Day 280... Prayer For Unity

THIS is my post from last year.  Unity as a people.

This year, after just listening to General Conference, I see the correlation between these scriptures and Elder Nelson's talk.

He is an apostle of the Lord and spoke about unity.  The leadership of God's church isn't a hired position.  People don't resign or get fired, even as they age.  They serve the Lord, it is His church.  They don't do anything for the benefit of themselves, it is all for the Lord's Church.

He spoke about the safety net of having a prophet, with his two counselors at the head, and then 12 apostles, all ordained, holding the restored keys to be prophets, seers and revelators.

Nothing is done,for the church as a whole, without a unanimous sustaining among all 15 people.

Elder Nelson talked about the difference between all 15 men and how unanimity is difficult among any 15 people.  And so it is with surety they go forward when all 15 of them have had the same witness of the Holy Ghost.

That is unity.  That is unity among His apostles that Christ is praying about in these scriptures.

And these men are called to the work why?  "... it is because of their belief in me that I have chosen them out of the world."

And then it trickles to all of us that are disciples of Jesus Christ, who follow Him via his Prophet and Apostles...
"Father, I pray thee that thou wilt give the Holy Ghost unto all them that shall believe in their words."

We can receive our own witness, the Holy Ghost can and will speak to us, when these men lead us in truth.

What is the purpose?  You can see it clearly... to draw us in to the Savior himself.  
"...those who shall believe on their words, that they may believe in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one."

These men leading us are the mouthpiece of our Father in Heaven.  Their desire isn't fame, fortune, anything of the world.  It isn't popularity, or to have control over us... how ever in the world could they?

Theirs is the work of love, to give us strength and guidance as we all navigate through life.  To hold, still, the line that is God's.  Theirs is the responsibility to call us all back, remind us of who we are, and who our Savior is.



  

October Is Here!

We did pass reading day 274.  It is the first day of October.
I recently went back and read my post from last year... Behold Your Little One's.
I appreciated it again!  It is great to re-read what we learn.

Are you ready for this?  I have all of October and November printables done!
I have a few more months to finish.  I will get them done this month!

I have put all of the printables, in zipped files HERE in this drop box folder.

And as always you can print out the lists.  I also zipped all of those and put them HERE.  I also made them look a little cuter!

Happy studying!

The Nativity... Christmas Gifts From Me!

Can you believe Christmas is almost here?

How have you been doing on your reading?

Did you think I fell off the earth?

I have been reading, and thinking of hope, faith and charity with where we are right now in the prompts.  I'll be back to share.

But, wanted to post this beautiful video of the Bible story of the Nativity.

I have some Christmas gifts to give away to anyone who wants them.

I have 5 more of these videos that feature the Mormon Tabernacle Choir... which I will ship to you... just for Christmas... for free of course!

Also if you'd like a free Book of Mormon or a Bible, just leave a comment or email, and I'll send you one... again for free!

Why?  Because I believe peace and joy, clarity and comfort come through seeking the best things in life.  I think we can find the best things as we seek our Heavenly Father and find him through our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Merry Christmas!

Week 47 Prompts

Days 309 & 310

309 - Mormon 3: 8-11  refusing to be commander

The study guide talks about how Mormon was abridging the plates still, while all of this was going on... and surely he was learning about the wars of the past and the righteous cause with which his people used to fight.  Now the purpose of war is to avenge and out of hate.  He removes himself from that.
This abridging he is doing is surely how he continued in righteousness... getting that lift and connection he needed with Heavenly Father while the world around him fell into wickedness.  There is something to learn from that right?  Stay in your scriptures, there is safety there!

I also read down into verse 12 and Mormon talks about how he had led the Nephites, as a commander, how he loved them, despite their wickedness.  He stuck with his people.  He led them.  He continued to cry repentance unto them... he continued to love them... even as they turned from their faith, even as they spiraled further into wickedness.  When is the time to separate yourself from those you love, that may be wicked?

There is a point of no return. 
President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) described how we today might also remove ourselves from the cleansing grace of repentance: “It is true that the great principle of repentance is always available, but for the wicked and rebellious there are serious reservations to this statement. For instance, sin is intensely habit-forming and sometimes moves men to the tragic point of no return. … As the transgressor moves deeper and deeper in his sin, and the error is entrenched more deeply and the will to change is weakened, it becomes increasingly near-hopeless, and he skids down and down until either he does not want to climb back or he has lost the power to do so” (The Miracle of Forgiveness [1969], 117).

Mormon separates himself, but I'm sure the love for his people still remains.

310 - Mormon 3:20-22 admonition to believe in Christ

Is there any question we are Christian?  The Book of Mormon is here as an additional witness that Jesus is the Christ!  We do have this record among us today, brought forth at a time the world needs additional witnesses, additional record, that our Savior indeed walked the earth, atoned for our sins, died on the cross, returned as a resurrected being and established his church here on the earth.  And, it has been restored to the earth again.  This book is witness of that!

Week 42 Scripture Prompts...

Here are the prompts for this week.
Happy reading! 

I studied later today so didn't get today's up.  And it's late so I'm going to bed!  I'll be back to post soon!

Week 41 Printable Scripture Prompts

Well, I think I'll just have to take these a week at a time, then compress them all to a zip file later.
I need to bite off little bits at a time!

You can find the complete reading list above...

These are formatted to 4x6.  You could print as you go!

A New Year... Doctrine and Covenants

This blog has gone unwritten for a while, surprising!
I finished the Book of Mormon last year and struggled a little to find what to study next or how to study the Book of Mormon again.  I've since started the D&C, but am not reading/studying like I want to be.

This year I want to tackle the Bible, but since we've just started D&C at church I think I'll continue and finish with my study there, then get into the Bible.  I want to study for an hour each day and see how that gets me through.  I'm not in a hurry, just committed to good study time.

I'm like 25 sections in, but now am going back.  Back in October someone left piles, boxes of books on a table at church for anyone who wanted them.  I took 3 boxes home!  Many of them are church books.  I don't spend time reading literature, but I will read this!  I will see what these two books add to my study, they are 'The Message of the Doctrine and Covenants' by John A Widtsoe and 'Prophesies and Prophetic Promises, from the D&C' by Roy W Doxey.

The book points out there are different ways to study D&C, but as you go through, realize that each section is a topic, D&C isn't in 'story' form, if you will.

So far, the piece of information that has impacted me the most is this thought... this is a book of both doctrine and covenants.  'Doctrine means information, information regarding any subject pertaining to the church... Covenant on the other hand, implies that the doctrine has a definite purpose.  It is not merely information... it has a definite purpose implying cause and effect.  A covenant means a promise of man to the Lord.  So, doctrine and covenants are really two aspects of the same thing.  We cannot have one w/o the other... They may be compared to knowledge and intelligence.  Intelligence is the use of knowledge.  In some such way doctrine and covenant  may be compared... They are studied together and not separately.  Every covenant implies a doctrine and every doctrine implies a covenant.'

This thought was with me today as we studied in Gospel Doctrine.  The doctrine of things and the covenant associated with them, and the blessings that are associated with each covenant or promise.

Section 19  (16-19) we hear the Savior speaking of his own Atonement, the only scripture where He speaks first hand of his experience.   I was impressed not only to read again of the atonement, this doctrine, but the covenants associated with it.  The Savior made a covenant with His father to do this, and he was obedient... 'I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.'  It was hard for him, we can clearly see that, but he chose to be obedient.  Not only does He receive reward for his atonement/sacrifice/obedience... but the rest of us do too... unique.

When we are baptized we promise or covenant to use the atonement.  As we keep our covenants we are blessed.  I don't just mean blessed, I mean rewarded.  As we keep the covenant to use the atonement, we are cleansed, healed, sanctified and changed.  The result of that is being able to enter into Gods' presence.  That is the reward for being obedient to the covenant. 

As we do, there is a reward.  V 23... learn, listen and walk.  These are things for us to do.  The reward is peace.

6:20 ... I will encircle the in the arms of my love... this is the blessing after we are faithful, diligent and keep the commandments of God.

Last, in 19:1-3 We read about our Savior.  I love his statement about who He is.  I think of his statement in the context of the restoration.  People have forgotten, so here is a clear reminder.  Here is a restitution of Jesus Christ.  Our God is not gone, our Savior is not forgotten.  We see in these latter days a complacency, a turning away, a neutral zone.  Does it really matter if there is a god or not?  This book of scripture is unique, the Savior revealed to Joseph Smith, in our day, that He is still there and now is the final preparation for His second coming. 

What a treasure we have.  Only now can I see that.  I'm sorry it's taken me so long!  I'm so excited to study D & C.