a compost pile. Song writers and poets have aptly penned words describing the circle of life. One of my favorite country song writers sings about how the flower that his horse ate, sprouted from his friends grave, to become the bones and sinew of his horse and as he rode his horse off into the sunset, a part of his friend went with him.

Because we are formed from both spirit and matter (body), to Live Young requires that we give proper and rationale care to both the spirit and the body. While we know a great deal about the proper care of the body through science, optimizing the health of our spirits is best described by the sacred writers of holy writ. Such writings teach us that our spirits are eternal and divine and can neither be created nor destroyed, but are capable of growing in intelligence, power, light, truth, knowledge, faith, and love. To not enable one’s spirit fully in this life is utterly irrational and ignores the sane reality of the spirit’s divine potential.

While infants progress, learn and grow rapidly and their youth remains continually renewed as they successfully take each progressive step in their lives, it is possible for us to also live in a similar rapid state of progression. As we do so, each step leads to greater light, joy, and renewal. To Live Young, as an infant or child, is to forever live in spiritual harmony with the Infinite who to us can be as a perfect coach enabling us to take the steps which lead us to greater light, knowledge and spiritual power. Choosing to live and act in harmony with His Spirit enables His perfecting influence and power to mold and shape our yet undeveloped divine qualities. Rediscovering and strengthening the intuitive spiritual capacity we enjoyed as infants is the key to extraordinary spiritual health and is the greatest catalyst possible for enabling greater physical health.

As we most efficiently meet our physical requirements for good health and as we also act in complete harmony with the Infinite, we achieve our ultimate potential for Living Young! If you have not yet read the Living Youngnewsletter, I invite you to do so. The first five volumes focus purely on the physical aspects of health. We will also devote some time to spiritual aspects of health.

Live Young Always,

Jim and Colleen Simmons

Always

2010-12-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

Imagine a good baseball coach who teaches a young boy how to swing a bat. While there are hundreds of coaching points that lead to the perfect swing, a wise coach does not overwhelm a boy by asking too much of him too soon; rather, he begins by building upon his students strengths and then builds upon those strengths as fast as the student progresses. He will move along a path of progression with the boy at a pace that does not confuse, frustrate, and lead to failure. Great coaches know how to pace progress; they know exactly when to challenge a student further and when to maintain current focus.

Now imagine being invited by the world's best coach to come unto Him and to be perfected in Him, not just to swing a bat perfectly, but to perfect your whole soul. That is exactly the invitation the Jesus offered to each of us. Moreover he commanded saying, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." As the Master of truth who cannot lie or deceive, He would not invite, nor would He command such unless He was sufficiently capable to coach, and guide us unto perfection.

As the Master coach He knows how to customize our progression in a manner that we can continually advance, stretch, and grow--without becoming overcome by frustration, failure, and despair. He asks much of us to be sure, and as we heed His voice we grow line upon line and we bring the power and influence of His Spirit from behind the veil into our physical world to help shape and mold us into His perfect image. Each step we take is designed by Him to enable us with greater light, knowledge, and faith until we attain sufficient faith and knowledge to lay hold upon eternal life, the greatest of all God's gifts.

The greatest decision we can make is to accept His invitation to be perfected in Him. We do this by choosing to live so that we can enjoy His perfect influence always. How do we enjoy his fellowship and influence always? In ancient Israel the Law of Sacrifice was introduced to help prepare Israel to enjoy continual fellowship with Jehovah. Then, the law of sacrifice included three types of blood offerings:

First, a sin offering of an animal was made to atone for a person's uncleanliness or sin.
Second, burnt offerings of the flesh of animals were made every morning and evening and the smoke from these offerings ascended continuously to heaven. This continual offering symbolized complete surrender and total devotion to God, paralleling the process of justification and sanctification, or the process of always retaining a remission of our sins.
Third, the peace offering indicates that the sacrificer of an animal was at peace with God and could therefore enjoy His fellowship.

The Sin offering preceded the burnt offering, and the burnt offering preceded the peace offering. This order symbolized the atonement, sanctification, and ultimate fellowship with the Lord.

Christ became the last great sacrifice that called for the shedding of the blood of animals. All former blood sacrifices pointed to this last great sacrifice. On the eve before Christ offered Himself as the great sacrifice for mankind He instituted the Lord's Sacrament to replace blood offerings. He then taught that the sacrifice required of us today is not of blood but is an offering of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Let's review the covenants we make during the Sacrament that lead us to enjoy His Spirit and fellowship always which is the prerequisite to becoming perfected in Him:

Remember: When He instituted the Sacrament, Jesus broke and passed the bread to His apostles and said, "This is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me...." Then He passed the cup for each to drink and said, "This cup is the new testament (a new covenant with Israel) in my blood, which was shed for you" (Luke 22:19-20) The Sacrament is a time to ponder and remember with gratitude the life, teachings, atonement, and perfect ministry of our Lord. The bread is a reminder of His body and the physical suffering He endured for each of us upon the cross. It reminds us that through His mercy and grace we will be resurrected and are given the opportunity for eternal life. The water or wine is a reminder that the Savior shed His blood and suffered intense anguish for us. This began in the Garden of Gethsemane, which suffering led Him to say, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Mattthew 26:38). Submitting to the will of the Father, He suffered more than we can comprehend: Blood came from every pore, so great was His anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of His people. We covenant to remember His sacrifice and our indebtedness to Him. He suffered for our sins, sorrows, and pains, providing remission of our sins if we repent and live the gospel. Remembering Him obligates us to a life of goodness as we serve and bless others. It requires that we live without hatred, enmity, immorality, selfishness, drunkenness, jealousy, dishonesty, and that we ultimately become perfect as He is perfect--attribute for divine attribute.
Witness: As we partake of the Sacrament we witness to God our willingness to live the gospel and to take upon ourselves the name of His Son, even Jesus Christ, to surrender our will to His Son, and to live in such a manner that our thoughts, words, and deeds always reflect our covenant to be like His Son.
Obey: We covenant to always keep the commandments, including what is taught in the gospels, as well as what He asks of us through His Spirit in our daily walk, and it also includes our willingness to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. We covenant to obey Him whether it be directly through His voice or through His authorized servants.

Christ commenced his earthly ministry with an ordinance--baptism--and ended His ministry with and ordinance--the Sacrament. Our personal reward for being properly baptized and for partaking of the weekly Sacrament with a sincere heart, with real intent, forsaking our sins, and renewing our covenants with God is the Lord Jesus provides a way whereby we can be forgiven from week to week of our sins and whereby we also discern those things which we need to improve. Simply eating the bread and drinking the water will not bring forgiveness or remission of sins, nor will it qualify us to enjoy the constant companionship of the Lord's Spirit. To maintain this sacred relationship, we must take time to examine our lives and strive with real intent to repent of our sins. As we approach the sacrament prepared and with His divine life ever in mind, we are to come before Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, which is caused by recognition of our dependence upon His power and grace to become perfected in Him. As we remember His tender mercies and the many gifts and blessings received at His hand, our remembrance leads us to love Him purely, which occurs best as we serve the real needs of others. As we do so we become even more purified through His attending Spirit until at last all impurity is overcome.

Summary
Similar to a young boy who needs a good mentor and coach, in order to obtain the ultimate prize of a perfected soul we need our Savior, even Jesus Christ. The weekly Sacrament is the path of spiritual rebirth through Christ that takes away our sins, and the stain of sins, as bit by bit temptations lose their appeal and we become holy as Christ and the Father are holy--attribute for divine attribute. His all-searching eye is upon us and He refines us as silver and gold until at last He can see His perfect image within us. As long as some vestige of sin remains within us and we retain some disposition to do evil we must continue to offer up our continual sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and continue to recognize our dependence upon Him to guide and prepare us until we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to part the veil and to take up our abode with Him. Only then does He becomes our Second Comforter and as such He comforts, succors, leads, and finishes our faith by helping us become fully cleansed and made worthy to be introduced to the Father and to become a son or daughter of God's Eternal Family, which is the greatest gift of all. This is the entire meaning of receiving eternal life. We enter and remain on this path by "always" remembering Him.

The Sacrament is a sacred key to this great process, because only through keeping our Sacramental covenants to always remember Him, to always be a witness of Him, and to always obey Him do we qualify to always enjoy His divine and perfecting influence, which is necessary if we are to successfully accept His invitation to be perfected in Him, and if we are to be made ready by Him to pass from faith to a perfect knowledge of Him and His Father. He is indeed, both the author and the finisher of our faith and only through Him can we come to know the Father, to see His face, and to receive eternal life.

Fasting

2010-12-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

How would you like to overcome darkness and sin that binds you, to undo heavy burdens that you carry, to become free of oppression, to break every yoke that is upon you, to receive improved health of body and soul, to have your every prayer answered, to receive continual guidance in things both temporal and spiritual? How would you like God's Spirit and power to go before you, be with you, and also protect you from behind? Would you like your life to become as a beautiful, watered, fruitful garden? How would you like to have God's grace flow to you continually like a spring of water whose waters fail not (see Isaiah 58:6-11)?

The history of fasting includes receiving the gift to heal or to be healed; it includes examples of overcoming darkness such as alcoholism, addictions, poor character traits, and so forth. Many have overcome bondage and captivity through fasting, and countless people have received answers to prayer and have received direct guidance from heaven while fasting. By praying and fasting often a person can enjoy heaven's guidance and perfect influence always. Fasting is one of the greatest tools God has given man. God promises that even physical health will be greatly improved through fasting.

Isaiah taught his people that God is no respecter of persons and that His promises are for every soul who learns to fast in an acceptable manner before Him. There are many examples in scripture of those who fast acceptably before God; some great blessings have occurred after as little as one or two days of fasting; others have fasted forty days or more. Moses fasted forty days before receiving the ten commandments from God and then commenced another forty day fast immediately after learning of the iniquity of Israel while he was upon the Mount with God. Christ fasted forty days before He commenced His mission. Gandhi fasted for twenty plus days on several occasions as he sought to establish greater freedom for his people from Great Britain. In every culture and every religion there are accounts of individuals who have gained great spiritual insights and power through fasting.

There are both acceptable and unacceptable ways to fast. Fasting for selfish and self-righteous reasons has always been and will always be unacceptable to God. God neither responds, nor do His promises apply to those who fast in an unacceptable manner. How must a fast be conducted in order to receive the promises spoken of by Isaiah? Consider the following principles that are a part of an acceptable fast. When correctly applied these principles merit and result in God's promises toward the fast:

Proper Attitude: It begins with the right attitude of work and obedience. We are never tempted above that which we are able to bear and with each temptation a way is made for our escape, that we may be able to bear it, but we must always do our part. A proper fast can enable you with greater power to overcome your temptations and sins and to lay hold of needed blessings.
Determine Purpose of Fast: It is important to determine and recognize the purpose(s) of your fast. This could range from being released from prison, to overcoming specific sins that beset you, to being enabled to meet your temporal needs, to overcoming oppressive relationships, and so forth. Only you know what you or others need and what desires underlie the purpose of your fasting. As you prepare to fast, determine your specific purpose or purposes for fasting.
Begin Fast with Prayer: The Lord is pleased when we reason with Him and present our needs and desires to Him in prayer. This is not to be confused with a demanding spirit; rather, we are to make a righteous offering that is described in scripture as a broken heart and a contrite spirit. With such a heart and spirit we are to articulate and share the purpose, reason, supportive logic, and need for our prayerful requests. God accepts our perfect offering as we express our desires and purposes to Him in faith and meekness.
Bless Others: Isaiah said: “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday.” (Isaiah 58:10) God's power and blessings are released more fully to us as we seek to lift the burdens of others.
Seek the Companionship of the Holy Ghost: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearguard” (Isaiah 58:8). "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am..." "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought..., and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not" (Isaiah 58:9). How would you like to become filled with His Spirit, power, and grace--insomuch that your life becomes fruitful with goodness that fails not?
Subdue the Natural Man: There are changes that occur in the body during a fast. After certain energy reserves are depleted, body fat then releases fatty acids that form ketones, which are then used to produce energy in place of the more immediate energy reserves that are exhausted. Ketones have an effect upon our psyche that cause us to overcome hunger and to literally subdue the natural man. As your body enters into this state of fasting, it submits more fully to the spirit and as the spiritual man is victorious, we experience greater sensitivity to the influence of the Holy Ghost. Any person who becomes sensitive and fully responsive to God's Spirit is also prepared to receive His power and grace to become as a watered and fruitful garden or as a spring of water whose waters fail not. Goodness will continually flow from the lives of such individuals.
Use of Time: While fasting, during time you would normally spend preparing food and cleaning up, devote that time to studying scriptures, learning, teaching others, and writing in your journal. Pray and ponder deeply the purpose of your fast and become responsive to God's Spirit.
Mighty Prayer: If we want the results spoken of by Isaiah, then we must combine prayer with fasting. Mighty prayer occurs as you ask God to help you remember His many kindnesses towards you. As you pause to ask and to remember His gifts to you, the Holy Ghost will fill your mind and heart with grateful remembrance. As you so remember you will feel pure gratitude, which is a natural expression of pure love toward God. This opens the conduit of the Spirit fully in your prayer and you will experience God's reciprocating pure love through the power of His Spirit.
Bear Pure Testimony: As the Holy Ghost becomes your constant companion, such as occurs when we become humble and meek through fasting, our testimonies of God's goodness are more easily, simply, and purely expressed and should be shared with others.
End Fasting in Prayer: There comes an appropriate time to end a fast. When that time arrives, end your fast in prayer. Reflect upon the purpose of the fast and how that purpose was served.
Covenant to Improvement: As you receive valuable insights from fasting, note each insight in your journal and make appropriate plans and commitments with God regarding those insights. Secure the Holy Ghost as your constant companion by covenanting with "real intent" to follow the guidance you receive during the fast. As you maintain your commitment by following through with your plans, God's Spirit will continue to bless and influence your efforts as you go forward.
Become Like Christ: The spirit of a fast helps lead us to increasingly think and act like Christ, and through regular fasting, repentance, and the continual remission of sins the attributes of the natural man slip away to be replaced by the heart and the mind of Christ. This is what it means, in part, to come to know Christ and God. Christ instructed us to become perfect as His Father in Heaven is perfect. We can talk about Christ, teach about Him, and so forth, but until we become like Him through repentance and through a continual remission of sins, we can never come to truly know Him. Coming to know Him is a gentle process of grace that occurs through the gift of His Spirit that attends our fasting, repentance, and a continual remission or our sins; through this process He helps us to become like Him, attribute for divine attribute. Fasting catalyzes this process as we take the insights received while fasting and immerse ourselves in them more fully.

To realize the promises of the fast described by Isaiah fast in an acceptable manner before God, as described above. As a principle of power fasting changes lives. When the flesh submits to the spirit we gain the insights, strength, and grace needed to subdue the natural man and to become as Christ. He purges and refines us as silver and gold until His perfect image can be seen within us. That image is best reflected through our kindness and actions toward each other and toward the hungry, the poor, the homeless, the naked, the widow and the fatherless, the stranger that comes into our gates, and to our own families and children in their needs. Therefore, to become as Christ and to obtain the promises of the fast, let our souls be drawn out in fasting and in mighty prayer continually and throughout our lifetimes.

Charity

2010-12-16T05:16:00.000-08:00

Do you remember what it is like to have your body vibrate at the speed of love, joy, wonder, and accomplishment, or how you felt and how easily you accomplished things when you knew little to nothing of resentment, criticism, guilt, and fear? Did you know that every thought you create is real substance that goes out into the universe to create your future? What you send out, you will get back, both good and evil, and your environment and situation are merely a looking glass of what you have chosen to attract into your life. It is exciting to contemplate that by shaping and molding our thoughts as we desire, we also shape and mold any future we desire. How important is a future filled with pure love?

Religion and science demonstrate that maintaining love and inner peace is more important than diet, exercise, or sleep when it comes to maintaining good health and longevity. Those who possess a loving and peaceful state naturally outlive those who tend toward worry, restlessness, anger, and other forms of stress. From the gospels we learn that love is not evil, proud, rude, self-seeking, easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs. A person filled with love and peace carries no extra burdens to weigh down the spirit or the body. Moreover, love is light, and darkness flees from light. And, the more love you give to others, the more love comes back to you. Even the darkness of disease often flees a body that is filled to overflowing with light!

From a scientific standpoint, love and peace enable an ideal balance within the autonomic nervous system and within each cell of the body, which leads to longer, healthier, and happier lives. By comparison, chronic stress caused from worry, anger, restlessness, hatred, hopelessness, nervousness, ingratitude, contention, and negative attitude each over-stimulate the fight-or-flight response system. Mental and spiritual disquietude are linked to heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidental death, cirrhosis of the liver, suicide, accelerated aging, and to all degenerative diseases. How can we foster and attain a peaceful and loving state? The short answer you can do today is to go about doing good continually. Let’s look at vital steps you can take toward a long-term solution:

First, pray to recognize the Lord’s hand in your life and His love for you. As you sincerely ask to know of God’s pure love for you, His Spirit will bring to remembrance your many blessings and your eyes will open to see how He is aiding you in every walk of life, and then you will experience gratitude, which is a pre-requisite for being able to recognize and feel His deep love for you. Ask, pause, reflect, remember, and feel deeply.
Second, as you remember and feel the Lord’s love for you, pause to express divine gratitude for each blessing brought to your awareness. Expressing your gratitude is how to return pure love to God. As you so come to know the Lord, you will discover an intimate, sacred relationship built on trust and will come to know that He understands your burdens and will always respond to you with compassion. It is not enough just to know that God loves you; you must pause in gratitude daily to feel His deep love for you.
Third, the Lord’s response to us is always filled with love and motivates us to become like Him through repentance and through a continual remission of sins. Through the gift of His Spirit that attends our repentance, He helps us to become like Him, attribute for divine attribute. For example, through repentance we strive to become kind; through His Spirit and grace we transcend mere striving to be kind, to become kindness as He is kindness. With the new gift given, our desire to become like Him increases and we receive more grace (or goodness) for the grace we return to Him through expressing our deep-felt gratitude for the gift of kindness. As God's Spirit invites us to receive other attributes or gifts from Him, the process of striving (repenting) and becoming through grace is renewed again. And as we seek other gifts or characteristics of Christ, we are to immerse our thoughts in that characteristic and convey our feelings to God, self, and others. Righteous feelings generated by obedience toward any godly attribute and expressions of gratitude to God precede the increase of those feelings from the Spirit. As we are obedient and grateful, a magnified portion of the gift or attribute we seek will return to us from the Spirit. By His Spirit, we are taught more perfectly through feeling and thought regarding each gift or attribute we seek.
Fourth, as we consecrate the refinement of God-given attributes to Him through loving service to others, we prepare ourselves more fully; and when He does appear to us, we will be like Him. As we magnify any gift or attribute from God we receive a new heart, a pure heart. As we increasingly think and act like Him, the attributes of the natural man will slip away to be replaced by the heart and the mind of Christ. We become like Him as we truly receive Him. (See “Holiness”.) As we become like Him, our attentions turn to the welfare of our fellowman. The way we treat others with patience, kindness, a gentle acceptance and a desire to play a positive role in their lives becomes the indicator of how we are progressing as His disciples.

Summary

Deep within the center of our beings there is an infinite well of love. As we come to know Christ through a continual remission of sins, the attributes of the natural man will slip away to be replaced by the heart and the mind of Christ. This unlocks the pure and infinite source of love that is within us to flow freely to the surface and to touch all that we see, think, feel, and do. This pure gift of charity is given only to those who seek it, only to those who earnestly pray for it, and only to true disciples of Christ. As we walk this path and overcome ego through loving service, consecration of our refined attributes, and by refusing to compare ourselves to others, we experience true happiness, love, and peace. As we pray daily, study His word, and follow His voice, we remain unencumbered through loving service to others. As His disciples, we restore charity’s circular love as we go about with unfailing compassion, patience, and mercy doing good to the poor, afflicted, and distressed. We love others because He first loved us. This is the reciprocating cycle of charity that never faileth. It is available to anyone who will enable the process described above to see, think, feel, and act as Jesus Christ.

Postscript: Imagine what will happen within our circles of influence as each of us cherish, watch over, and love one another as we want to be loved! Each utopia that has existed upon this earth, where man lived to the age of a tree or was translated, occurred through the process described above. Wherever a critical mass of disciples of Christ truly walk this path, Zion or Utopia is there established, and this is the only process by which it is established. It is not a stretch of the imagination to desire, seek, and receive the pure gift of charity, or to receive the other perfect attributes of Christ. By so doing you will enjoy greater health, happiness, and longevity. You will also help to establish the long-awaited Zion and will enjoy a spirit of peace and love throughout your lifetime. Most gloriously, by so doing you will qualify to meet the fountain of infinite pure love and to see His face, whilst you live!

Eternal Life

2010-12-13T07:42:00.000-08:00

When by faith we heed and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we render the veil to bring God's Spirit and power from behind the veil into our physical world. This is the process for enabling God's perfecting influence to help shape important outcomes and events in our lives.

For example, in faith the young shepherd boy David acted with God's power to slay the bear and the lion while protecting his father's flocks. This experience led to certain knowledge, that when one acts under God's influence and power, all things are possible. This knowledge led to greater faith and when David later was moved upon by God's Spirit to confront Goliath, he acted with certitude and in faithful obedience to that spirit. By so doing he rendered the veil yet again to enable God's power and divine influence to shape a victorious outcome for Israel.

Similarly, each time we exercise faith to act upon God's Spirit in our lives we achieve at least two outcomes. First, we render the veil to bring God's Spirit and power into our physical world to shape important events and outcomes. Second, increased knowledge is always a by-product of acting faithfully upon revelation. Thus, as the Lords Spirit leads us along, He helps us grow line upon line in the knowledge we need to become redeemed.

Every saint must attain a fullness of knowledge if they are to be redeemed, and the path required to attain this knowledge is the same for saints of each dispensation. It is marked by faithful obedience to God's Spirit. Faith acted upon today is always rewarded by increased knowledge that leads to even greater faith tomorrow. It is a step-by-step process that yields sufficient faith and knowledge necessary to lay hold upon salvation.

Whenever we fail to heed the Lord's voice or to keep His commandments, our faith grows dormant and and the Lord ceases to reveal Himself further to us until we repent, forsake our sins, and covenant with "real intent" to follow Him. Our journey in added faith and knowledge renews only as "real intent" to follow Him renews. As we follow Him with renewed faith our knowledge continues to grow, line upon line, until one day we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge that the veil is parted and we are permited to see His face and to take up our abode with Him.

The path to the Father and to become an eternal member of God's Family is through Jesus alone. As we exercise the faith necessary to see and know Jesus, and to take up our abode with Him, He then finishes our faith, introduces us to the Father, and by so doing becomes the author and finisher of our faith.

Why do we need a Second Comforter to finish our faith? As we take up our abode with Christ it is for one purpose; it is to provide the succor and comfort we will need as we face a critical test of faith. As our Second Comforter, Christ prepares and succors us to help enable us to pass this customized and ultimate test that qualifies us to be made clean every wit and to be introduced by Jesus to the Father.

Each step of faith we take in life is greater than the previous; therefore, every step is as if we are starting all over again. We experience doubts and fears and must find our way through them as we have done previously in order that we may act in faith, render the veil, and gain further light and knowledge.

The path doesn't ever become easier; rather, each step is designed to help us grow further in faith and knowledge. We therefore must remember, as we seek to overcome doubts and fears, that as we act with certitude all Goliaths become mere illusions. Why? Because every time we act in faith and obedience to God's Spirit, we render the veil and bring his Spirit and power into our physical world. As we do so, whatsoever the Lord asks of us becomes possible to us, until we lay hold upon eternal life.

Courage

2010-12-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Jesus said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus whom thou hast sent." As any soul approaches and calls upon the Lord with "real intent" to follow Him, the Lord's voice comes to him and teaches what he or she must do. Jesus leads His sheep from grace to grace, as they obey His Spirit. This is the path to truly know God and Christ and to eternal life.

As we follow Jesus and act according to His voice the faith we exercise leads to knowledge; line upon line we come to know Him through obedience. As we prove an unceasing intent to follow Jesus, we earn higher levels of trust. Our communications then change in nature from seemingly insubstantial feelings to hearing his voice from time to time, and then to enjoying two-way dialogue with Him; as we continue in faith we earn more trust and receive angelic messengers and ministrations from celestial beings to help us even further along the path.

Each step of the path of redemption is as the first; when we hear His voice, whether through insubstantial feelings, or in our hearts and minds, or through angels and celestial beings we must overcome our doubts and fears yet again, and through faith continue to follow Him. By so doing we lay hold upon greater light and knowledge, and we earn greater trust until at last we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge that we can no longer be held within the veil; Christ then reveals Himself to us and we see His face and take up our abode with Him. Christ then becomes our Second Comforter to finish our faith and prepare us to be introduced to the Father. Each step we take in this pathway is marked by greater faith that yields greater knowledge, light, and truth--through obedience.

To know God and see His face, we must have courage to look neither to the left hand nor to the right hand as we do all things to become as Christ; rather, we must look to Him alone. As we do so, He will not leave us alone, fail us, or ever forsake us. Rather, He will go with us and before us and His promises will not fail; and, as we turn neither to the right nor to the left, but continually do as His voice commands, we will prosper no matter where He may lead us.

We must not cleave unto anything that is unholy, for if we turn to the left or right of the Path of Holiness, God dispossesses and curses us. We are to be of strong faith, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and love, and of a sound mind. As we associate with others of the covenant, their faithfulness will encourage us, and similarly, our faithfulness will encourage them. And as we are true to what God asks of us and entrusts to us, our trust increases in God and leads to sufficient courage to go on in so great a cause and to go forward and not backward along the Path of Holiness; thus we go on to victory, which is to know (be as) our Lord, to see his face, and to receive eternal life.

Those who take Christ's name upon themselves encounter opposition from time to time. Similarly, Jesus was despised and rejected of the world. What are Christians then to do? They are to find opportunity in opposition to better serve God. For example, Alma was discovered and converted during opposition that drew attention to Abinadi and afforded Abinadi an opportunity to present truth to those whose attention was directed toward him, as was Alma's. Abinadi remained focused upon the welfare of others and upon teaching the "King's Priests" according to God's Spirit, rather than becoming distracted by the attacks of his accusers. Conversion only occurs through God's Spirit and power. As Alma was taught according to God's Spirit, God's power and Spirit rested upon him and converted him.

Should we always seek to convert others amidst opposition? When Lehonti came off his "high ground" to meet with Amalichiah he died for his troubles. Christians must remember that their time and lives are sacred. Seeking to convert unholy swine, who will only turn and rend you, when God's Spirit has not asked you to do so, or when His Spirit is not present, leads to no good. Christians are never to turn from the right or the left of what God tasks them to do, but are to always remain on high ground, which is the customized path God gives to each and every Christian--through His Spirit.

Rather than leave the high ground when God does not ask one to do so, Christians should follow the example of the Jewish prophet Nehemiah, who while rebuilding the protective city wall of Jerusalem, refused to meet his accusers on the open plains. He turned neither to the right, nor to the left of the task God had given him; rather, he chose to value his time, his life, and the work he was engaged in over the solicitations of false and unholy men.

And this is the promise to every soul who will forsake sin to walk the Path of Holiness: "For behold, again I say unto you, that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show you all things what ye should do and will bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveith, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

If you would know God and Jesus and have eternal life, then forsake every sin, come unto the Lord; call upon His name; obey His commandments, heed His voice, and accept and do all which He tasks you to do--turning neither to the left, nor to the right. Press forward in faith filled with Christian Courage until at last you see His face and know that He is!

Gratitude

2010-12-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

Because of my joyful youth on the farm, I have a special appreciation for the words of Timothy Dexter, “An ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree eating acorns, but never looking up to see where they come from.” Do you pause to look upward and to remember, or do you forget as swine or even as one of the nine lepers who remembered not to give praise and thanks for great and even miraculous blessings?

“And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.“ While some never forget the gracious hands, which have preserved them in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened them, others vainly imagine that their blessings were produced by their own superior wisdom and virtue.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we can become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, to proud to pray to the God who made us. Let us never be guilty of failing to praise and acknowledge God when we accomplish some useful purpose, or become instrumental in some part in helping others. Rather, let us in all things acknowledge our gratitude to our kind, merciful, and wise Creator who extends to us blessings of life, breath, and opportunity.

Gratitude is to the soul, as the gentle air is refreshing to the body; simple beauties do not escape its notice. Grateful souls that pause to look up bask in the stars by night and sing praises as the sun rises at dawn; such souls trace beautiful landscapes of sunsets into minds and hearts, simply because they pause to remember to look upward and to behold!

A man from East met a man from West. Asked East, “Please sir, describe to me the grandeur of the Grand Canyons—of the great Seven Wonders of the World; I am traveling far to see them.” Replies West, “I cannot, for I have never seen the Grand Canyon, though it be but a few miles from where I live.” West then asks East, “Tell me I pray thee, how does Lady Liberty inspire thee?” “I travel far to see her.” East replies, “I’ve lived in Manhattan for much of my life, yet have never seen her.” East and West parted, none the wiser… The apostle Paul said, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Surely the greater wealth then is contentment with what one has.

Gratitude is one of the deepest and purest expressions of faith; it is one way we fulfill the command to acknowledge God in all things. By comparison, ingratitude renders every gift we receive profitless to us, as the Grand Canyon was to West and Lady Liberty to East. Ingratitude can be overcome by learning to look up and to see. Thankful and heartfelt expressions are universally accepted and understood from culture to culture. As with any muscle, the blessings of gratitude ebb and flow by diligent efforts to recognize, remember, and express gratitude and thanks.

They are happiest who live in thanksgiving. To sacred holy writers a thankful state is described as the secret to opening wide heavens gates. It enables the faith in us to be made clean every wit. The ability to feel gratitude for God’s goodness, mercy, and forgiveness is the seed to the very faith that moves mountains and raises the dead.

Gratitude expressed to God brings a calming peace to our souls; it brings a peace that helps us to overcome the pain of adversity and failure. It is recognition for what we have now, without reference to past or future. When we express gratitude, not only for the good things in life, but for opposition and adversity, we recognize that all that occurs to us is gauged for our best good and eternal growth. We put our lives in God’s hands, trusting Him completely, and feeling and expressing our true gratitude through our faith towards Him.

Do you adequately remember? My mother, who was raised without running water and who had to leave the warmth of the house in wintertime to sit upon a cold outhouse seat, is forever grateful for indoor plumbing. A generation later, most fail to adequately remember to be grateful for what to often become entitlements to us.

How grateful are we when we receive a new suit or dress? Do we remember our gratitude for long, or do we too easily shift from what we have received to what we want but do not yet have? When Israel too easily forgot her blessings—flocks, herds, lands, and lives were often lost. Great difficulty restores memory to most, but we are far better off to choose to remember, rather than to be reminded in such a manner.

How do we remember? Jesus taught that the Holy Ghost shall teach us all things and will bring all things to our remembrance, whatsoever we have previously received or learned. As we exercise faith in our sweet hour of prayer--to remember, whether our circumstances are favorable or unfavorable, the Holy Ghost restores God’s sweet kindnesses and tender mercies to our remembrance. As we so pause and reflect, we can experience a flood of memories, as well as healing and enriching gratitude. We begin to see the Lord’s hand in our life at every turn, and our faith in Him grows upon a sold foundation.

Remembrance is the seed of gratitude, and gratitude is the seed of generosity. Gratitude for the remission of sins is the seed of charity, the pure love of Christ, which bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all saints shall dwell with God.” Oh then, remember!

The requirements for receiving prosperity are to obey God’s commandments and to live in a state of thankful remembrance and gratitude. Let us remember and write in our hearts—our songs of praise and gratitude. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord, for he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of the earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more…

Let us become as the noble ancient ones who wept for their great blessings and with loud voices shouted for joy… Praise the Lord with singing, with dancing, with your harps, and with your trumpets, and with your instrument of ten strings; and with a prayer of praise. For surely the Lord looketh from heaven to behold the sons of men; and as a righteous man marrieth a virgin and looks after and cares for her, so will the Lord be a bridegroom to those who praise him and keep His commandments. And they who remember Him in all things shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord: and shall become a city not forsaken, even Zion.

Health, peace, prosperity, and redemption is the banquet reserved for the Grateful!

Priestcraft

2010-12-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

The Lord speaking to our day said that His entire vineyard has become corrupt and that even the very elect do err because of priestcrafts. What is priestcraft that causes even the very elect to err? How does it gain influence? How far do the tentacles of priestcraft reach, and how do they affect the current thoughts and beliefs? What can we do about known priestcrafts that have gained power over our lives and how can we shield ourselves effectively from the errors that creep slowly but surely into our counsels and decisions? Some would argue that such a negative topic isn't worthy of discussion; yet, when the Lord warns us of the very source of corruption that reaches "all" of us, we are wise to pause and learn.

Priestcraft is defined as "Setting oneself up (or setting up an entity) as a light unto the world, for the purpose of getting monetary gain." In other words, a person or entity sets themselves up to be recognized as the authority on a particular subject(s). They do not recognize God as the true authority on the subject, nor do they point others to God as being above all, omniscient, and the true master of the subject, one who does not and cannot lie and who does not make mistakes or vary in His thoughts and counsels regarding a particular subject. Rather than successfully pointing people to the true source of all light and truth, those who practice priestcraft set themselves up as an "Authoritative Light" for the purpose of getting monetary gain. They do not recognize God's authority but rather they jealously guard their "authoritative money-making status."

When a nation becomes full of priestcraft, as our nation is today, truth's influence on any subject becomes corrupted and weakened. Why? Because if truth is not convenient, or if it is not expedient, or in unprofitable, then liberating truth is sacrificed for high-level, profit-making schemes. Just as Babylon anciently rewrote scripture and history falsely in a manner that even now influences our thoughts, politics, and economy, so today's priestcrafts also corrupt our society within the realm they operate, and the Lord's vineyard is also affected and even corrupted to a degree.

To step out of the forrest to see us for what we have become is to recognize a nation who has too often forgotten God for profit. If we as a people will choose to be God's people and to live God's laws we have the resources to be the freest and happiest people on the face of the earth and a nation that could bless the entire earth. Only few societies have ever achieved this utopia and each has had to first overcome priestcrafts.

As they have done so, one of the first things they overcome is the need for money. Rather, they receive and give God's gifts freely, as an entire society, each lending their own gifts and talents to make a more beautiful and happy community. This is the life God intends and purposes for man and is the life that will be enjoyed by those who honor Him and who patiently call upon the Lord and recognize His hand in all things.

Consider Some Common Examples of Priestcrafts
My father was an incredible physician; he used the best knowledge he had; he studied daily to add to that knowledge, and often while working with a patient, he would excuse himself to his office to supplicate the Lord in behalf of his patient. He did not consider himself or the profession in which he worked as the supreme authority in health matters. He was merely a public servant doing his level best to help others. To best serve the public, he stayed current with science, he used good deductive reasoning, and he recognized his limitations and his need for divine help. Many physicians I have had the privilege to know are similar in this regard. Yet, most would agree that their freedom to make sound decisions is often limited by the dictates of the AMA.

The AMA, who granted my father and other physicians legal status to practice medicine, has set itself up as the authoritative light in all health matters. They jealously guard their "legal status" as the "authoritative light" and do not teach physicians how to successfully turn their patients to God in matters of health. Rather, as the medical institution progresses in its abilities to offer profitable solutions, they often overlook and even dismiss the simplest and purest solutions. Unfortunately, even though this truth is well-documented, profitable solutions continue to be peddled over God's simpler and freer solutions.

In any emergency room today, you will note computers and medical software that dictate the protocols that may be used for any given symptom. When I contemplated pursing medicine, my father warned that the utopia he enjoyed as a physician no longer exists. Dad was able to deliver babies, perform myriad surgeries, set bones, reattach severed body parts, and essentially use his divine gives to help mend bodies. Now even physicians are limited to very narrow focuses and are not allowed the freedoms my father once enjoyed.

Once a saddle-bronc rider was carted into my dad's clinic. His pelvis was split in two from having landed on the saddle horn while breaking a horse. No protocols existed for such and injury and Dad retired to his office in prayer to discuss the matter with God. He then called the local beam plant and asked for a very large C-clamp. With the C-clamp he pushed the pelvis back together. After an x-ray and a few more adjustments and another x-ray, the bones proved to be in place so that optimum healing could take place. Dad then casted the entire pelvis area including the C-Clamp. Six weeks later the cowboy was as good as new. Those were the days when docs could turn to God instead of the AMA.

This is merely an example of how priestcrafts not only set themselves up to get gain, but conspire in ways until it becomes impossible for an individual to follow God's counsels over the dictates of those who have assumed authority. The problem is that priestcrafts are so rampant, we don't even recognize them for what they are anymore; rather, we just think it is the way it is and must be, which of course is hogwash. The further we have driven God out of our conversations, the more priestcraft has taken over in nearly every area of our lives. In nearly every instance, legislation protects the economic viability of those practicing priestcrafts, rather than protect your freedom and rights as an individual.

Waste management, energy management, pest management, and nearly every aspect of our lives has been corrupted through priestcrafts, by those who seek to get gain and power over others. From Food Safty Acts that strip your rights to purchase the heirloom quality seeds you want in order to grow the foods you desire, to every facet of freedom, priestcrafts are enjoying an unprecedented heyday. Today, all an entity must do to become enriched is lobby and pay legislators to grant and legalize "authoritative" status. We've become so conditioned to this reality that most can no longer even see this has happened to us and so we accept it as normal and okay. We used to be one nation under God; today we are one nation under the AMA, or one nation under Monsanto, or one nation under the food industry, the dairy industry, and so forth, each who is protected through legislation to force us to do things their way.

True Americans vs. Those Who Practice Priestcrafts
Anyone who teaches truth and points others to God as the supreme authority and master of that truth, while at the same time doing their level best for the student, is a good and correct teacher. While teaching their level best, any rationale teacher will recognize their utter foolishness compared to God and the need for God's perfecting knowledge and influence on a subject. That's what makes great doctors such as my father and great teachers who are not controlled by the state, the feds, the unions, and so forth. This article veers a little toward politics, yet priestcraft is the art of wielding politics for personal gain.

This nation has been lifted up above all nations on earth; yet, if we do not root out and overcome priestcraft we will surely fall. As prophesied by the ancients concerning our day.

Summary

It is difficult to put our lives into context amid the errors that influence all of us and the way we think. As Babylon wrongly influenced the entire world, our present history in which we now live dominates our thoughts, perceptions, interpretations of the Lord's word, and our daily decisions. It is almost impossible to disconnect from these immediate influences in order to become self-correcting and to overcome error, even for humble seekers of Christ.

We are born into the current flow that molds and shapes us. It is rare when any person awakens and acts independent of the contemporary "current and flow." Yet, there has never been a Saint in any dispensation who has been redeemed and seen God's face, without having first recognized and made independent decisions that removed him or her from the "popular flow" in order to flow perfectly with God rather than man. Christ Himself recognized that the authorized and rightly ordained "Priestly Class" of his day had parted from pure doctrine and saving truths.

As the ancient "priestly class" we too often succumb to preaching vain, false, and foolish social doctrines and hold them up to be God's pure saving doctrines when they have no such power, regardless of popularity. We must wake up to our present history and to the "current and flow" that shapes us today. And, as we awaken, we may find we are often at direct odds with the prevailing culture and even the hierarchy of our day. Be warned that anyone who so awakens can look to the Savior for an example of the path he or she must follow. As occurred to Jesus, we too may discover there is little tolerance for anyone whose views differ from today's "accepted views." What then can we do if we desire to help preserve our nation?

Become aware of priestcraft and how it affects your every thoughts. Do you think of Zion; do you seek to build Zion; can you even conceive of a society that uses no monetary exchange, or does such a concept seem utterly unrealistic to you? You were born in a time when no one you know has ever lived in or even properly conceived what Zion truly is. To conceive it, we must first become perfect, which we cannot do until we awaken to priestcrafts and then reject and shun them from our lives. As other saints of all ages, we too must separate ourselves from that which corrupts and influences improperly.

Redemption

2010-10-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

Some believe that receiving the Fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ means to be baptized and to receive other saving ordinances and to follow God's prophets. While each of these is required to receive of the Fullness of the Gospel, they are not the Fullness. The fullness is to walk the path of redemption in order that we might come to know and receive Jesus Christ intimately as both the author and finisher of our faith. We must pass from an initial belief and faith in Christ to come to Know Him personally.

Knowledge of the Lord begins with the covenants we make at baptism. As we remember the sacrifice of body and blood Christ made for us, and keep His Commandments, and follow Him, we qualify to be taught more perfectly by His Spirit. Through the Lord’s Spirit we come to know Him through faith, until we finally see His face, know that He is, and He then becomes the finisher of our faith, by introducing us to the Father.

Why is mere belief in Christ insufficient and why must we come to know Christ and the Father and what is this path of redemption that enables us to do just this? Let’s consider the important process that enables individuals to receive Christ as their Second Comforter and to be succored by Christ until ready to be introduced to the Father.

What follows is the process for asking questions and receiving answers directly from God; more importantly, it is the process for moving God’s power and influence from behind the veil into your physical world to shape and impact your life. It is the process for submitting your will to God's will with perfect faith in Him in order to grow unto salvation.

The process is true and faithful to any soul who will apply it, turning neither from the left hand, nor to the right hand, but going forward precisely as the Lord commands. The process begins by forsaking sins and continues with the other principles included below. This entire process is repetitive and circular. It enables a person to grow line upon line unto salvation and eternal life. Let us begin with the first step in the process:

1. Forsake Sin: The ability to easily receive God’s perfecting influence is conditioned upon cleanliness and obedience to His commandments and to revelations given to you. Cleanliness and obedience prepare us to call upon God, and to recognize, hear, and heed His voice. If we would enjoy His influence freely, we must forsake all sin, come unto Him, call upon His name, and keep His commandments. We must be worthy to easily and freely receive His perfecting influence. Uncleanliness greatly inhibits our ability to hear, receive, and act upon His voice.

2. Come Unto the Lord: What does it mean to come unto the Lord? Have you ever seen a child demand something of a loving parent? A wise parent does not respond to demands that will not serve the best interests of the child. By comparison, when a child recognizes a need and humbly approaches the parent, ready to learn, the child is then in an attitude where he/she can receive the parent's wisdom and help. If a child is determined to do things their own way, even the wisest parent is helpless to make a difference for the child until the child becomes teachable. Wise and loving parent stand ready to help a child the moment that child is ready to receive help. The phrase, “Come Unto the Lord” suggest that we prepare ourselves to be teachable and to be ready to learn from the Lord. Our intent to act upon His counsels must be real.

3. Call Upon His Name: After coming unto the Lord in such a manner, we then call upon His name in prayer and discuss, reason with, and learn from Him. There are many ways the Lord speaks to us. These range from insubstantial but real feelings and impressions, to having pure intelligence come into our minds and hearts, to hearing His voice in our minds and hearts, to being able to carry on two-way conversations with Him, to receiving visits from angels and celestial beings who are sent to teach us, to parting the veil, seeing His face, and speaking to the Lord as one man speaks with another man. The greater and more direct the revelation received, the greater responsibility we have to act upon it. By receiving revelation, without “real intent” to follow it, we bring condemnation upon ourselves and our progression ceases until we repent.

4. Receive Revelation: The universal pattern to learn truth is: Desire to know; Believe the Lord can make it known to you; ponder or think deeply and prayerfully about that which you desire and, Fast and pray over many days. Finally, you must inquire before the Lord will reveal Himself to you. Time taken with God in prayer enables you to overcome disbelief. What do you want to know, and do you believe God will tell you? As you accept become obedient to His voice, what specific help can He offer you? Belief must extend beyond hope to an assurance or certitude God will answer your prayers and provide the help you need. God hath not revealed anything to prophets, but what He will make known unto you, and even the least person may know all things as fast as he or she is able to bear them. When you ask for any blessing, be prepared to receive God’s Spirit and to act upon His voice to you.

5. Decide and Plan: As you receive revelation from God concerning those things you ask Him, begin to make decisions and plans based upon the initial inspiration received. Pay attention to your feelings as you make decisions to go forward. Do you feel uplifted and joyful with attending feelings of excitement and high adventure, or do you feel burdened and confused. Right decisions regarding how to act upon the inspirations you receive will bring peace, anticipation, excitement, and happiness, while poor decisions lead to confusion, a lack of peace, and to feeling weighed down. As you recognize right decisions, pause to imagine, see, and feel how the outcome of such decisions will shape and alter your world. See it, believe in it and as you receive God’s Spirit, impressions, visits, and visions, record them in your journal. Then, create “to-do” plans as the foundation for immediate and future action. Ask for whatsoever you need to support right decisions and right plans and move forward.

6. Act: After learning new truth and making right decisions and plans, you must act upon revelations received, or your ability to move forward will weaken and your faith will grow dormant. Be up and about and anxiously engaged in bringing your inspired plans to fruition. I received specific revelation on a Sunday; I created my plans and on Monday morning I acted with certitude and great assurance regarding those plans. I knew with certitude that all I had to do was act according to the pattern God had given me and His promises to me would be fulfilled…, and they were.

7. Share: An essential part of grounding truth within you is to share truth learned with others. Some will believe you; others will doubt you but will seek to know if what you say is true, and others yet will oppose you, criticize you, and think you foolish. This can be painful, but is intended to cause you to reflect more deeply and to learn more fully the truths you must master. Some close friends observed the apparent changes in my health that came to me as a result of following a pattern of eating God revealed to me. After sharing my experience with them, they went home and did the same thing. The mother and three of her diabetic children became free of diabetes, after determining to do as I had been inspired to do. This strengthened my faith. Since then I have seen this pattern repeated with all who covenant with God in like manner concerning their diet. Whatever it is you are commanded to do, do it, experience the blessings, and share them with others--under the following condition.

As you receive revelation from God, God alone should determine what you impart and share with others—always trust Him. Sharing the sacred with the unprepared causes damage to you and to the unprepared and turns off the conduit of revelation in your life—until you repent. Christ taught “give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under there feet, and turn again and rend you.” Remember, that it is through repentance alone one is made worthy of what is holy. The sacred is not for unrepentant dogs and will never belong to unclean, unrepentant, and unholy “swine” that are unwilling to do what is needed to qualify for the Lord’s presence.

8. Opposition: Some mocked me for what I had done; this caused me to reflect and to more fully recognize the reality of the revelation regarding diet I had received and the reality of its benefits to me, both spiritually and physically. Whenever you approach heaven and succeed in receiving revelation, you must also experience opposition. For example, Moses was transfigured and beheld God’s Glory, but then Satan came to confuse and deceive him. Through this experience Moses recognized that Satan had no glory and learned to discern between God’s glory and pretended glory. Opposition causes us to ponder and search more deeply; it is the catalyst that enables us to understand the full range of truth being taught to us and to embrace each personal revelation on any subject more fully. Recognize opposition for its important role in helping to achieve saving knowledge—by causing you to think, ponder, pray, and to learn more deeply and fully.

9. Christ-like Conduct: How we react to opposition determines whether or not we are ready to receive more light, truth, and increased faith. The Savior taught in the Sermon on the Mount that we are to pray in behalf of our enemies. The natural man shuns enemies or opposition. If we desire further revelation and help from God, then we must conduct ourselves as Christ toward those who oppose us. Love them and pray earnestly for the best possible outcomes in their lives. It is difficult when those we love criticize and think us to be deluded. However, many times, as we pray for our enemies, the very people whom we earnestly pray for come to embrace truth. One of God’s prophets prayed and taught sinful people of his day for more than 300 years. Through his patient, loving, and righteous influence they became translated. By comparison, when we are not a type of Christ toward enemies (anyone who opposes us), our hearts harden and we close heaven’s conduit in our lives until we repent. As you become a type of Christ and conduct yourself rightly toward opposition, you pass the test, secure faith, and are consequently entrusted with more light, truth, knowledge, and greater faith.

10. Repeat Pattern: God wants to bring us back into His presence; we do that by attaining sufficient knowledge through faith to part the veil and enter His presence. Inspirations received enable us to receive added faith and knowledge as we act upon those revelations. No matter how many revelations we receive; or how faithfully we act upon them, or even how Christ-like our conduct remains amidst opposition, the next step of personal growth is as if we are learning to walk all over again. It is designed by God to stretch us and to increase our faith further and to help us grow further in knowledge. As we encounter new doubts, as we will, the pathway through them is the same. We begin by calling upon the Lord with a desire to believe; we make right plans and decisions, we act in faith, and we pray for the Lord’s choicest blessings to be upon those who oppose us.

11. Earn, Establish, and Maintain Trust: Often when we receive revelations from God we initially receive seemingly insubstantial communications, but as we are faithful to the process described above, revelations change in nature according to the trust we earn with God. They progress from insubstantial but real impressions, to hearing God speak in our mind and heart, to conversing with Him, to receiving visits from angels and from celestial beings, to parting the veil to enter Christ’s presence and to receive Him as our Second Comforter. While the beginning of the path is humble by comparison, continuing in the pathway enables us to converse through the veil with the Lord. This redemptive process is the same for Saints in all dispensations and whether we seek revelation to enable greater health or for other matters, this is the ordained process for rending the veil to receive a fullness of truth in any matter under heaven.

12. Trials and Crossroads: Trials are given to us even when we seek faithfully to heed God’s voice in our lives. We must persist through our trials, even when we have no idea how we will fulfill God’s commands and expectations. Trials and opposition lead us to a broken heart and a contrite spirit. When you reach a crossroad and you are unsure what the next step is or which way to turn, remember that God answers prayers as we offer them with broken hearts and contrite spirits and with a “real intent” to follow Him. Often, while in such a spirit, we receive more than we anticipate, just as those who have heard His voice or who have been taken to a high mountain and shown marvelous things. As we increase in our ability to deal rightly with information given to us by God, He becomes more liberal in sharing information with us—however, He refrains from providing more than we can handle. Revelation given can bless, but can also work to condemn us if we are unwilling or unready to respond. For example, do not ask for improved health or any other blessing without “real intent” to heed His counsels to you.

A client had been obese for over 20 years; because of repeated failures to maintain her ideal body weight, she struggled to believe God’s dietary pattern would work for her. She came to understand that living in a manner to enjoy her best health is actually a part of a covenant she made with God as a young Christian girl. As we earnestly strive to keep our covenants with God, no matter what they are, God has promised that He will help us keep those covenants. She learned to recognize when she was struggling to eat according to God’s ordained eating pattern. She called them her crossroads and learned that if she would pause at her crossroads, share her struggles with God and ask humbly and earnestly for His help, He would strengthen and teach her. She came home from a long day at work and cried because she didn’t have the strength to make a good dinner for her family. She wasn’t even sure if she had any healthy food in the house. She recognized she was at a crossroads and asked God for help. She felt prompted to look in her refrigerator and pantry. She saw some healthful food choices; then an inspired idea came to her for combining those food choices into a healthful and tasty meal. She related to me that it took her just five minutes to make dinner and to get it on the table for her family. After dinner, each of her children told her it was the best dinner she had ever made. Persist and ask for God’s help in the crossroads! Anything of deep importance to you is of deep importance to God. Do not trivialize what is important to you. Christ taught his apostles to pray for that which they desired and it would be given. He also taught them that even their desires would be given to them from the Holy Ghost. Therefore, if you are striving earnestly to do good in your life, trust your desires and the inspirations you receive concerning them. The spirit of joy and high adventure that comes from pursuing righteous desires is a sign that your desires are of the Spirit.

13. Heed All Revelation: Revelations come in many forms; learn to recognize, revere, and respect every revelation. For example, through a dream the wise men were warned and the infant Jesus was saved from King Herod. It was Joseph’s dream that brought young Jesus back from Egypt and that warned Joseph to flee Judea to Galilee for the safety of Jesus. As we accept, heed, and act rightly upon God’s communications with us—in their myriad forms—He shares more instruction with us. To the extent we don’t act with faith, we are not accepting revelation and will receive no more revelation until we repent.

14. Certitude: As our faith is tested with each new revelation, and we learn to respond to God’s revelations without hesitation, God always helps us to accomplish what He asks of us. This leads us to gain greater confidence before Him. For example, David grew in faith as a young shepherd while defending his father’s flocks against a lion and a bear. He learned these threats were nothing when he acted with God’s strength. Because of his seasoned faith in the Almighty, when he faced Goliath, he was certain of the outcome before entering the conflict. Similarly, as you accept and respond to God’s Spirit in faith, your faith will grow by degree and you will be made ready for each new step of growth you will need to make. My client learned that now was the time for her to attain the Lord’s promised blessings of health. She, like young David, was called upon to bring God’s power from behind the veil to enable her to slay her Goliath. God’s power is brought from heaven to assist you, only as you act upon revelations received. As you approach your own Goliath as David approached his Goliath, do so with certitude. Until you confront present challenges in such a manner, you are not ready to proceed further, or to receive more light and truth. We must take the feelings, the dreams, the impressions, and the insubstantial communications from God and bring them into our physical world in which we live and act. We part the veil by applying spiritual commandments from God in heaven—here on earth. Our challenges grow in proportion to the faith we attain. It is by attaining added faith during each step of the redemptive process that we lay hold upon sufficient faith to part the veil and bring God’s power into our lives with today’s challenges. This is the heart of the process that enabled Saints from each millennium to lay hold upon sufficient faith to take up their abode with Christ while in the flesh. As you enable the process with any matter under heaven, it is the same process.

15. Endure: Trials, setbacks, and temporary failure do not mean the Lord has abandoned you. Be tenacious as you do according to the Lord’s Spirit. God never forgets a promise and as you record His promises to you in your journal, and as you persist, you will attain confidence in the promised outcomes. As we remain faithful, no seeming Goliath will prevent ultimate success. Through persistent and tenacious endurance, we become further enabled to develop into the person(s) God wants us to become.

When you choose to endure and move ahead in the face of failure, you reap dividends. Whether you are 200 pounds over weight, or are suffering from disease, or are facing a business or marriage challenge, you must look Goliath in the face and say, “He is God’s problem, not mine.” My problem is to persist in faith—without hesitation and to overcome any doubts I may come to face. Pause, as needed, to ask for help. There is an outcome of increased growth and faith associated with every commandment we keep. Attaining the faith sufficient to take up one’s abode with Christ requires enduring and overcoming apparent imminent failure. Even Christ, while on the cross, endured the temptation of apparent imminent failure before His ultimate triumph, a triumph that enables man to overcome death and to return to God.

In moments where all seems lost, hold to the promises made to you by a perfect God who cannot and does not lie. Remember that even though the heavens and earth shall pass away, His promises to you will not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled. His promises are as the nail in a sure place, and secure you to Him. The path to heaven passes through hell. Just as Christ received angels to minister to Him, after “the tempter came to him,” so too can you. Remember, the higher you reach toward heaven, the lower you will also experience, until the opposed extremes enable you to discern all that exists between the extremes of heaven and hell. Required faith to part the veil cannot be obtained by any other means. We must choose between apparent failure of our faith and best efforts, and persistence if we are to rend the veil. “The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.” “Thy mind, O man! If thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity—thou must commune with God.” (DHC3:295; TPJS, p. 137) Both Heaven and Hell court us in our journey. These extremes alone enable us with a fullness of knowledge.

The challenges we face are customized for each of us; it doesn’t matter what our Goliath’s are; they each serve to help us grow properly. Even the experience of reaching for God’s promised blessings of health may only be attained perfectly through this process. God is uninhibited by the present stage in your life, and if you will allow Him to do so, He will use your present stage to help you prepare for the next one. Until you can endure discouragement, you are not ready to receive Him. Rising above discouragement and apparent failure is a part of the process of redemption and everyone who will be saved must pass through it. Great highs are paired with great lows. Ultimately, you must be wise enough to learn all there is to learn between the top “high” brackets and the “low” bottom brackets. You must believe that God wants you to succeed in your obedience to Him and that no creativity or effort should be spared in accomplishing the assignment. Be creative, resilient, persist and face your daily challenges with faith. This is the process that has enabled all prophets and saints to take up their abode with Christ. This process will help you do likewise.

16. Part the Veil Daily: As you act in faith according to the Lord’s Spirit, your physical world will alter dramatically through your faithful actions. As you implement the process described above, pay strict heed to the revelations and impressions you will receive. Act upon them immediately to enable greater faith and to prevent your faith from growing dormant. As you do so, you will do like David and will move aside the veil by bringing spiritual inspirations and power from heaven into your physical world, and God will quicken you to show you how to do what you’ve been asked to do. Record each such instance. The same redemptive principles you will learn from this process are the principles by which mountains are moved, seas are parted, and the dead are raised. As you master this process, nothing shall be impossible to you. As the Lord commands, you will be able to move the power of the Spirit from behind the veil into your physical world—through obedience. This pattern and process represents a shadow and type and a description of the process you are to enable each day of your lifetime. It is the formula every saint from every dispensation has employed to know God and to see His face. It teaches how faith, repentance (striving and forsaking sin), baptism (covenant making), and the Holy Ghost (God’s reciprocal covenant to us) work within us to bring the commandments of God from heaven into our physical world to render the veil and to shape our world. Only through covenants can we part the veil. As you keep your covenants, God keeps his, and His Spirit moves from heaven, through the veil to you; then, as you act upon inspiration received, God’s power and influence works to shape your world.

17. Today’s Stage for Growth: How do we know we are doing the right thing today? As you pray for that which you desire most, know that the Holy Ghost fills any clean vessel with the precise desires that are right for them today. As you strive to serve God, His Spirit will influence your desires and as you embrace them, you will find yourself on the right stage for today’s most important growth. Accept and move forward with those desires. Remember, the universal pattern for bringing heaven’s help from behind the veil into you life: Desire to know; Believe the Lord can make it known to you; ponder or think deeply and prayerfully about that which you desire and, Fast and pray over many days. Finally, you must ask before the Lord will reveal Himself to you; then, you must act upon the revelations you receive. What do you want to know, and do you believe God will tell you? Belief must extend beyond hope to a certitude God will answer your prayers. As your bowels are filled with charity and as virtue garnishes your thoughts unceasingly, you will enjoy great confidence that God will answer your prayers and the doctrines of the priesthood, or in other words God's pure knowledge, will distill upon your soul as the dews from heaven. Study and employ the universal pattern—as described above. It is the universal pattern that has been employed by everyone who comes to know God and who is redeemed from their fallen state in this lifetime. You are meant to become redeemed today, not at some point way off into the eternities. As you free yourself from sin and come unto the Lord with real intent and you call upon his name and discuss your concerns with him, his promises are sure that he will answer you. As you do his will today, tomorrow and so on, be heeding his will daily, you will come to see his face.

Too often we can become overly confused about what we should do today. Jesus taught that sufficient is the day... He was teaching us to keep things simple and to not go beyond the mark--to trust Him and call upon Him daily, to keep a prayer in our hearts at all times and to keep His Spirit with us always. Only in the present can we act according to the Lord’s voice to render the veil and to bring His power and influence into our physical world today, to help shape and mold the events of our lives and to endow us with more light and truth. We must trust His sweet and peaceful spirit and keep it with us always. As we do so, the Master will lead us just right and and will raise us up unto eternal life, just as a farmer raises up calves in a stall. It is senseless to attempt to get so far ahead of ourselves that we seek to micromanage a life that needs to be led peacefully and hourly, according to the Lord’s Spirit.

Proper Framework

Keep the following things in mind as you reflect upon the process for walking the path of redemption to receive the Fullness of the Gospel.

Learn to keep sacred things to self unless the Spirit asks you to share and testify of the truth to others. Earn trust by sharing only what He asks you to share with whom He asks you to share it.
Light is received according to how swiftly it can be received. Ask, receive, trust, act, and continue to allow light to grow brighter until it is perfect. More light is received only as we tend faithfully to light already received.
Feeling comes before seeing, touching, or hearing. There is no veil to our feelings and we must act upon them rightfully, if we would rend the veil.
Focus on one hard thing at a time—whatever most hinders you most today or is directed to you by the Spirit.
Ask God concerning your desires with Sincere and Real intent. Ask for help to know when He is answering prayers. Unless we ask, He doesn’t give.
Believe in and develop faith in Christ, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, keep the commandments, and renew baptismal covenants weekly and as well as other sacred covenants that are designed help to achieve another level of faith, preparation, and cleanliness. Disassociate with the world and associate with heaven. The adoption rites of baptism and temple ordinances help restore us to God’s family or to become an heir and a member of God’s family. He visits only members of His family—not strangers and foreigners.
Study the scriptures to better understand the path of redemption and how to receive the Second Comforter. Scriptures help to enable a firm hope in God’s promises.
Become familiar with what He wants you to do and then do it. Trust and do as He says.
All of Christ’s intelligence came through obedience and submission to God and not through philosophy or the scientific method. He walked this path perfectly and can lead us to success upon the same path.
Leave sins of the past and allow Him to guide and succor.
Do not judge God as He elevates you to higher than you are now. Quiet fears, be still, and know that He is God.
Worship God alone and not His messengers. Listen and learn from His messengers, but worship and follow God alone if you desire to walk the path of redemption.
Believing on God’s words results in receiving manifestations of the spirit.
Acting upon his words results in greater faith, light, truth, and knowledge.
Do today what we already know is expected of us if we want to receive more light and truth. The miracle of Lazarus was restricted to bringing him back to life, not to the opening of the tomb or the unwrapping of the burial cloth. Reading the scriptures and solemn thought is akin to unwrapping the burial cloths. Do what is expected and find many answers and receive much revelation while searching the scriptures.
Repent of iniquity or serious transgressions.
Meet familial and church responsibilities before expecting to travel very far along the path of the Second Comforter. When balance is off we are more likely to fall aside rather than move in the right path.
Enjoy redemptive process within my dominion. Great experiences in scriptures involved obscure and private lives; Lehi was a family man; Nephi had to flee is brothers; Abraham presided over his family and servants, perhaps the size of a Relief Society. One’s personal dominion is sufficient to walk the redemptive path.
As you approach God on His terms and in the manner he established you will see Him.
There is no veil to feelings; learning is good, to the extent you are able to feel through the veil concerning all things.
We are tried until our hearts are broken and our spirits are contrite, and in our extremities we come to know God even better.
Exercise patience, humility and meekness while in the path.
The closer you come to God, the more you become a foreigner and stranger to others.
Do not deny the power of God (receive personal revelation and gifts). Qualify to know the mysteries of God by doing the following: forsake sin, come unto Him, call on His name; obey His voice; and keep His commandments (D&C 93:1). To the extent you do not receive God’s power and gifts, you deny the power thereof.
Humble self and be teachable and open to higher things. Call upon God to come. Live every principle He teaches me. Accept all true principles. Rely on no man to bring you to God, but upon a personal relationship with the Holy Ghost, the Savior, and with God.

For those who have eyes to see, this pattern teaches how to receive revelation and communication from the Father and how to grow in hope, belief, faith, knowledge, charity, and in one’s relationship with God, until the faith and knowledge he or she possesses can no longer be kept within the veil.

May the Lord Bless and Be With You Always!

Mustard Seed

2010-10-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed; which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: and yet it grows, and waxes into a great tree; that fowls of the air lodge in the branches of it. If ye have the faith of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain; remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; or unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. (Matt 13:31, 17:20, Mark 4:31, Luke 13:19 and 17:6)

Imagine that nothing is impossible to you. You can heal the sick, cause the lame to walk, give sight to the blind, succeed in business, family, love, and so forth. Now let's discuss the faith of a mustard seed and seek to understand more fully what it means to have the kind of faith where truly, nothing (that God asks of us) is impossible to us.

Now imagine for a moment that you are an intelligence who is assigned by God to a mustard seed. It is your job to grow from a mustard seed into a mustard tree. You look over the pattern for growth given within the DNA of the seed and say, "You expect me to grow from that tiny little seed into that great big thing? God says to you, "If you act faithfully according to the pattern I have established in the DNA, it shall come to pass, bit by bit, and you will progress eternally through your obedience.

Well, you think to yourself, "God cannot lie; you know also that he has the power to keep his promises and that He is good, merciful, kind, and just and that he has been from everlasting and will so be to everlasting without variableness or changing. You also know that God is omniscient and cannot make a mistake in the pattern for growth that he has provided for you within the DNA. His designs and creations are perfect. You determine to use your agency to act voluntarily and to accept your assignment to be the intelligence that is assigned to the organized matter that is known as a mustard seed. You are assured eternal progression by accepting this assignment. You know that because of God's perfect love for you, he exercises perfect judgment over you and your welfare and has not and will not ever ask anything of you that isn't for your eternal best interest.

After assuring yourself regarding the characteristics, attributes, and perfections of God you determine to exercise faith in God's commandment to multiply within the element you are assigned (the mustard seed) and you begin to act upon the organized matter within the seed, according to the pattern set forth by God within the DNA of the seed. Hence you begin to divide and multiply the seed until bit-by-bit it grows into a great tree and fowls of the air lodge in your branches singing their songs of joy, building nests, and raising their families. As you grow into a tree, certain real needs must be met in order for you to continue to multiply and grow. You have faith that God will provide the sunshine, the earth, and the water to enable you to do your task, and He does and you do. Through your experience growing from a seed into a mustard seed, you grow further in light and truth and you progress eternally according to God's perfect and loving plan for you.

We learn that the faith of a mustard seed is based upon a belief in God's characteristics, attributes, and perfections (see Faith). God doesn't lie, doesn't ask us to do something we should not do; all he asks of us is designed for our best growth, or eternal progress. We therefore can do as His Spirit commands us--with nothing doubting. We can press forward in faith with the assurance that God is mightier than all the earth and that we need only to put out best foot forward, one in front of the other--whether we are commanded to heal the sick, move a mountain, raise the dead, magnify a stewardship, visit a neighbor to extend kindness, or even to converse with the Lord through the veil. And we know that with anything He asks of us, we have a right to come to know what the pattern is that we must follow in order to accomplish the thing He asks of us. As we move forward in faith, He reveals the sacred and divine pattern of operation that makes impossible things possible.

With the faith of a mustard seed we trust implicitly in God and act according to the pattern and commandments He gives unto us through His Spirit and through his authorized servants. We know also that just as the lilies of the field toil not and spin not, our lives will be adorned beautifully as we follow God's Spirit in perfect obedience to fulfill the measure of our creation.

Just as the mustard seed's true needs are supplied by God, if we lack not faith, everything we need to complete our missions on this earth will be provided to us as we need it and as we act in faith according to divine patterns. Therefore, we are to take no thought for tomorrow, but are to act in accordance with God's commands today. We must discover the pattern by which we are to act and then act with complete certitude and assurance that our growth will be exactly according to God's perfect designs for us.

The faith of a mustard seed is perfect faith in God in every aspect of our lives. As we act in accordance with God's will and established patterns for us, we can ask and we will receive, and knock and it will be open to us. We can go forward with perfect faith knowing that God in whom we trust is mightier than all the earth and will support us faithfully.