12.30.2008

Search, ponder and pray

The things that I must do.

Moroni 10:3-5 tells us to "...read these things...and pnder it in your hearts.....ask God...if they are not true; and if ye shall askw tih a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And then the first scripture I remember memorizing: "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things."

This is the scripture that tells us how to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. But this prayer doesn't have to be a one-time thing. I think that before, I thought, "Yeah, I've said this prayer. I've found out that the Book of Mormon's true." But if we ask with a sincere heart, the Spirit will manifest it's truthfulness again and again. And we don't have to read the entire Book of Mormon all the way through to begin praying about it. (I've also fallen for this misconception.)

Which means I should probably start praying about it again.

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The next part of Moroni 10 talks about spiritual gifts. Not all are given to everyone. To some is given to teach the word of wisdom by the Spirit, to others is given to teach the word of knowledge by the Spirit.

Those sounds awfully similar. How are they different?

I think wisdom is gained through experience, while knowledge is gained through study. What do you think?

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We must have faith, hope and charity to be saved in the kingdom of God. Faith leads us action -- repentance and baptism. Hope is the faith taking root -- actually believing what Christ has said. Having hope in the atonement and resurrection. Charity is letting faith and hope change us. It is becoming Christlike. It's the crowning jewel, in my opinion.

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And Moroni's final testimony is simply beautiful:

"Yea, come unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by this grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

"And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."

That's it, I suppose. If we truly come unto Christ and submit to Him -- to His will for our spiritual progression -- then we will be perfected in Him. It's up to US to deny ourselves of all ungodliness. If do this with all we have, Christ's grace will make up for the rest, and we truly will become perfect in him, through his atonement and the covenants we've made.

3 comments:

MERRIANNE said...

This is wonderful!
I love those scriptures and I need to be reminded of them every day. I still remember when i gained my testimoney of the Book of Mormon. As you know... i live in the BIBLE BELT of the USA. No Mormons... all baptists and methodists.... lots of ANTI-MORMONS.

So... going to school and having friends was HARD because noone believed the way that i did. our ward boundaries are like 100 mile radius... maybe a little more. and i had a friend (a best friend) that lived like 45 minutes away and went to a different school..... anyway... we would only getto see each other at church and church activities. it was so hard being the only Mormon in my school. and i liked having friends... but in order to have FRIENDS you had to fit in!!!

i strayed... unfortunately... and then CAME BACK! and i knew that i had to gain my OWN testimony. I was 19. and i still remember the feeling that i got. it was wonderful and warm and i felt it through every bone in my body that the Book of Mormon was true and that the Gospel was true.

That was when my life changed for the better. I am still thankful that Heavenly Father loved me enough to let me feel the Holy Ghost so strongly that day .... little ol' naughty me in tennessee.

Jen said...

I think this is a great idea to do...to post your spiritual thoughts as well. Sort of reminds me of Nephi who had a journal for the spiritual and a journal for the wars and such. I love the look of your blog. Thanks for sharing your innermost thoughts.

tammy said...

Great thoughts. I love that you are doing this. "...that by this grace ye may be perfect in Christ.." is absolutely one of my favorite parts of any scripture. Probably because I finally realized that we don't have to be perfect, and that Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to make it, and will be just and fair in judging us.