Being completely honest here- I have not been having very meaningful scripture study the last couple of weeks. I don't know if I have just been having some "off" time or if I have been doing something wrong. The talks in sacrament meeting today gave me a jump start. Their subject matter was the Holy Ghost. I have had many thoughts come to me today so hopefully I can put them in a somewhat cohesive manner.
One of the speakers quoted extensively by this talk from Richard G. Scott. It is one that I studied and was touched by, but have not reread recently. He says that while the goal of being led by the spirit can "be a daunting task [it] will be much easier to manage over time as you consistently strive to recognize and follow feelings prompted by the Spirit. Your confidence in the direction you receive from the Holy Ghost will also become stronger."
This reminded me of a great talk that was given at my aunt's baptism a couple of years ago. He gave the example of a doctor who hadn't practiced medicine in some years. As a patient you would not go to him to receive care because it had been so long since he had actively practiced. He compared practicing medicine to the guidance of the Holy Ghost. It is a skill that needs to be developed and practiced. I thought it was a wonderful analogy.
Next I started thinking about how that related to something my mentor teacher would tell his students. He would say that no matter how well you brushed your teeth yesterday you still need to do it again today. He was talking about practicing your instrument, but applies to the Holy Ghost as well. Even if I read my scriptures yesterday and had meaningful prayer, which allowed the Holy Ghost to present with me, I need to do it again today.
Elder Scott goes on to say- "Spirituality yields two fruits. The first is inspiration to know what to do. The second is power, or the capacity to do it. These two capacities come together." I have always known the first fruit, but I had never realized the second. It is such an amazing blessing and I should have realized it sooner! We know that when we are on the Lord's errand we are entitled to His help. If you have received direction from the Lord, He will give you the help or power to do it. I need to remember that even though I am weak when I yoke myself to Him, His power will help me.
Next Elder Scott shares some experiences of when he received revelation. I won't go into them too much in detail, but I hope you will read his talk and go through them. The part that I do want to share is the importance of recording inspiration as it comes. A few years ago I was in the habit of reading with a notebook and recording thoughts that came. As I would reread the things I had written I would sometimes find guidance for my current problems which I had no idea of when I recorded them. I am recommitting to getting into this habit again.
One more quote from Elder Scott that I don't think needs any explaining. "The inspiring influence of the Holy Spirit can be overcome or masked by strong emotions, such as anger, hate, passion, fear, or pride. When such influences are present, it is like trying to savor the delicate flavor of a grape while eating a jalapeño pepper. Both flavors are present, but one completely overpowers the other. In like manner, strong emotions overcome the delicate promptings of the Holy Spirit."
We had a wonderful discussion in relief society today. We were studying Doctrine and Covenants 121. We were studying the priesthood so we didn't read the end verses, but I reread them. I chose the address for this blog from verse 45. If we continue with verse 46 it says - "The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever." I had to look up some of these words for a better understanding. After reading this I thought what more can we ask for? Having the Holy Ghost constantly with us, having power made of truth and righteousness and dominion (which I interpret to mean our families) coming unto us of their own free will forever! How wonderful is that!?
One final thought. Work. The carnal side of me does not like this word. I have this terrible habit of just wishing and praying insincerely for blessings and guidance, but then I don't follow through. Then I whine about how I wish things were better (Laman and Lemuel alert!). I need to work harder to invite the Lord and the Holy Ghost into my life. The past two nights I have been pondering over what the Bible Dictionary says about prayer. I had always been impressed by this line-Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. But there is much more to it. I need to dig deeper in my studying. Anyway, this part is very pertinent to me right now-Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings. I need to get past this mentality and get to work. It is as simple as that.
1 Nephi 10:19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, . . .
This turned out to be much longer than I thought so I'm sorry for that, but I want to publicly commit to inviting the spirit into my life. I need His help so desperately. I have been reading my scriptures at night and I want to keep doing that, but I feel that I need to invite the Holy Ghost into my life in the mornings so he can be present throughout my day. I am going to wake up 30 minutes earlier and make sure I have my pen and paper with me. Bring on the blessings!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Enlightenment Journey
The relief society in our ward has been reading The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister. They invited him to speak to them about the process of writing this book. A lot of his comments were enlightening so I thought I would post my notes in the hopes that they might help some one (and so if I loose my paper I can look here :) ). Confession time-I have not yet read the book, but am going to start soon. I didn't have enough brain capacity to read this book and Jesus the Christ at the same time.
How he wrote it-
* He started researching in 1982. He decided he wanted to study topics more in depth than he had done before. He started with the Atonement and thought he would work on it about 30 days. At the end of 30 days he decided to go another 30 days. Then he decided to just keep going until he felt like it was time to stop. 18 years later the book was published.
* His method was to put each question he had about the atonement on a folder then add any scriptures or quotes that answered this question into the folder.
* Some of his main sources-Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Joseph F. Smith, Orson F. Whitney (a poem called Elias), James E. Talmage and Bruce R. McConkie. The non LDS authors he recommended were John Milton- "Paradise Lost", Frederick W. Farrar- "Life of Christ", John Dunn and C.S. Lewis.
* He felt like a very inadequate writer, but there were times when he could tell the Lord was speaking through his pen.
Some of the lessons he learned while writing-
* Good books take time.
* He was given some criticism and had to decide if he wanted to win (he wanted to defend his writing) or have a better book. He decided to have a better book. We can apply this to ourselves-do you want to win or have a better marriage? a better relationship with your family? etc.
* Sometimes commentaries can rob us of person revelation. If we have other people's thoughts floating around in our brains it can crowd out the words coming from above.
* He talked to many people about the atonement and learned that you don't have to be a theologian to have insights about the atonement.
* Insights come line upon line if we stick with it. We need to pay the price, do our homework and the answers and help will come.
* He spoke about the experience Joseph Smith had after his baptism. This is from Joseph Smith's history
http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.68-72?lang=eng#67
74 Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the ascriptures laid open to our understandings, and the btrue meaning and intention of their more cmysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to previously, nor ever before had thought of.
* Dallin H. Oaks made the comment to Elder Callister that he always prays before eating so he should also pray before feeding his soul.
* Scriptures have their own language. The Holy Ghost is the interpreter.
Some of the biggest revelations he had while writing-
* The worst consequence of sin is separation from God. Jesus never sinned so He didn't experience this separation until He was on the cross. Matthew 27: 46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, aMy God, my God, why hast thou bforsaken me?"
* He went over Doctrine and Covenants 84 that discussed the purposes of ordinances and how they relate to the atonement.
* The gifts of the spirit are attributes of God. Doctrine and Covenants 46
* The divinity of Jesus Christ enabled Him to suffer all and thus succor all. Our release is death or unconsciousness. Perhaps His divinity allowed Him a greater capacity to allow Him to perform the atonement.
How he wrote it-
* He started researching in 1982. He decided he wanted to study topics more in depth than he had done before. He started with the Atonement and thought he would work on it about 30 days. At the end of 30 days he decided to go another 30 days. Then he decided to just keep going until he felt like it was time to stop. 18 years later the book was published.
* His method was to put each question he had about the atonement on a folder then add any scriptures or quotes that answered this question into the folder.
* Some of his main sources-Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Joseph F. Smith, Orson F. Whitney (a poem called Elias), James E. Talmage and Bruce R. McConkie. The non LDS authors he recommended were John Milton- "Paradise Lost", Frederick W. Farrar- "Life of Christ", John Dunn and C.S. Lewis.
* He felt like a very inadequate writer, but there were times when he could tell the Lord was speaking through his pen.
Some of the lessons he learned while writing-
* Good books take time.
* He was given some criticism and had to decide if he wanted to win (he wanted to defend his writing) or have a better book. He decided to have a better book. We can apply this to ourselves-do you want to win or have a better marriage? a better relationship with your family? etc.
* Sometimes commentaries can rob us of person revelation. If we have other people's thoughts floating around in our brains it can crowd out the words coming from above.
* He talked to many people about the atonement and learned that you don't have to be a theologian to have insights about the atonement.
* Insights come line upon line if we stick with it. We need to pay the price, do our homework and the answers and help will come.
* He spoke about the experience Joseph Smith had after his baptism. This is from Joseph Smith's history
http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.68-72?lang=eng#67
74 Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the ascriptures laid open to our understandings, and the btrue meaning and intention of their more cmysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to previously, nor ever before had thought of.
* Dallin H. Oaks made the comment to Elder Callister that he always prays before eating so he should also pray before feeding his soul.
* Scriptures have their own language. The Holy Ghost is the interpreter.
Some of the biggest revelations he had while writing-
* The worst consequence of sin is separation from God. Jesus never sinned so He didn't experience this separation until He was on the cross. Matthew 27: 46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, aMy God, my God, why hast thou bforsaken me?"
* He went over Doctrine and Covenants 84 that discussed the purposes of ordinances and how they relate to the atonement.
* The gifts of the spirit are attributes of God. Doctrine and Covenants 46
* The divinity of Jesus Christ enabled Him to suffer all and thus succor all. Our release is death or unconsciousness. Perhaps His divinity allowed Him a greater capacity to allow Him to perform the atonement.
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