Overcome World Find Rest

Notes from our monthly study group at my house:

One thing we ran out of time to talk about was this: "My plea to you this morning is to find rest from the intensity, uncertainty, and anguish of this world by overcoming the world through your covenants with God. Let Him know through your prayers and your actions that you are serious about overcoming the world. Ask Him to enlighten your mind and send the help you need. Each day, record the thoughts that come to you as you pray; then follow through diligently."   I've talked to a couple of you about this already...but I'd love to hear if any of you do this...and how you do it and how it has worked for you.  I shared a little about my experience with this in my Sunday School lesson today.

Here's a little bit of my experience that I shared:  President Nelson gave very similar counsel about receiving revelation in his talk Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives:  "Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort. Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.” 

Embarrassingly, I didn’t really follow this counsel until he gave similar counsel in the most recent General Conference.  Then I bought a prayer journal and have been trying to write down the thoughts and feelings that come to mind and to follow through with actions I feel prompted to take.  And if I’m being honest, I recognize that I’m a complete novice.  But a couple of examples...one night while praying, a thought about something I should do for an online group I run came to mind.  In the past I might have actually felt a bit annoyed with myself that my mind had wandered and that I wasn’t able to stay focused on my prayer.  But the thought was a good one and so I wrote it down and then acted on it. And feel pretty sure that it was actually revelation.  And realized that probably at least some of the times when I feel like I’m unfocused during prayer...those thoughts may actually be coming from the Lord to help me and I’ve been unaware and ungrateful for them!  I’ve also had words of comfort and counsel come as I’ve prayed about things.   Now I have received revelation in the past...so I know this isn't the only way to receive revelation.  And I am still struggling sometimes to be able to tell which thoughts are my thoughts and which thoughts actually come from God...but I think that with continued practice that will get easier.  It's been a powerful experience so far.  And I am realizing that I still have A LOT to learn about "Hearing Him."  

*****

There will be trials and disappointments.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us unconditionally.  Just as we, as parents, love our children.  It's not easy and our children make mistakes, but we still love them.

We could relate to him saying that many days we'll want to curl up in a ball and stay in our pjs.  

We discussed what he said about the world seeking for power, possessions, popularity and pleasures.  These things can, sometimes, bring momentary happiness or pleasure.  But the won't bring rest.  They won't bring joy.  They are fleeting.  If having possessions really brought happiness, we'd be content after purchasing something...not quickly wanting to buy something else.  He said, "

Now, you may be thinking this sounds more like hard spiritual work than rest. But here is the grand truth: while the world insists that power, possessions, popularity, and pleasures of the flesh bring happiness, they do not! They cannot! What they do produce is nothing but a hollow substitute for “the blessed and happy state of those [who] keep the commandments of God.”¹¹

The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it! However, when you yoke yourself to Jesus Christ and do the spiritual work required to overcome the world, He, and He alone, does have the power to lift you above the pull of this world."

We talked about what he said:  "But, my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns “with power and great glory,”¹ He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful."   As we've read the Old Testament this year, we've seen some pretty magnificent manifestations of His power...dividing the Red Sea so the children of Israel could cross on dry ground, protecting Daniel in the lions' den, tumbling the walls of Jericho and many more.  It's pretty exciting and overwhelming to think about even greater manifestations occurring.  I asked...do you think everyone will see these manifestations or only some people?  We all suspect that only those with "eyes to see" will recognize these manifestations.  It sounds hard to miss these miracles...and I certainly hope I am one with eyes to see!  I suspect that one of them is the work happening in temples already and all that will continue to happen in temples.  Over three hundred temples are announced, being built or dedicated.  As far as I know, the most temples that have ever been on the Earth at the same time before this dispensation is two.  (Nephite temple, temple in Jerusalem)  (Two notes:  I recognize that there may have been more because we don't have scripture from all of the "lost" ten tribes.  So it may have been more...but I think it is safe to say that our world has never seen temples dotting the  Earth as they are now! Second, I recognize that before Christ's resurrection work for the dead wasn't done so there were differences --and similarities—in the purposes and uses of temples.) We are excited to see what other manifestations of His power and glory we will see.  What privileges, blessings and miracles will He bestow?   What can we do to have eyes to see?

President Nelson said, "As I have stated before, the gathering of Israel is the most important work taking place on earth today. One crucial element of this gathering is preparing a people who are able, ready, and worthy to receive the Lord when He comes again, a people who have already chosen Jesus Christ over this fallen world, a people who rejoice in their agency to live the higher, holier laws of Jesus Christ."

Are we this people?  Are we prepared to receive the Lord?  Are we able, ready and worthy?  Are we living in higher, holier ways?  We suspect that we have a more significant role to play in determining when Christ will come than perhaps we realize.  If we'd choose to follow Him and be able, ready and worthy, perhaps He would come sooner.  

We discussed the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet a bit.    So many are referring to this pamphlet as a "free for all" or a lowering of standards/loosening of rules...but I don't think that is true if you have read the pamphlet or Elder Uchtdorf's words about the pamphlet.  The world says "you do you" (unless "you" hurts or annoys me or limits my freedom to choose...and then you should definitely not do you...seems to be the world's philosophy.)...but we think the FTSOY pamphlet is actually saying, "You do Jesus.  Become who the Lord needs you to be.  Live in a higher, holier way.  You know what I have asked, you know what the expectations are, are you going to choose to live as you know I want you to?"  

The Lord blesses us.  Do we recognize His hand?  Do we see coincidences and happy accidents and the kindness of others but fail to recognize that the Lord is orchestrating the details of our lives?

Earlier that day, Sara and I had talked about David Archuleta choosing to step away from the church for a time.  And how sad that is, especially as he is a public figure...though it is sad when anyone walks away.  (President Nelson said, "Dear brothers and sisters, I grieve for those who leave the Church because they feel membership requires too much of them. They have not yet discovered that making and keeping covenants actually makes life easier! Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples—and keeps them—has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ. Please ponder that stunning truth!

The reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power—power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way. Those who live the higher laws of Jesus Christ have access to His higher power. Thus, covenant keepers are entitled to a special kind of rest that comes to them through their covenantal relationship with God.")  (I hope it's okay to share this part without your permission, Sara!)  Sara said that she felt like David was so strong, that he was different from others.  And the reality is, I don't think ANY of us are "different"...meaning I think every single one of us needs to feed our testimonies.  We have to nurture our faith.  We have to do the spiritual work to increase our faith and testimony and we have to keep doing that spiritual work.  I feel like I have a strong testimony and I feel converted to the gospel and the Savior.  It feels nearly impossible to imagine myself walking away.  AND YET...I feel pretty certain that if I stopped going to church and reading my scriptures and praying for a couple of months...if I began listening more to the world and to outside sources than to the Spirit and to the apostles and prophets, that my testimony would begin to wane and perhaps go out completely.  (I want to be clear that I don't know David Archuleta...and I'm not saying that is exactly what happened to him.  Or that it is the only way, necessarily, to begin the process of walking away.  But I do think --based on what I have observed in other loved ones and based on words of prophets and apostles—that if we are continually feeding our spirits...if we are careful about what we are consuming (watching/reading/listening to/following/spending our time on) and if we are actively trying to follow the prophet, we are much less likely to lose our faith.)

President Nelson said, "

I reaffirm a profound teaching of President Ezra Taft Benson: “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, … lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace.”¹²

These incomparable privileges follow those who seek the support of heaven to help them overcome this world. To this end, I extend to members of the entire Church the same charge I gave to our young adults last May. I urged them then—and I plead with you now—to take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Work for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with false philosophies of unbelieving men and women. As you make the continual strengthening of your testimony of Jesus Christ your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.¹³"

Take charge of your testimony.  Work for it. Nurture it.  Feed it truth.  Avoid the "philosophies of men mingled with scripture" which seem to abound.

We also talked about the Follow Him podcast for this week about Daniel.  The second section talked a lot about parenting, especially permissive parenting.  Lili de Hoyos Anderson spoke about the need for having expectations.  Typically we work hard at things that feel rewarding for us, but most people don't work hard at things that don't feel rewarding and we have to teach our children to work hard for things that aren't immediately rewarding.  (And what feels rewarding varies from person to person...for some people getting good grades is rewarding so they will work hard in school but may give up quickly or practice very little in piano, for instance, because that doesn't feel rewarding.  Some work really hard at sports, but may give only a mediocre effort to chores or to magnifying a calling.)  We need to have high expectations AND high love.  It takes large amounts of self worth and courage to stand for truth when others aren't.  And feelings of worth come from seeing that you are living in line with your values and that you are accomplishing things that matter to you. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego would not have stood for truth if they didn't have faith, courage and self-worth.  (This is just a quick summary of the second half of the podcast and what we talked about in our group...so if you haven't, you may want to listen to the podcast.)  

We LOVED President Nelson's apostolic blessing:  "With the power of the holy apostleship vested in me, I bless you in your quest to overcome this world. I bless you to increase your faith in Jesus Christ and learn better how to draw upon His power. I bless you to be able to discern truth from error. I bless you to care more about the things of God than the things of this world. I bless you to see the needs of those around you and strengthen those you love. Because Jesus Christ overcame this world, you can too. I so testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."