Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Inspiration/Revelation:  God knows the answers to all our questions and problems.  If we can’t find answers it may be because we haven’t learned how to use the special sources of light that we have been given:  1) We are instructed to use our own gifts of intelligence to figure things out in our own minds.  2) The Holy Ghost will guide us in this process, if we give Him permission.  3) Then we are taught to ask; through prayer, whether our thinking has been guided by the Holy Ghost or by our selfish desires.  4) After we have asked, reading the scriptures gives us a connection to the voice of God and opens an additional opportunity for the Holy Ghost to get involved. 5) If we keep His Commandments, our Sacrament prayers promise he additional influence of the Second Comforter.  6) Trust the Lord’s timetable.  It may be different from yours.  7) Don’t forget that a stupor of thought is one of the possible forms of revelation.  (D&C 9:9) If it turns out the most common form we experience, we probably need to work harder on 1 – 5.
Don’t ask for things you know you can’t or shouldn’t have.  “There is no crime greater than having too many desires.”  (Chinese Proverb)

          

Christmas

           Christmas, Some Challenges it Poses: -- The fact
that there is a historical figure who has been proclaimed the Begotten Son of
the Living God by prophets as well as by that figure himself faces us with some
important questions:  We either have to
accept on faith that He is who He says He is, or accept the idea that He is as
much an imposter as He says Satan is.  He
can’t just be a great teacher or anything else that falls between these two
conclusions.




            We can’t honestly say that we have faith in Him
and accept Him as our personal Savior and not keep His commandments.  Every commandment that we break is a
rejection of His divinity.  We
 can decide that
we don’t believe He is divine and therefore is irrelevant for us.
  Or, we can accept that He is a God, but say
we don't want the things He promises.
 
They are not worth the price, even if the promises are valid.  In other words, we can think: “I know more than God knows about what is
good for me.”
            The sad fact is, that if we don’t
follow Jesus according to all of  His terms, we are, consciously or unconsciously,
placing ourselves in Satan's camp and directly subject to his power.  We can then be sure to inherit the misery
which is the only thing that he is in a position to offer.
            

Life Lines: consecration

Life Lines: consecration