Applying the Lessons of the Scriptures to our Life
Yesterday we had an engaging discussion during our Elders Quorum lesson.
For those who weren’t able to attend I wanted to share a brief overview of what we talked about.
I also want to give everyone a little homework assignment, since we didn’t get to finish covering some of our examples during class.
I first asked the class, “How do we learn?”
We discussed all kinds of answers and aspects of learning, but the basic ways are to:
– Read, listen
– Observe
– Experience
We talked about how real learning is not just knowing some information, but actually changing our behavior. You know, when we ‘learn our lesson.’
Then I asked “What are we supposed to learn in this life?
Sure, ‘all good things’ is one answer. But ultimately, we need to learn how to become exalted, to obtain the glory of the Celestial Kingdom with our family. And not just know how, but ‘know’ in the way that we actually experience it.
So if that’s true, what are the ways we learn this?
Well, there are a myriad of ways, and they include all aspects of the gospel, keeping the commandments and so forth, but the one I wanted to focus on in this lesson was studying the scriptures. Because obviously, there’s something important about them, and God has gone to great lengths to make sure we have them.
So how do we apply the lessons of the scriptures to our life to accomplish this important ‘learning’?
- Jacob 2:13
- Alma 48:7-10
- 4 Nephi 1:27-28
- Alma 8:9
- Jacob 4:14
- Mormon 8:1-4
President Williams
Converted unto the Lord
Here is a summary of the lesson in Elders Quorum today given by Brother Woods. The lesson was based off of Elder David A. Bednar’s message from the November issue of the 2012 Ensign titled “Converted unto the Lord”. In his message Elder Bednar wants us to understand the distinction and relation between testimony and conversion.
I think this quote form Elder Bednar sums it all up pretty nicely.
“Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion.”
So we dissected the two, to learn more about them, and their relationship.
1. Testimony – “brings increased personal accountability and is a source of purpose, assurance, and joy.”
The fundamental components of a testimony are:
1) To know God lives and He loves us.
2) To know Jesus Christ is our Savior. Which knowledge will give us hope.
3) To know the fullness of the gospel was restored.
4) To know the Book of Mormon is true. Because if you know the Book of Mormon is True then all of the above are also true.
Brother Woods mentioned the picture that depicts the above fundamental of testimony the clearest for him is the picture of the first vision.
2. Conversion – “brings a change in one’s beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God and includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ.” (Pay special attention to wording that Elder Bednar uses).
1) Being consistently true to the gospel (Acting on our testimony or what we know to be true).
2) Conversion is a process that comes line upon line precept upon precept.
3) Once we are converted we are to ENDURE TO THE END.
We made the distinction that conversion ≠ perfection but that conversion over time can lead a man to perfection.
In closing, there are varying degrees of conversion. “Testimony is a point of departure; it is not an ultimate destination.” It is however a strong foundation for ongoing conversion but testimony alone is not enough. The more we choose to ACCEPT, and CONFORM to the will of God and ACT on the things we know to be true (Our testimony) the more converted we become. The more converted we become the less we will sin (put down our weapons of rebellion). Then we are becoming like Him.
It was a great lesson thanks to brother Wood and all those that participated I definitely felt edified. I bear my testimony that these things are true in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Posted by Cameron Gardner
Earthly Father, Heavenly Father
Post by John Walker
This week we studied from Chapter 5 in the teachings of the Prophet: Lorenzo Snow titled “The Grand Destiny of the Faithful”. I recommend that you read this chapter. It helps us create and set goals that will help us achieve the highest of goals, Eternal Life and Deity!
We discussed that to understand things of the Spirit we need to be quickened by the Spirit.
We discussed our “Spiritual DNA” that was given to us from our Heavenly Father when he created us. We have spiritual gifts and talents that we can develop until the perfect day. This helps us understand our potential! We are sons of our Heavenly Father.
We then watched a video that helps us see how our Heavenly Father sees us, loves us, and comforts us. Some of the captions in the video read, “Noble fatherhood gives us a glimpse of the Divine.” James E. Faust.
“Of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that are given to Deity, He has asked us to address Him as Father.” Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Some of my favorite quotes from the video are:
“I’m awake. I remember him.”
“They trust so deeply. How I yearn to do the same.”
“Never questioning. Only trusting.”
“I will be their protector. I will be their gentle friend. I will be my wife’s faithful husband. I am a father.”
I encourage you to watch this video and write down thoughts that come to your mind. Let the Spirit guide you to create goals that will help you to grow a little more. Let’s become a little better this week! Remember, you eat an elephant one bite at a time!
Next week’s lesson reminder. We will be studying Chapter 6: Becoming Perfect before the Lord: “A Little Better Day by Day” Please read it. I feel like it has helped our discussion along in Elder’s Quorum. It has invited the Spirit to our discussions stronger than I’ve felt in years! And I thank YOU for that!
Lesson from Sunday 2-17-13
Elders,
What a wonderful Sunday we had together. For those who were not able to attend we missed your thoughts and insights. We were being taught by the wonderful JW. He presented some videos done by Elder Bednar that were about the light of Christ and how it is what helps us to guide us and come closer to the savior. I have attached the video links below. we discussed the importance of faith, and how heavily we need the light of Christ in our lives.
We had many great points given by the brethren in attendance about there experiences. One thought that particularly got me thinking was about how as a marine Bro. Vreeland was faced with many extreme situations. He had to rely heavily on the faith that his fellow brothers in arms had his back. He put his whole trust in their ability and training. His training as well as his brethren in arms are what kept him alive. I would extend to you all that our daily “training” is what will keep us spiritually alive. We all have to continually train and learn about what really is important and good in this life. We have to be each others keepers, helping one another to do better each day. We need to pray harder, study with purpose, and love better. We need to be able to have the faith that our greatest of brothers will have our back, which i testify that he will. The savior loves us all, he wants us to come closer to him. Through the atonement we will be made clean, we have a great responsibility to let the world know.
On another note, I would like to publicly thank the great brethren of our elders quorum. How wonderful it is to be with others who are not afraid to show emotion or the fact that they to struggle sometimes. I feel the love of my brethren and I am very grateful for that. To anyone reading this who may not go to church or who has slipped away. I would plead with you to reconsider. Seek after that which is good and cling onto it. The Lord loves us all and wants us to be happy, I promise you that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that the eternal everlasting peace that it brings is real.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=fycvkAhYz1I
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=zDEXQ-GTYTs
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=slTa15a3mp0
Robbie
Sent from my iPad
Converted unto the Lord
Just some follow up reading that correlates with our lesson from yesterday.
I REALLY liked these talks about conversion from Elder Bednar. It truly takes all of our EFFORT to become converted to the Lord rather than just having a testimony. I hope we can work on our conversion this year as we study President Snow’s teachings. I have really enjoyed our discussions!
CONVERTED UNTO THE LORD (October 2012)
My favorite quotes,
“We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel.”
“The essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible through the Savior’s Atonement. True conversion brings a change in one’s beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God (see Acts 3:19; 3 Nephi 9:20) and includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ.”
“Conversion is an offering of self, of love, and of loyalty we give to God in gratitude for the gift of testimony.”
”Conversion requires all of our heart, all of our might, and all of our mind and strength”
YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN (April 2007)
“We are instructed to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny [ourselves] of all ungodliness” (Moroni 10:32), to become “new creature[s]” in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), to put off “the natural man” (Mosiah 3:19), and to experience “a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2). Please note that the conversion described in these verses is mighty, not minor—a spiritual rebirth and fundamental change of what we feel and desire, what we think and do, and what we are. Indeed, the essence of thegospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible through our reliance upon “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8). As we choose to follow the Master, we choose to be changed—to be spiritually reborn.”
Thanks,
Johnny
Strengthening Your Marriage
The following was from the lesson that Paul Sheets gave in Elders’ Quorum on February 3, 2013:
“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person and in turn making her fall in love with you.” The world has a very cynical view of marriage. The following quotes help depict the view that many in the world have:
“All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner.” – Red Skelton
"I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” – Rita Rudner
Because of the restored gospel, we understand that marriage has a much more significant and everlasting purpose. In D&C 131:1-3 we read the following:
“In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
“And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of
marriage];
“And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.”
In order to achieve the highest degree of glory, it is important for us to enter in to the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.
I contemplated reading all of the best books and articles to figure out what I could share with the quorum about how we can strengthen our marital relationships. As I began the search it dawned on me that there was probably no need to consult so-called experts in the discipline of marriage. Instead, I decided to consult our wives. For those brothers in the quorum who are married, you can probably recall many of the things that you did to show your wife how much you loved her. You can probably list the things that you did to help her fall head over heels and decide to spend eternity with you.
I’d like to share with you some of the highlights of what your spouses said. I have purposefully left the quotes anonymous because I want each of us to ask ourselves these two questions, “Is this something I did to help my wife fall in love with me?” and “Am I still doing the same thing now?” I trust that if we read these quotes, our minds will be touched and we will be reminded of things that we can do to let our wives know how much we love and appreciate them.
SERVICE
“He helped me with a big project I had with my calling to scan all the photos of couples engaged during a bishop’s last 5 years of service (there were a lot of pictures! ), print them on fabric, then to make it into a quilt, and he even helped me to sew it all together! We had such fun together working and spending time together. I was grateful for the help and for the good company!”
“He helped my sister move out of her apartment after only knowing her a very short while. He’s always so willing to help anyone in need.”
“In the very early stages of us dating, ELDER noticed that my car antenna had stopped working…ELDER showed up at my apartment one day with his box of tools and spent all afternoon working on the antenna.… He wouldn’t let me pay him back, and did all of this without me asking or even knowing that he was planning on fixing it.”
President Hinckley said, “Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others…By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.”
CHIVALRY
“When ELDER and I were dating one of the biggest things that stood out to me was whenever I put my coat or jacket on he would hold it to help me get my arms in! I have never had a guy do that for me and he still does!”
“I loved what a gentlemen he was, and how he would make time for me. Even though he was heavily engaged in school and work. He was always looking for ways to be with me and/or calling to talk. (We didn’t have cell phones, texting or email back then).”
“We lived about 40 minutes away when we were dating and the majority of our time was spent down my way so that I wouldn’t have to drive home late at night. Very gentlemanly.”
“Drove me home and carried me to the door of my house after I broke my foot, we were in marysville and he drove me to camano Island when he lived in Everett.”
“He was genuinely kind and respectful to all women simply by virtue of their gender. No matter their age, he still refers to all of them as “young ladies”, which never fails to make them smile.”
LOVE NOTES
“He also always took time to write me love notes, to let me know how much he cares about me…I would keep them close by, to read them over and over again. …He made me feel that I was the most important person to him, above anyone else. I still have those sweet notes and many more they are such a treasure to me.”
“One day I had a really rotten day. At some point in the day we spoke on the phone and I told him how my day was going. A few hours later a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to me, accompanied by a really sweet note. I love love love getting flowers, and it made me so happy to know that he thought of me and wanted to brighten my day. It worked :)”
“Shortly after ELDER and I started dating I left for Japan to teach English for a few months. It was extremely difficult for me to leave but I had already made the commitment. During this time ELDER wrote to me the most heartfelt love letters. He even drew pictures for my students! He also made and sent me a cassette tape with all his favorite slow songs and labeled it “ELDER‘s miss you mix".”
Elder James E. Faust said that one of the less obvious but more significant reasons for divorce is “the lack of a constant enrichment in marriage, … an absence of that something extra which makes it precious, special, and wonderful, when it is also drudgery, difficult, and dull. In the enriching of marriage the big things are the little things. It is a constant appreciation for each other and a thoughtful demonstration of gratitude. It is the encouraging and the helping of each other to grow. Marriage is a joint quest for the good, the beautiful, and the divine” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1977, 13–14; or Ensign, Nov. 1977, 10–11).
SURPRISES
“He made a rose out of paper for me, and got the sound track to our first movie we saw together. Then worked with my roommates to sneak it into our apartment as a surprise gift to me.”
“On numerous occasions he surprised me at work with my favorite treat or flowers. He was always thinking of me and how to make me feel special.”
“On our first one-on-one date I casually mentioned how I hadn’t been sledding for years. After dinner ELDER drove to his apartment, ran inside, and came outside with some huge garbage bags and a pair of gloves that I could wear…I loved that he…picked up on a random comment I made about sledding…It’s the little things!”
“He would do little thoughtful things to surprise me, like bring packed lunches for us to eat at the library during finals week.”
“On my birthday I thought he was going to be gone snowboarding all weekend but he surprised me at my house to wish me a happy birthday when I got back from a vacation trip.”
Elder Joe J. Christensen said, “Keep your courtship alive. Make time to do things together—just the two of you. As important as it is to be with the children as a family, you need regular weekly time alone together. Scheduling it will let your children know that you feel that your marriage is so important that you need to nurture it. That takes commitment, planning, and scheduling” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1995, 86; or Ensign, May 1995, 65).
COMMUNICATION
“We could talk about anything and everything.”
“He made me feel so loved, and so understanding to my needs and wants. I loved the flirtation, giggling and teasing. I remember feeling so comfortable around him and thinking finally, I found someone who is like me. ELDER was like home to me; right away he made me feel safe and loved. “
“I was super frustrated with some people I was working with while we were dating, and he just sat with me on a bridge at park while I complained and complained and complained… he seem to not mind too much and I felt much better. He offered a little advise but not too much… It was great! :)”
“When I arrived home from a trip to Utah on a Sunday and came to church just as sacrament meeting ended, he met me in the foyer as he exited the chapel and said “You didn’t leave me a number to call you”. I replied,
“You didn’t ask for one”. With his response of “That’s no excuse”, my heart started beating a little faster and I knew that he was interested. I then smiled and said “I’ll try to remember that next time”. We had our first date that night.”
The poet Oscar Wilde said, “Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.”
LOVE THE LORD
“He taught the Gospel Doctrine Class in the young single adult ward and was a fantastic teacher. I love his teaching talent and love of the Savior. He had a little following of girls in the class that sat in the front and asked lots of questions and batted their eyes at him.”
“ELDER always honors his priesthood. He never looked for excuses to miss church or to shirk his responsibilities. He always did his home teaching and still does. He is kind to everyone. He is very compassionate. He has a very kind heart.”
“He magnified his calling, was a hard worker, went to the temple often & put the gospel first in his life. I knew he loved The Lord.”
“Even before we dated I saw qualities in him that I wanted in a husband and felt he was the kind of man I could marry.”
Sister Marjorie Hinckley said, “As we got closer to marriage, I felt completely confident that Gordon loved me. But I also knew somehow that I would never come first with him. I knew I was going to be second in his life and that the Lord was going to be first. And that was okay. It seemed to me that if you understood the gospel and the purpose of our being here, you would want a husband who put the Lord first.”
Brethren of the quorum, we truly did some wonderful things to make our wives fall in love with us. May I again repeat the question, “Are we doing these same things now?”
President Hinckley gave a wonderful quote where he said, “Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey…delays…sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling burst of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”
My hope is that we will always treat our marriages as our most sacred of possessions that we may make it through the hard times so that we can enjoy the “beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.” Lastly, may be always remember that “a successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person and in turn making her fall in love with you.”
Post by Sam Colson
I was preparing my lesson for the priest quorum this week and I came to a reference for President Uchtdorf’s talk from the April 2011 General Conference titled Your Potential, Your Privilege. (See the short video clip of the introductory story.)
This is a great talk and I recommend reading it again when you have a chance. I wanted to share some thoughts regarding the following passages:
“We all know that the priesthood is much more than just a name or title. The Prophet Joseph taught that “the Priesthood is an everlasting principle, and existed with God from eternity … to eternity, without beginning of days or end of years.”1 It holds “even the key of the knowledge of God.”2 In fact, through the priesthood the very “power of godliness is manifest.”3
The blessings of the priesthood transcend our ability to comprehend. Faithful Melchizedek Priesthood holders can “become … the elect of God.” 4 They are “sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies”5 and can ultimately receive “all that [the] Father hath.”6 This may be hard to comprehend, but it is beautiful, and I testify that it is true.
The fact that our Heavenly Father would entrust this power and responsibility to man is evidence of His great love for us and a foreshadowing of our potential as sons of God in the hereafter.”
The last sentence is what hit me the hardest. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, examples such as this humble and inspire me. By this privilege and responsibility I can bless the lives of others and in doing so feel the love of my Father in Heaven. Speaking about the potential we have as “sons of God in the hereafter” causes me to reflect on how I am doing each day to improve and strengthen my ability to exercise the power of the priesthood to bless the lives of others. I know that I need to continue to progress in this life to be prepared for the further progress that must take place to realize all the blessings of exaltation.
“Nevertheless, too often our actions suggest that we live far beneath this potential. When asked about the priesthood, many of us can recite a correct definition, but in our daily lives, there may be little evidence that our understanding goes beyond the level of a rehearsed script.
Brethren, we are faced with a choice. We can be satisfied with a diminished experience as priesthood bearers and settle for experiences far below our privileges. Or we can partake of an abundant feast of spiritual opportunity and universal priesthood blessings.”
Given this choice, I would not consciously choose to live below my privileges. How can I be certain that I don’t live in such a way that I allow this decision to be made by default? What evidence is there in my life that I am striving to reach my potential? Am I going through the motions or am I hungrily seeking to partake of the “abundant feast”? Why would I ever want to leave anything on the table?
Exert Yourselves
Post by Josh Mason
I have been reading the 3rd chapter of Lorenzo Snow, which discusses conversion, and there was a great passage which furthers his instruction to Exert ourselves.
He says:
A man can get information by the operations of the Holy Spirit, and he approaches to God and increases in his faith in proportion as he is diligent.11
(I love the thought about the blessings/increases are related to the proportion we give.)
It is impossible to advance in the principles of truth, to increase in heavenly knowledge, [unless] we exercise our reasoning faculties and exert ourselves in a proper manner. We have an instance recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants of a misunderstanding on the part of Oliver Cowdery, touching this principle. The Lord promised him the gift to translate ancient records. Like many of us today, he had misconceptions in regard to the exercise of the gift. He thought all that was necessary for him to do, inasmuch as this gift had been promised him of God, was to allow his mind to wait in idleness without effort, until it should operate spontaneously. But when those records were placed before him, there was no knowledge communicated, they still remained sealed, as it were, for no power to translate came upon him.
Although the gift to translate had been conferred, he could not prosecute the work, simply because he failed to exert himself before God with the view of developing the gift within him; and he became greatly disappointed, and the Lord, in his goodness and mercy, informed him of his mistake, using the following language—
“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you when you took no thought, save it was to ask me; but, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your 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,” etc. [See D&C 9.]
So in regard to us, respecting the things which we are undertaking. If we expect to improve, to advance in the work immediately before us, and finally to obtain possession of those gifts and glories, coming up to that condition of exaltation we anticipate, we must take thought and reflect, we must exert ourselves, and that too to the utmost of our ability.12
We ought to … get the Spirit ourselves, and not be satisfied to walk in the light as it is shadowed forth by others; we should have it incorporated with our spiritual organizations. …
Often I find myself just asking (as Cowdery did), or not giving much effort, and as a result, I do not always gain the blessing I hope for. I will improve in this. May we all take a little more time, think a little deeper, ponder with greater sincerity, and live more according to the inspiration of the Spirit. In so doing, we will be blessed.
Ether 9, 10, 11 – The Rise and Fall of Kingdoms
Post by Rex Williams
These aren’t Book of Mormon chapters we study often, or that are highlighted in talks or Sunday School classes.
But they are still there, and with such limited space and an abundance of material Mormon had to choose from, there must have been a reason that these chapters were included. So when I read them, I tried to think a little more deeply and figure out why.
What can we learn from a long history of a people where one king succeeds another, some are wicked, some are righteous, they get destroyed, and are blessed?
They are also all descendants of each other, from father to son and so on. Does it mean that man does not necessarily follow in the footsteps of his father? In fact, there was awful hatred between fathers and sons. In chapter 9 verse 7 it says:
And it came to pass that Akish began to be ajealous of his son, therefore he shut him up in prison, and kept him upon little or no food until he had suffered death.
Then, in verse 12,
And there began to be a war between the sons of Akish and Akish, which lasted for the space of many years, yea, unto the destruction of nearly all the people of the kingdom, yea, even all, save it were thirty souls, and they who fled with the house of Omer.
This hatred caused complete destruction. They had to start over.
So they did, with Emer as king. And they did prosper exceedingly. Emer even saw “the Son of Righteousness.” (v.22) So things must have been pretty good… until a few verses later, when Com came to reign (maybe it was dot com 😉
25 And it came to pass that he begat Com, and Com reigned in his stead; and he reigned forty and nine years, and he begat Heth; and he also begat other sons and daughters.
26 And the people had spread again over all the face of the land, and there began again to be an exceedingly great wickedness upon the face of the land, and aHeth began to embrace the secret plans again of old, to destroy his father.
27 And it came to pass that he did dethrone his father, for he slew him with his own sword; and he did reign in his stead.
Awful awful stuff happens when fathers and sons are killing each other.
Maybe the message is that our family relationships are immensely important.
Maybe the message is that just as kingdoms rise and fall due to wickedness, repentance, and change, we ourselves go through similar patterns.
In chapter 10 verse 11 we learn about king Morianton:
And he did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself because of his many awhoredoms; wherefore he was cut off from the presence of the Lord.
We can be a good person to others, but we must ‘do justice unto ourselves’ to enjoy the presence of the Lord.
Maybe the lesson of these chapters is to show the people of the world today who are living in conflict, that their situation is not new. That this kind of stuff has been happening for years, and we know the outcomes, both if you don’t stop, or if you do and repent. One way is better than the other.
In chapter 10 verse 28 they reached a pinnacle:
And never could be a people more blessed than were they, and more prospered by the hand of the Lord. And they were in a land that was choice above all lands, for the Lord had spoken it.
Yet, the next page over, in chapter 11 verse 7:
And they hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord, because of their wicked combinations; wherefore, there began to be wars and acontentions in all the land, and also many famines and pestilences, insomuch that there was a great destruction, such an one as never had been known upon the face of the earth; and all this came to pass in the days of Shiblom.
What gives?
Is that us?
Maybe this is the question we should be continually asking as we read the scriptures. Do I do that (in some small way)?
The Book of Mormon was written for us individually, and for our day.
Keep reading. You’re the kingdom.
Seek Learning
This will be a short post as we are preparing for the arrival of our baby Paisley. Sarah’s C-section is scheduled tomorrow at noon so that is why I’m posting tonight as I may be a little tied up tomorrow.
In Doctrine and Covenants 88:118 we are commanded to "seek learning, even by study and also by faith." Elder David A. Bednar said: "The overarching purpose of heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness is to provide His spirit children with opportunities to learn." It is our individual responsibility to learn truth and to become "doers of the word" (James 1:22). That is why regular scripture study and prayer are so important. Along with church and temple attendance. That way the Holy Ghost can teach us the "mysteries which are great and marvelous."
It is not enough however to learn the word we must also be doers of the word. To apply the truths we learn so the Holy Ghost can change our hearts and we can become as He is, even Jesus Christ. I leave this short message with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Best Regards,
Bro. Gardner
The Shepherd's Watch 