Intently Listening to Church Leaders

In Acts 14, we read about Paul teaching people in Lystra. Here's some verses about a particular man who was listening:

8 ¶And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a ^acripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

It then mentions that Paul noticed how intently the man was looking at him (presumably listening to his words) and Paul perceived the man had the faith to be healed and Paul then healed him.

9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had ^afaith to be ^bhealed,

10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

I think it's worth considering what Paul was saying and what the man was doing. I remember the first general conference I listened to when I was on the mission was special for me. I listened so intently to the prophet and felt as if he were there speaking to me. It was so real and powerful. I assume Paul spoke about the Savior and brought hope to the man. I imagine that Paul had the same effect on this man and that, upon noticing the man, Paul compassionately reached out and healed him. I hope to emphasize the powerful effect the words of the Apostles can have on those hearing their voice and the faith that their words can engender in others.

Priesthood Blessings - How do we know what to say?

Today one of the counselors in our EQ presidency gave a terrific message. He gave an outstanding lesson 4 months ago, so when I saw him get up today, I knew it would also be good. I made sure to stay close enough to listen even though Daniel was walking all over the place, like always (lately).

He said that his 16-year-old son asked him, "Dad, how do you know what to say in a blessing?" a few weeks ago which led to some thought and the decision to teach the lesson on this topic.

It was a great lesson. He borrowed a lot from Elders Oaks' talk given in the April 2010 conference on healing the sick. http://lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/healing-the-sick?lang=eng

Elder Oaks mentions 5 components to a blessing, all of which are important:

There are five parts to the use of priesthood authority to bless the sick: (1) the anointing, (2) the sealing of the anointing, (3) faith, (4) the words of the blessing, and (5) the will of the Lord.

A few thoughts that came out of the lesson:

1) a reason for the oil is it represents the blessings of the Lord being poured out on us

2) the sealing is to help the anointing accomplish what it is supposed to accomplish; it is not really connected to the words of the blessing

3) the faith of the person being blessed is the critical component in the blessing; for this reason it normally makes sense for the person being blessed to ask for the blessing; if they believe in the Savior and ability to heal, they will always be healed (assuming the will of the Lord is fine with the blessing)

4) the words are not as important as the faith of the person or the will of the Lord; the part of the lesson that stuck out to me most was the teacher saying, "the Lord will not constrain the love or desires of the person giving the blessing by keeping him from saying what he wants to/feels to". I thought that was a very nice way of explaining why sometimes the things we say will not happen.

5) the Lord's will will affect the outcome of the blessing. Some things asked for won't happen because they're not the Lord's will. I'm appreciative that God knows best and will intervene when he knows he should.

I appreciated our lesson today. Very helpful.