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

consecration

              INTERDEPENDENCE --  Independence, self-reliance, and rugged individualism are long-standing positive virtues in our society; clearly better than attitudes of dependency.  But interdependence is a yet higher principle.  Even our relationship with God is interdependent.  Without his power and love, we wouldn't even be here.  Without his guidance, love, and redemption we would have no chance of achieving the blessings of Salvation, much less, Exaltation.  

         He has no less-clearly stated that, at least a portion of,  his own glory depends on our achieving that goal.  God has nowhere else -- that we know of -- to look to for his joy and success except to his creations.  That includes us!  “This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”  (Moses 1:39) 

THE HOLY GHOST -- The Holy Ghost doesn’t post visiting hours.  He is always 'in.’  His messages are not ambiguous.  They are never followed by disclaimers:  “It was just an idea;” or “I was just kidding.”  The Lord said: “... Verily, I say unto you, that as surely as the Lord liveth, who is your God ... I will tell you in your mind [thoughts] and in your heart [feelings] by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell [Stick around] in your heart. (DC 8:1-2)   The Holy Ghost is not a hit-and-run driver, but he won't stick around forever if ignored.

And when we ask for guidance, we are not expected to present God with multiple-choice questions.  Rather,  He has said:  “… Study it out in your own mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.  But if it be not right, ye shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought which will cause you to forget the thing which is wrong, ...” (DC 9: 8-9)  Stupor of thought is not our first choice, but it is, unmistakably, one form of personal revelation.

         Thoughts on the Importance of the Individual:  If one person joins the Church, or falls away, marries and has five children who follow in his or her footsteps, in the second generation there are six who are either in or out of the Kingdom.  In the third generation there are 31.  In the eleventh generation there would be 2,832,031.  These numbers are arbitrarily applied, and all the possibilities for variants are ignored, but it is an exercise which helps one understand the importance which the Lord places on the individual; and why we must do the same.  

         The same principle can apply to a single act of charity or obedience.  When I was in high school, back when we had Priesthood Meetings and Sunday School in the mornings and Sacrament Meeting on Sunday evenings, I was assigned during my Priests Quorum meeting to visit an inactive member of the quorum whose family was totally inactive and invite him to attend Sacrament Meeting with me that evening.  

         More than 40 years later, at a high school class reunion, Dar Dudding called me aside to thank me for that visit.  From that time he had begun to attend all of this meetings and keeping the commandments.  He was married in the temple and had raised a righteous family.  He attributed it all to that one simple invitation that I had not even remembered I had given him.