Yesterday I read 1 Neph 1. As I was reading the main thing that stood out to me is the pillar of fire on a rock that came to Lehi. Visions are something that I would like to study. There seems to be visions that have to do with an actual being coming to the onlooker, and others that are like looking through a window and watching future events, there are also others that come in dreams. The ones in dreams.

Today,

I am reading in the manual and I came across a really neat quote that demonstrates the converting power of the Book of Mormmon. This is from the manual:

President James E Faust related an experience

shared by Elder F. Burton Howard of the Seventy

that demonstrates the converting power of the Book

of Mormon:

“Sister Celia Cruz Ayala of the Puerto Rico San Juan

Mission decided to give the Book of Mormon to a

friend. She wrapped it in attractive paper and set out

to deliver her present.

“On the way she was attacked by a bandit who stole

her purse and with it the wrapped copy of the Book

of Mormon. A few days later she received this letter:

“‘Mrs. Cruz:

“‘Forgive me, forgive me. You will never know how

sorry I am for attacking you. But because of it, my life

has changed and will continue to change. That book

[the Book of Mormon] has helped me in my life. The

dream of that man of God has shaken me. . . . I am

returning your five pesos for I can’t spend them. I want

you to know that you seemed to have a radiance about

you. That light seemed to stop me [from harming you,

so] I ran away instead.

“‘I want you to know that you will see me again, but

when you do, you won’t recognize me, for I will be

your brother. . . . Here, where I live, I have to find the

Lord and go to the church you belong to.

“‘The message you wrote in that book brought tears

to my eyes. Since Wednesday night I have not been

able to stop reading it. I have prayed and asked God to

forgive me, [and] I ask you to forgive me. . . . I thought

your wrapped gift was something I could sell. [Instead,]

it has made me want to make my life over. Forgive me,

forgive me, I beg you.

“‘Your absent friend.’

“Such is the conversion power of the Book of Mormon”

(in Conference Report, Apr. 1996, 58; or Ensign, May

1996, 42).

I also read 3 Nephi 26:12-13 and Mormon 8:34-35 and the book makes the point that when Mormon made editorial decisions, these two factors were his governing concerns: to write what he had been commanded (or sometimes he was commanded not to write things) and Mormon saw our day and our doings. The book of Mormon then contains scriptural instructions specific for our day. If ever we are confused or down on the happenings in our lives in the current world in which we find ourselves we can appeal to this book and find strength and answers.

Mastery of Good and Rejection of Evil

[imp] Today while I was reading for school about the Healthy People 2010 inititive I thought that its funny how it correlates to our ideas found in James of mastering the good and rejecting evil...also related to my lesson on virtue that I learned from E. Mickelson on my mission. The initiative talks about promoting health and preventing disease. There is a universal pull toward the negative in our lives, we see it with sin, we see it with clutter in our homes, we see it in the natural tendencies to anger or become offended. It was interesting to see it in a health setting, in my career. I love it when I can make gospel correlations to dentistry. I'm going to try to keep looking for those.

[imp] My second impression was that I am thinking with a gospel framed mentality today because I started the day with the Lord. That is a great principle.

Moroni's Promise

Moroni 10:5 is applicable to all the recent discussions we have had at church about personal revelation. I love this formula that he gives.

Read the Book of Mormon with a spirit of gratitude

Ponder its teachings

Pray with sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ

Feel the power of the Holy Ghost

Spiritual Knowledge/Revelation

Things I need to study:

I tried to be prayerful this morning and come up with a list of topics that the Lord feels like I should study. These are the topics that I was impressed to write down.

Redeem the dead

Perfect the Saints

Proclaim the Gospel

Leadership

Families

Virtue

Thoughts

Atonement

Friend

Priesthood

Temples

Restoration

Charity

Faith

Hope

Diligence

Moral Discipline

Steadfast/Consistent

Provident Living

Personal Revelation

Natural Man

Temptation

Sacrifice

Prayer and Fasting

Conference Talks

I've been thinking lately about how I can increase my gospel study efforts to a point where I am consistently feeling the spirit and receiving personal revelation on a daily basis. It is 6:30 AM right now. I am showered and dressed and sitting here ready to start studying. The following quote was given by the bishop yesterday in our 5th Sunday lesson and it shares some real specific ways to enhance our scripture study:

Further, for the gospel to be written in your heart, you need to know what it is and grow to understand it more fully. That means you will study it. 5 When I say “study,” I mean something more than reading. It is a good thing sometimes to read a book of scripture within a set period of time to get an overall sense of its message, but for conversion, you should care more about the amount of time you spend in the scriptures than about the amount you read in that time. I see you sometimes reading a few verses, stopping to ponder them, carefully reading the verses again, and as you think about what they mean, praying for understanding, asking questions in your mind, waiting for spiritual impressions, and writing down the impressions and insights that come so you can remember and learn more. Studying in this way, you may not read a lot of chapters or verses in a half hour, but you will be giving place in your heart for the word of God, and He will be speaking to you. Remember Alma’s description of what it feels like: “It beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.” 6 You will know that the gospel is being written in your heart, that your conversion is happening, as the word of the Lord from His prophets, past and present, feels more and more delicious to your soul.

D. Todd Christofferson, “When Thou Art Converted,” Liahona, May 2004, 11–13

Making Outlines on Conference

At the back of the conference issue of the Ensign you can usually find talks by topic, news, etc. This November I was looking back there and found a nice Conference Story Index that I found interesting. Also I read a little section of the counsel for teaching for our times and saw that one of the suggestions said to make an outline of how to teach the principles and doctrines. It got me thinking back to my Living Prophets Religion course at BYU. The teacher gave us the assignment to make outlines for several key talks over the years and we would hand them in as papers to get feedback.

I want to set a goal to make outlines for all of the talks in the conference issue by the end of the year. I want the outlines to be somewhat formated on the suggested elements from my BYU course but I'm going to have to look that up. Making outlines is a great way to have spiritual thoughts at your fingertips, and be led by the Spirit, I think the biggest asset though is the act of making the outline really makes you digest the talk in a whole new way.

Preparing to Ascend

I find it fascinating that as Christ was preparing to return to His Father in Heaven he went about setting up and organizing teams to help carry on the work. The three main examples I can think of and there may be more as I begin to unravel this thought, are: The mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, the Nephites in Bountiful, and on the other side of the veil those in the spirit world.

Transfiguration of Christ: Peter, James, and John saw the Lord glorified and transfigured before them. The Savior had before promised that Peter would receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16: 13-19; 17: 1-9; Mark 9: 2-10; Luke 9: 28-36; 2 Pet. 1: 16-18). At this important event, the Savior, Moses, and Elias (Elijah) gave the promised keys of the priesthood to Peter, James, and John. With these priesthood keys, the Apostles had the power to continue the work of the kingdom after the ascension of Jesus.

Joseph Smith taught that on the mount of transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were also transfigured. They saw a vision of the earth as it will appear in its future glorified condition (D&C 63: 20-21). They saw Moses and Elijah, two translated beings, and heard the voice of the Father. The Father said,”This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matt. 17: 5).

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to be continued....

Church disciplinary councils

Yesterday I read D&C 102 which consists of the minutes from the meeting of the first High Council of the restored church. It was interesting to see the specific verses on casting lots, picking even numbers, picking an appropriate number of Speakers according to the severity of the case.

I asked Dad over lunch what more he could tell me about it and if they still drew lots like that. He said not usually. Usually the Stake President just picks who he wants to be involved.

We had a talk about some of his experience in his home stake. One case inparticular that we spoke of was about two businessmen who fell into serious acts of embezzlement.

Today I read a little out of this talk by Elder Ballard. I dont know how much of it comes right out of the manual but I thought it was quite informative.

A Chance to Start Over: Church Disciplinary Councils and the Restoration of Blessings

A vision of Christ by Melvin J Ballard

“I know, as I know that I live, that this is God’s work and that you are His servants. … I remember one testimony, among the many testimonies which I have received. … Two years ago, about this time, I had been on the Fort Peck Reservation for several days with the brethren, solving the problems connected with our work among the Lamanites. Many questions arose that we had to settle. There was no precedent for us to follow, and we just had to go to the Lord and tell Him our troubles, and get inspiration and help from Him. On this occasion I had sought the Lord, under such circumstances, and that night I received a wonderful manifestation and impression which has never left me. I was carried to this place—into this room. I saw myself here with you. I was told there was another privilege that was to be mine; and I was led into a room where I was informed I was to meet someone. As I entered the room I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious being I have ever conceived of, and was taken forward to be introduced to Him. As I approached He smiled, called my name, and stretched out His hands towards me. If I live to be a million years old I shall never forget that smile. He put His arms around me and kissed me, as He took me into His bosom, and He blessed me until my whole being was thrilled. As He finished I fell at His feet, and there saw the marks of the nails; and as I kissed them, with deep joy swelling through my whole being, I felt that I was in heaven indeed. The feeling that came to my heart then was: Oh! If I could live worthy, though it would require four-score years, so that in the end when I have finished I could go into His presence and receive the feeling that I then had in His presence, I would give everything that I am or ever hope to be!” (Melvin J. Ballard—Crusader for Righteousness, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966, p. 65–66.)

I ran in to this little quote in my study today. I thought it was a good example of how true joy and happiness come from being in the presence of the Savior. If we could feel his presence in our lives the same way Melvin J Ballard felt in his vision, I think we would do EVERYTHING within our grasp to keep our lives clean and worthy of that feeling. It made me think that carnal pleasure is fleeting and never quite satisfied, but spiritual joy is full and everlasting.

What is a provident provider?

I've been pondering this question a little today. Lately I have felt extremely overwhelmed with the amount of debt I am in and will continue to accrue before I graduate from Dental School. It brought me to this talk by Elder Robert D. Hales that was given last conference entitled "Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually." Here's a few snippets from the talk:

"All of us are responsible to provide for ourselves and our families in both temporal and spiritual ways. To provide providently, we must practice the principles of provident living: joyfully living within our means, being content with what we have, avoiding excessive debt, and diligently saving and preparing for rainy-day emergencies. When we live providently, we can provide for ourselves and our families and also follow the Savior’s example to serve and bless others.
Being provident providers, we must keep that most basic commandment, “Thou shalt not covet” (Exodus 20:17). Our world is fraught with feelings of entitlement. Some of us feel embarrassed, ashamed, less worthwhile if our family does not have everything the neighbors have. As a result, we go into debt to buy things we can’t afford—and things we do not really need. Whenever we do this, we become poor temporally and spiritually. We give away some of our precious, priceless agency and put ourselves in self-imposed servitude. Money we could have used to care for ourselves and others must now be used to pay our debts. What remains is often only enough to meet our most basic physical needs. Living at the subsistence level, we become depressed, our self-worth is affected, and our relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and the Lord are weakened. We do not have the time, energy, or interest to seek spiritual things...."
"With all the love I have in me and with the Savior’s love through me, I invite you to come unto Him and hear His words: “Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted” (2 Nephi 9:51).
I testify that the appetite to possess worldly things can only be overcome by turning to the Lord. The hunger of addiction can only be replaced by our love for Him. He stands ready to help each one of us. “Fear not,” He said, “for you are mine, and I have overcome the world” (D&C 50:41)."

If you want to read the whole talk click here

Live as though you were an answer to someone's prayer

I watched one of the mormon messages today on the church's youtube channel. I was impressed that such a simple story could give me such a profound feeling in my heart. I told the story to Melia and Savannah tonight when I put them to bed. I could see on Melia's face that she was feeling the spirit. It reminded me how receptive she is to stories and that perhaps I should take advantage of that in these early years while she still is willing to listen and learn.

The story itself made me ponder on the choices that we make when faced with opportunity. It made me resolve to live my life in a way that I can be an answer to someone's prayer.

You can view the story below

The Miracle of the Chinese Bamboo Tree

After the seed for this amazing tree is planted, you see nothing. absolutely nothing, for four years except for a tiny shoot coming out of a bulb. During those four years, all the growth is underground in a massive, fibrous root structure that spreads deep and wide in the earth. But then in the fifth year the Chinese bamboo tree grows up to eighty feet.

Many things in family life are like the Chinese bamboo tree. You work and you invest time and effort, and you do everything you can possibly do to nurture growth, and sometimes you dont see anything for weeks, months, or even years. But if you're patient and keep working and nurturing, that "fifth year" will come, and you will be astonished at the growth and change you see taking place.

(Steven R Covey, The 7 Hapits of Highly Effective Families, pg 23)

Today I read something from a discourse given by Brigham Young that was interesting. He said:

 "An Elder of Israel may preach the principles of the Gospel, from first to last, as they were taught to him, to a congregation ignorant of them; but if he does not do it under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, he cannot enlighten that congregation on those principles." JD vol 1:3 pg 4

I find this very interesting the way he puts it. In essence he is saying you could say the same words that were used when you learned a principle but if its empty and void of the spirit, those words will not enlighten those being taught. There is something to be said to the way we deliver the message and the way we prepare our mind and heart. If we earnestly pray for the spirit, it will attend us.

I will be posting random spiritual thoughts on this blog. Stay tuned for updates