If Ye Know These Things, Happy Are Ye If Ye Do Them

Some thoughts to ponder for today ... Christ speaking in John 13:15-17 "I have given you an example, ye should do as I have done unto you. ... If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

Then continuing in John 14:12-16, He says "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;"

And in John 14:21 He says, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

John 14:26-27 adds "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

In my mind, I hear Him speaking these words in a clear, gentle, powerful voice.  I repeat them.  They are so comforting and so full of loving guidance and direction. 

I love the Lord.  I love to hear His voice.  I know you can feel His love for you too.

Life Is So Much Fuller When We Do Acknowledge Jesus Christ

I love it when I read the Scriptures and something new jumps out at me that I hadn't noticed before.  Actually that happens a lot, and I do appreciate it!

This morning it was Luke 11:3, part of Luke's telling of Christ's teaching His disciples how to pray by giving what we now call The Lord's Prayer as an example.

"Give us day by day our daily bread."

A seemingly small difference in wording from "Give us this day our daily bread" in Matthew 6:11. (In both cases I'm quoting the King James Version of the Bible.  I realize other versions have slight variations, I simply want to comment on some things that struck me as I read today.

Both Matthew and Luke's accounts of this prayer humbly acknowledge the Lord's hand in everything in life, even something as basic as simple forms of food, such as bread.  We could of course take the attitude that it is our work that produces our bread, that it does not involve the Lord.   Life is so much fuller when we do acknowledge Him, when we do follow His example, when we do talk to Him about our need for His direction in everything we do.  We have so many choices in life.  It is too easy to get caught up in the details of bread production, so to speak, and lose sight of the bigger picture of life.  The Lord helps us keep our priorities aligned with His.  The resulting increased balance in our life is a real blessing.

Not to mention that when we get in the daily habit of going to the Lord with all the details of our life, even our daily (or our day by day) bread, then we have a priceless communication established with Him when we reach situations in life where it seems there are no answers.  I offer my personal witness, added to countless other witnesses, that He has the answers.  Always.  Even when there are no answers visible to mortal eyes.

Which gets me back to the subtle distinction between our bread this day, or our bread day by day.  It seems to me that day by day not only acknowledges our need for the Lord each individual day, and the need to pray to Him each day, but it also gives a longer term view. 

We need Him as we make our longer term decisions in life, the ones that are going to affect us tomorrow, next week, next year, and beyond -- in addition to our needs of this moment in time.

I offer my personal testimony that we truly do need the Lord today and every day.  I welcome you to write your testimony, or comment, on the blessing of the Lord in your life in the space provided here.  I share my testimony with you in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Christ Blesses Our Lives So Fully When We Do!

Jesus said in Mark 14:36-38, "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.  And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?  Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak."

Yesterday, I was blessed to read about faith in Christ, and its great power.  These verses point out again that through faith Christ could have avoided His suffering at Gethsemane and Calvary, but, He wanted to do the will of His father (thus blessing each of us infinitely) more than that, so he voluntarily endured there. 

I believe His comment to Peter was said in understanding and love.  He was simply using the circumstance as yet another valuable object lesson for us.  "Watch ye and pray, the flesh is weak". 

I am awed and so appreciative of Christ's love for each one of us.  It would be nice to follow Him just because of that, but if that isn't reason enough, He also blesses our lives so fully when we do!

If Thou Canst Believe, All Things Are Possible

Mark 9:23-29, a parable of Jesus healing bookended with two encouraging and helpful thoughts for each of us,

"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.  And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.  But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.  And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?  And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting."

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is clearly a great and powerful blessing for each of us that will believe enough to make the effort to learn about faith, and then through prayer and fasting, exercise faith.  I believe we develop powerful faith in Christ in a way similar to exercising our muscles.  Consistent repetition of the basics.

A second illustration occurs two chapters later in Mark 11:20-25,

"And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.  And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.  And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.  And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

What I marvel at here is that there truly are no limits to what the power of faith in Christ can do.  But it is not automatic.  Belief, nothing wavering, is required ... no small task.  Prayer, fasting, forgiving are needed as well.

Sounds like the worthy pursuit of a lifetime to me ... one consistent step at a time.  Thanks and praise be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

He That Hath Ears to Hear ...

Jesus teaches a great lesson in Mark 4:3-9,

"Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.  And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Which left me pondering, why did Jesus tell this parable, and what is He hoping we will hear?  Please comment and share your thoughts with me here ...

Breathtaking just thinking about it!

Matt 22:36-40 "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

I believe that the Lord is telling us here that the way to show our love to Him is by dedicating our lives to Him (for example see Elder D. Todd Christofferson's address "Reflections on a Consecrated Life") and by rooting out any selfishness we might find in our lives by truly caring for and serving our neighbors in the way we woudl want to be served.

The Lord certainly set the example of this in His own life, something worthy of devoting a lifetime to learning through practice how to do.  And if you need a selfish reason to do something unselfish, remember that this is the way to get endless blessings from Him ... here ... in this life.

Or try doing it without concern for blessings you may get.  Breathtaking just thinking about it!

Peter, Walking on Water, and What Faith Can Do For Us Today

Matt 14:28-33 "And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.  And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?  And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.  Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God."

To me, this is instructive of the full power of faith.  The scriptures testify multiple times that we can accomplish any righteous desire of our heart by fully exercising faith.  We can ponder and pray for guidance on whether a particular desire is righteous, and therefore qualified for this promise.

Here, Peter desires that the Lord would want him (Peter) to walk to Him (the Lord) and to give him the power to do it.  The Lord without hesitation said "Come".  The promise was fulfilled, through Peter's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he was indeed walking on the water towards the Savior.

The adversity appeared in the form of increased wind, reminding Peter of the physical reality that he was walking on water!  Fear replaced faith, ending the power of faith at that time.

I do not say this to criticize Peter.  I admire that he had the confidence to make the request of the Lord in the first place.  I admire that he didn't hesitate after making the request, but directly began walking. 

I say this to point out what we can learn about faith here.  The Lord really does want to bless us.  He wants to help us.  Every day in every situation.  Yes, in His way, but only because His way is truly the best in the long run.  If we will do what is necessary to build faith and act on it, He will be there to give us the power to do.

I know this is true, and I am so thankful to the Lord for the blessings He gives us through faith.