Let His spirit pour over you

Unshaken

By Emily Freeman

Jacob 6:6 – Jarom 1:12

The other day I heard a quote from Elder F. Enzio Busche, “Avoid at all cost any pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts.  If you cannot cut them out, they will do you harm.  On the road toward salvation, let questions arise but never doubts.  If something is wrong, God will give you clarity but never doubts.”

I have thought of that principle almost every day since.

Let questions arise, but never doubts.

I have asked myself, is there a difference between questions and doubts?

I am realizing that understanding the answer to that question makes all the difference between strengthening the roots of our testimony or letting it wither and die.

There is a huge divide between a questioning heart and a doubting heart.

After hearing that quote I made a promise to myself…

I want to be someone who questions, because questions lead to greater knowledge ––

but I refuse to allow myself to doubt.

I trust the Lord too much.

So if any doubt enters my mind that arises from pessimism, negativity,

or criticism my goal is to turn it into a question.

One that will allow growth, one that will lead to clarity.

That decision has already affected my testimony for good on two recent occasions.  

In both instances, after prayerful consideration and study, I was given clarity.

Through the process the roots of my testimony stretched deeper and in the process my faith was strengthened.

Jacob teaches us two principles that will help us to find the clarity we seek for.

He had an experience where a man hoped to shake him from the faith.  

A conversation took place that could have allowed doubt to creep into his heart.

But it didn’t.

Two verses help us to understand the reason why.

“And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me.  And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time;

wherefore, I could not be shaken.”  (Jacob 7:5)

The first principle is to remember the moments when we have heard the voice of the Lord.

To understand this principle, we must first determine how each of us -individually- can hear the voice of the Lord.  How does this happen for you?  What does the whispering of the Spirit feel like in your heart?  When are the moments when you remember experiencing that whisper?  Were you in a sacred place?  Maybe you were listening to peaceful music.  Perhaps you had a conversation

with a friend that was exactly what you needed to hear.

The voice of the Lord can come in many different ways.

How has it come to you?

The first way to avoid doubt and to remain unshaken is to remember the moments when the Lord has spoken to us, from time to time, and to acknowledge and express gratitude for those moments

and then remember what we have learned.

The second way to avoid doubt is described beautifully in Jacob 7:8,

“But behold, the Lord God poured in his Spirit into my soul…”

I love this thought of the Spirit being poured into a soul.

Not a steady trickle, or even a small drip ––poured.

Have you ever stood in pouring rain?

The kind that drenches you from head to toe, seeps over you, and leaves every bit of you entirely soaked.

What if that happened with the Spirit?

How would that feel?  Would it bring comfort?  Bestow strength?  Give courage?  Fill you with knowledge or understanding?  What might happen to your heart if you allowed the

Spirit to pour into your soul on a regular basis?

What would you need to do to access the Spirit in that magnitude?  Where would you need to go?  How would you need to prepare?

These are the thoughts I find myself pondering today.

I love the testimony we read in the book of Enos, “And while I was thus struggling…behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind again…and my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord; and I prayed unto him with many long strugglings.”  (Enos 1:10-11)

I don’t know what you are struggling with today, but I would invite you to pray to the Lord with all your strugglings.

Then, listen for His voice,

and let His spirit pour over you,

until you become unshaken.

 

“The young Nephi in the Book of Mormon stirs in us a desire to develop trust in the Lord to obey His commandments, however hard they appear to us. Nephi faced danger and possible death when he said these words of trust that we can and must feel steadily in our hearts: ‘I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.’ That trust comes from knowing God. More than any other people on earth, we have, through the glorious events of the Restoration of the gospel, felt the peace that the Lord offered His people with the words ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’ My heart is filled with gratitude for what God has revealed about Himself that we might trust Him.”

Henry B. Eyring

 

The seeds of Christlike love

“We must change anything we can change that may be part of the problem. In short we must repent, perhaps the most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary. We thank our Father in Heaven we are allowed to change, we thank Jesus we can change, and ultimately we do so only with Their divine assistance. Certainly not everything we struggle with is a result of our actions. Often it is the result of the actions of others or just the mortal events of life. But anything we can change we should change, and we must forgive the rest. In this way our access to the Savior’s Atonement becomes as unimpeded as we, with our imperfections, can make it. He will take it from there.”

Jeffrey R. Holland

 

“Forgiveness is a personal attribute, not just a decision we make from time to time when we feel we should.  To have a forgiving heart is to see the world in a different light. It is to forsake the tendency to judge, condemn, exclude, or hate any human soul.  A forgiving heart seeks to love and to be patient with imperfection. The forgiving heart understands that we are all in need of the atonement of Jesus Christ.”

Roderick J. Linton

“There are many people who seem to rely solely on the Lord’s mercy rather than on accomplishing their own repentance. The Lord may temper justice with mercy, but he will never supplant it. Mercy can never replace justice. God is merciful, but he is also just.”

 

Spencer W. Kimball

 

 

“A common error is the idea that the offender must apologize and humble himself to the dust before forgiveness is required. Certainly, the one who does the injury should totally make his adjustment, but as for the offended one, he must forgive the offender regardless of the attitude of the other. Sometimes men get satisfactions from seeing the other party on his knees and grovelling in the dust, but that is not the gospel way.”

 

Spencer W. Kimball

 

“All of us have, to some degree, an unforgiving nature, for to be unforgiving is a tendency of the ‘natural man.’ But if we yield ‘to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,’ as King Benjamin admonished, we will put off ‘the natural man and become a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.’ Such a person learns that forgiveness can open the door to a happier and more spiritually mature life.”

Roderick J. Linton

“…The Lord indicates a…serious problem with harboring an unforgiving heart: ‘Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.’ Is the Lord truly saying that refusing to forgive another is a greater sin than the offense committed against us?  In refusing to forgive another, we, in effect, attempt to deny the blessings of the Atonement to that person: ‘You may have reached the point of desperation in your own life when you have prayed and yearned for forgiveness of your own guilt and sin. But then you turn and say, ‘But not him! Don’t you forgive him! I’m not going to, he doesn’t deserve it.’ You will then close the channel of love and compassion and revelation from the Lord. You seek to nullify His atonement for others. It is like triple plate steel against water.’

Truman Madsen

“Forgiveness plants and nourishes the seeds of Christlike love in both the giver and the receiver. Indeed, forgiveness, in its fullest expression, is synonymous with charity, the pure love of Christ.”

Roderick J. Linton

 

 

Stone by stone if need be

 

 

By Emily Freeman

In that moment, when the house was full of quiet stillness I paused to read.

The heading tells me that Moroni arms the Nephites with defensive armor.  The verses tell me that “Moroni had prepared his people with breastplates and with arm-shields, yea, and also shields to defend their heads, and also they were dressed with thick clothing––”  (Alma 43:19)

“Moroni knew the intention of the Lamanites, that it was their intention to destroy their brethren.”  

(Alma 43:29)

“Therefore he thought it no sin that he should defend them by stratagem.”  (Alma 43:30)

“And thus having placed his army according to his desire, he was prepared to meet them.”  (Alma 43:33)

It was in that moment that I thought of my two girls who had left the safety and refuge of home to enter the world.Yes, it’s a world we love, with people we love, and a community we love.  But it is also a world that has the potential and even the intention sometimes to destroy.

And I wonder if I have prepared them with armor?  If I have prepared them by stratagem?  If I have placed them in a situation in which they are prepared to meet whatever they encounter during the day?

I ask myself, “What could I have done more?”  It is a question I have been asking a lot lately.

And then I turned to Alma 48…

Moroni, on the other hand, had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God.

Yea, he had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites.

Erecting small forts, building walls of stone to encircle them about, throwing up banks of earth.

In their weakest fortifications he did place the greater number of men.

Fortifying and strengthening.  Yea, all round about the land.

He did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people.

(Alma 48:7-12)

His people were taught to defend themselves, and yet to never give an offense.  And this was their faith.  They knew if they were faithful the Lord would warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger. (Alma 48:14-15)

I think of my two girls who bounded out of here this morning ready for whatever the day would bring.

Ready in the sense of lunches prepared, hair done, clothes matching, homework packed.

But were they ready?

Strengthened.  Fortified.  Encircled about.  Prepared.

Have I labored exceedingly for the safety and welfare of my people?

What could I do more?

This weekend I filled a notebook with thoughts and inspiration.

Stratagem.

Counsel to help prepare my family to become stronger, to hear the warnings to flee.

In that quiet morning hour I made a decision…I am going to labor exceedingly to make sure we heed the counsel we have been given.

It is when I turn to chapter 49 that I recognize the promise that will follow this decision…

“And now it came to pass…the armies of the Lamanites were seen approaching towards the land…

And behold, the city had been rebuilt…they had cast up dirt round about to shield them from the arrows and the stones… And because the Lamanites had destroyed it once…they supposed that it would again become an easy prey for them.

But behold, how great was their disappointment; for behold, the Nephites had dug up a ridge of earth round about them, which  was so high that the Lamanites could not cast their stones and their arrows at them that they might take effect…

Now at this time the chief captains of the lamanites were astonished exceedingly, because of the wisdom of the Nephites in preparing their places of security.  Behold, to their uttermost astonishment, they were prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known…”  (Alma 49: 1-14)

Today my determination is to labor exceedingly to prepare my family with armor, by stratagem, so that they are in a position to meet whatever they encounter during the day.

Stone by stone if need be.

Just like Moroni.

“Let us never despair, for the work in which we are engaged is the work of the Lord. It has been said,

‘The Lord shapes the back to bear the burden placed upon it.’”

Thomas S. Monson

 “Seek to share joy with others, or to make somebody else happy,

and you will find your own soul radiant with the joy you wished for another.”

David O. McKay

 

Seek His Wisdom

“I offer a plea that each of us will seek to live closer to the Lord and to commune with Him more frequently and with increased faith. Fathers and mothers, pray over your children. Pray that they may be shielded from the evils of the world. Pray that they may grow in faith and knowledge. Pray that they may be directed toward lives that will be profitable and good. Husbands, pray for your wives. Express unto the Lord your gratitude for them and plead with Him in their behalf. Wives, pray for your husbands. Many of them walk a very difficult road with countless problems and great perplexities. Plead with the Almighty that they may be guided, blessed, protected, inspired in their righteous endeavors. Pray for peace in the earth, that the Almighty who governs the universe will stretch forth His hand and let His Spirit brood upon the people, that the nations may not rage one against another. Pray for the weather. We have floods in one area and drought in another. I am satisfied that if enough prayers ascend to heaven for moisture upon the land, the Lord will answer those prayers for the sake of the righteous. Pray for wisdom and understanding as you walk the difficult paths of your lives. If you are determined to do foolish and imprudent things, I think the Lord will not prevent you. But if you seek His wisdom and follow the counsel of the impressions that come to you, I am confident that you will be blessed.”

 

Gordon B. Hinckley

 

“…There is a big difference between mere desire and covenant. When we just
desire something, we will work towards achieving it only when convenient.
But when we are bound by a sacred covenant, like baptism, we are learning to
overcome all obstacles through obedience, and in so doing we will be blessed
with the presence of the Spirit and therefore eventually with achievement.
We are beginning to become alive as we take, knowingly, full responsibility
for our own life and as we stop blaming circumstances.”

F. Enzio Busche

“There is no peace in reflecting on the pain of old wounds. There is peace
only in repentance and forgiveness. This is the sweet peace of the Christ,
who said, ‘blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’

Gordon B. Hinckley

“Being blessed with hope, let us, as disciples, reach out to all who, for whatever reason, have ‘moved away from the hope of the gospel’. Let us reach to lift hands which hang hopelessly down.”

Neal A. Maxwell

“…Faith will not prevent life’s problems but will help when things go wrong. Bad things happen to good people. Accidents occur. Some married couples may not be blessed with children. Others may not marry in this life, or they may find themselves married to one who fails to keep the commandments of God. The Lord is aware of these circumstances. He will bestow all the blessings that He has in store for His faithful children-in His own way and in His own time. Be righteous, be patient, keep an eternal perspective, and you will be protected.”

Russell M. Nelson

“Our Heavenly Father has chosen not to reveal many details of our premortal life with Him. Perhaps this is because we can learn many things simply by observing the pattern for righteous families He established on the earth. Carefully observing and conscientiously living in accordance with righteous family patterns on earth is at the core of our quest to know the Father.”

Quentin L. Cook

“Jesus Christ wants to empower our lives, according to our own righteous choices,

to that dimension that, through our faith and our doings,

the circumstances whose prisoners we were in the past will eventually change.”

F. Enzio Busche

“…Between the poles of sin and adversity, lie such intermediate points as unwise choices and hasty judgments. In these cases, it may be unclear just how much personal fault we bear for the bitter fruits we may taste or cause others to taste. Bitterness may taste the same, whatever its source, and it can destroy our peace, break our hearts, and separate us from God. Could it be that the great át-one-ment’ of Christ could put back together the broken parts and give beauty to the ashes of experience such as this? I believe that it does, because tasting the bitter in all its forms is a deliberate part of the great plan of life. This consequence of the Fall was not just a terrible mistake; rather, it gives mortality its profound meaning: ‘

 

They taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good’

 

Bruce C. Hafen

 

 

 

“To straightway follow our Savior requires effort on our part…Actions are preceded by thoughts and planning. All of us must take charge of our own lives. We must evaluate the choices that are open to us, and then we must act positively on our own decision. An old proverb states, á journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step.’ The word straightway suggests the urgency to take that first step toward any worthy goal.”

 

Marvin J. Ashton

 

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace

 “Ultimately, joy is in Jesus Christ. Unbearable pain turned Alma to the Savior and
thus to joy. Perhaps that experience prompted him to say, ‘May God grant unto you
that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son’ … Since the
day on the Mount of Olives when the Savior gave charge to take His message to
the world, He has loved His messengers. His promise for their times of trial is very
tender: ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have
overcome the world’. His gift to those who testify of Him is not
freedom from hard work or sorrow or stretching but the surety that every ounce of
effort in His name is an investment in joy.”

Barbara Workman

“How comfortable some of us become as we nestle in the web of procrastination. It is a false haven of rest for those who are content to live without purpose, commitment, or self-discipline…. Avoid procrastination. We can say with great accuracy procrastination is an unwholesome blend of doubt and delay. Oft-used words of the Savior such as ask, seek, knock, go, thrust, are action words.

He would have us use action as we teach and live His principles.”

Marvin J. Ashton

“We can choose to look at the bright side of things or at the dark. We can follow good and eschew evil thoughts. We can be wrong-headed and wrong-hearted, or the reverse, as we ourselves determine. The world will be to each one of us very much what we make it. The cheerful are its real possessors,

for the world belongs to those who enjoy it.”

Reed Smoot

 

“In the most personal of his parables, the Savior identified himself fully with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, sick, and imprisoned. í was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: … I was a stranger, and ye took me in.’

 So many are burdened with earthly care, the stain of sin, poverty, pain, disability, loneliness, bereavement, rejection. The promise of Christ’s mercy is sure and certain to those who find him and trust him. He who stilled the winds and waves can bring peace to the sinner and to the suffering saint. And we as his agents are not alone to declare his word, but to represent him in doing unto the least of his brethren that which he himself would do were he now here.”

 

Marion D. Hanks

 

 

“We need to take the time to worship, to meditate, and to develop a more personal relationship with the Lord. We need to get acquainted with his teachings. We need to fill our hearts with the things of the Spirit. We need to be more practical and to begin to think today what Jesus thought. We can fill our minds with our Heavenly Father’s purpose and our hearts with an understanding of his ways. We can open the door of our soul and make room for the Savior to come in. The door of our heart can still be opened from within. Our invitation to the Lord to enter our hearts must come from the inside. The inspired counsel from the prophet Job should be ringing in our ears. He said, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.”

 

George P. Lee

 

 

“…I think some of us must have that remnant of Puritan heritage still with us that says it is somehow wrong to be comforted or helped, that we are supposed to be miserable about something. Consider, for example, the Savior’s benediction upon his disciples even as he moved toward the pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary. On that very night, the night of the greatest suffering that has ever taken place in the world or that ever will take place, the Savior said, ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid’. I submit to you, that may be one of the Savior’s commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart. I can tell you this as a parent: as concerned as I would be if somewhere in their lives one of my children were seriously troubled or unhappy or disobedient, nevertheless I would be infinitely more devastated if I felt that at such a time that child could not trust me to help or thought his or her interest was unimportant to me or unsafe in my care. In that same spirit, I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands or trust in his commandments.”

 

Jeffrey R. Holland

 

For He is mighty to save

Why Are You So Fearful?

By Emily Freeman

Alma 34:1 – Alma 36:29

Do the storms of life ever rage against you?

Have you ever faced a situation that seemed out of your power to control?

Do you know what it is to doubt?

Have you ever felt fear?

In those moments, what do you do?

Today I am remembering a story from the New Testament.  It is one you will be familiar with.

The great storm of wind.  The waves that beat.  The ship full of water.  The Savior sleeping on a pillow.

The raging.  The darkness.  The doubt.  The fear.  ”Master, carest not that we perish?”  (Mark 4:38)

Then He arose.  And there was peace.  A great calm.  A ceasing of the wind.

And a lesson was taught as he gathered the disciples around.

The disciples.

Men who were living righteously, following Him, living the commandments.

And he asked, “Why are ye so fearful?  How is it that ye have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)

Maybe we hear this as a rebuke.

But should we?

Because have you ever had a three year old stumble into your room in the middle of the night shaking from a bad dream.  As you gather them in your arms and wipe the tears from their soft cheeks did you ask,

“What are you so afraid of?”

Did you listen to their concerns, the details of what frightened them, and then speak words that would give them courage, strengthen faith, and empower them to move forward?  

Did you wonder how is it that ye have no faith in this moment?

Did you help them say a prayer?

Now ask yourself, could there have been concern in the Savior’s asking, “Why are ye so fearful?”  What are you scared of?  Does the situation seem out of your control?  Does the problem feel too large for you to conquer on your own?  Help me understand your fear…

Was He about to offer encouragement when he wondered out loud, “how is it that ye have no faith?”

What is it about this moment that has allowed you to replace faith with fear?  Let me help you.

 What is it that is keeping you from looking past this?

Was He really asking the disciples to focus their eyes away from the storm?  Focus on me.  Find faith in me.

I wonder, does this same lesson apply to my own life?

I want to be a disciple.  I try to live righteously, follow the Lord, keep the commandments.

Still, I see the storm raging around me.  I feel it.  The darkness.  Some days the doubt.  Some nights the fear.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember that the Lord is right here in the boat.  Aware of the storm, the darkness, even the doubt.

Right here waiting for me to cry out…Master.

In that moment when I cry unto Him will He gently ask, “Why are you so fearful?  

What is it that you so afraid of?”

What if I were to list my fears on a piece of paper what if I took the time to really answer the Lord’s question…

Why are you so fearful?

Could I spell out the storm that rages within, the chaos that I wish would turn to calm?

Sometimes it is easier to write down the words we don’t want to say outloud.

But the important part of the lesson is asking the second question…how is it that ye have no faith in this moment?

What is it that is keeping you from looking past this?

In my mind’s eye I can almost picture the conversation that took place on that afternoon…Set aside the fear.  Focus on me.  Find faith in me.  Together, what could you and I do to conquer your fear.

Together.

Just like the disciples, we must remember “what manner of man” He is.  (Mark 4:41)

Mighty.

Mightier than any storm we will face.

Alma testifies of this truth:

“Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save.
Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him.
Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.
Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.
Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies.
Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness.
Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.
Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.”  (Alma 34:18-27)

Set aside the fear.

Let me help you.

Take your eyes away from the storm.

Find faith in me.  Focus on me.

If you are fearful, cry unto Him continually,

for He is mighty to save.