Kindness Challenge

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.) 
4. Journal: Record your kindness experiences and the blessings you receive as you go about doing good continually. (see Sunshine, Rain, and Love.) 
5. 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). 
6. Holiness: Seek to fully understand the Path of Holiness and record goals and experiences concerning holiness as you go about being kind. (See Holiness.)
7. 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

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:

1. First, is the hope to receive Christ as our Second Comforter. 
2. Second, is the hope to be made a partaker of the heavenly gift. 
3. 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

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:

1. 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. 
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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

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

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

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?

1. 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”.) 
2. 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. 
3. 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. 
4. 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. 
5. 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”.) 
6. 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”.) 
7. 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:

1. 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".) 
2. 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. 
3. 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.