Spirit Present in Church; Constantly Showing Us It's True

Jesus talks to his disciples about the Holy Ghost during his last night with them. He mentions that the world will not be able to see the Holy Ghost, and thus won't believe in it. However, the Saints will have Him with them and will thus believe in Him.

Last week we had a co-worker over and talked about how we know the church is true because of the things we feel. I said, "if you'll live like a Mormon for a month, you'll know it's true too." That's very accurate. It's because living correctly will bless someone with the Spirit, which is felt not seen. That's why it's so hard to believe without following the commandments. You can't see the Spirit. He must come upon you, which happens through faith and obedience and a desire to know.

Here's the verses in John 14:

15 ¶If ye ^alove me, ^bkeep my ^ccommandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another^aComforter, that he may ^babide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Power of a testimony

We are in a wealthy ward because we live in a wealthy area. Most of the people who have teenagers are wealthy enough to buy a rich home and many also send their kids to nice schools. The result of this along with involved parents who live the gospel is polished kids. They are good speakers and carry themselves well. Today the youth (12-18) presented the Sacrament program. They did a great job. The highlight for me though was the last speaker. He is an 18-year-old boy from Tonga who recently moved to the U.S. His accent is fairly think, but he did a good job preparing his talk.

When I was in the MTC, I heard a story about Brigham Young's conversion. He was listening to two missionaries. One of them was more polished and able to explain the gospel and preach for a significant amount of time. The other man was relatively unlearned. At the end of the first man's speech, the second man got up and simply bore a testimony. I imagine he testified that he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the true Church of Christ was on the earth. Brigham Young said that this man's testimony, accompanied by the Spirit is what helped convince him the church was true. I had a similar experience today. I heard some very polished, talented kids speak of the church. It was nice, however, I was very moved when I heard this Tongan boy with bad English testify that he loved the Book of Mormon and that Thomas Monson is a prophet, and that the church is true. I felt this was true when hearing his words. I appreciate the chance to feel the Spirit thanks to this boy's testimony.

Have a great day.

Missionary Homecoming - A Great Inspiration

Today an Elder sent from the ward reported on his mission. It was a great meeting. He told several stories that helped express how much he'd learned on his mission. The stories inspired me in a tremendous way.

His mission president promised the Elders when they got in that they could baptize someone in the next 6 weeks. With 3 weeks to go in the transfer, they didn't have anyone ready to be baptized. The Saturday before church they were very concerned because they knew that if they didn't have someone at church the next day, they wouldn't baptize that transfer (since people have to go to church at least 3 times in that mission before being baptized). That night they got a call to come to another missionary's discussion. (The elder was one of the 2 Spanish speaking Elders, so he covered a large area.) Upon arriving, the daughter of recent convert told this Elder that she'd had a dream the night before in which God told her to join the church. Also, she'd been told that this Elder (the one speaking in the ward today) was supposed to baptize her.

God is involved in this work; that's very clear. He's also very involved in our lives as we seek him and try to follow Him. As I listened to the Elder today, I felt that is very true. I was filled with the Spirit and desire to be more faithful and receive more revelation. I love this church very much. I wish that I had invited someone to church today because they would have felt something great.

Have a great week.

Just Keep Teaching

My wife told me a great story last night. She was at a meeting for Sunday School teachers and a friend of ours made the following comment. When he was on his mission, Elder Scott (one of the 12 Apostles in the church) came and spoke to them and also held a Q&A session. One of the missionaries asked the question, "I have heard that roughly 50% of returned missionaries stop actively attending church at some point in life after they return home. I believe the gospel strongly now, but how do I keep from falling away as one of those 50%?"

Pretty good question. Our friend thought that Elder Scott would give a detailed answer outlining how to not fall away. However, the answer was one line: "Just keep teaching."

Interesting. I have learned that teaching brings the Spirit, and the Spirit brings faith. For instance, consider this verse from D.C. 50:

22Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are ^aedified and ^brejoicetogether.

The teacher and the learner (when taught by the Spirit) understand the message well and are edified and rejoice (i.e., are happy and learn something new or something that strengthens their faith). Always participating in the gospel by teaching will consistently bring happiness and edification, which makes it unlikely one will ever fall away.

Keep teaching :)

Getting Answers to Questions, Big and Small

A friend of mine at work was talking to me about life and religion a few months ago. He said that life is very grey and there are few clear cut answers in difficult/complex decisions. And there are many of those kinds of decisions.

I thought about that for a while. At its face, I agreed. There are many complex decisions that affect many outcomes, and yet I have made many of those decisions relatively easily. I got married quickly and it turned out great. I went on a mission (decision to "give up" two years - actually it was a tremendous investment in so many ways) without any hesitancy. I changed jobs/industries pretty quickly. We've had kids young and its worked out very well. I realize that these are tremendous blessings and people who are better than me in every way haven't had the same outcomes necessarily, but I personally know a lot of people in the same situation. The Lord has some advice for those who are "ignorant" of what to do and need to find answers to questions:

D.C. 136: 32Let him that is ^aignorant ^blearn ^cwisdom by ^dhumbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his ^eeyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear;

33For my ^aSpirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the^bhumble and contrite, and to the ^ccondemnation of the ungodly.

The explanation that some would give concerning my blessings would be, "but I can't see how you made those decisions", or like Laman and Lemuel, "God doesn't reveal such things to us" (1 Nephi 15), does not hold water. God helps us have eyes to see and ears to hear as we ask for his help to see and hear and understand.

I know God will help his children. I loves us all very much. (1 Nephi 11:17) However, we must come to him and call upon him in order to be enlightened. I am not great at doing this but hope to be and have certainly enjoyed the blessings of doing it at times.

Feeling the Spirit

Many times we think of "feeling the Spirit" as something that causes our "bosom to burn" because of a verse in D.C.9 that is repeated often. I am not a huge fan of this verse b/c if that's the only time we have the Spirit, then most of us don't feel it very often. In Oliver's case he needed some immediate feedback on what he was doing (translating), so it was important to have a "yes" or a "no" right in the moment. Few of us are in similar situations.

D.C. 50:22 explains that one moment when we feel the Spirit often is when we're learning. And in those moments, both the teacher and the learner can experience certain things that indicate the Spirit is present. D.C. 50: 21-22:

21Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the ^aSpirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth?

22Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are ^aedified and ^brejoicetogether.

If you receive the word or preach the word by the Spirit there will be a few results: 1) you will likely understand something you didn't understand before, be edified (in Spanish edificio means a building; edified means something akin to that - having an increase in knowledge), and/or feel happy.

This week I was teaching in Gospel Doctrine and a man made a comment about Mark 10:18, which we were reading. I have read this verse many times and never understood why Jesus said what he says here. The setting is the rich young man is coming to Jesus asking what he lacks. Here's the first two verses in the encounter. Mark 10:17-18:

17¶And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

18And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there isnone ^agood but one, that is, God.

The question I have always had is, "why in the world would Jesus say he isn't "good"? He's really good." This man in Sunday School said, "Jesus said what he did to show the rich young man the need for humility. Jesus modeled humility just before asking the rich young man to show humility by giving up what he had and following the Savior. Unfortunately the young man didn't make the connection or follow the example."

Oh dang. He was exactly right. No question that's a great explanation of what was happening. Jesus gave up all he had in Heaven to come down (which he didn't have to do - he was perfect), and he did so because he is humble. The rich young man was being asked to do the same, so Jesus was trying to teach him humility before hand.

I understood something I didn't understand before in that moment, learned that this story was about faith but also largely about humility, and I felt happy. I think that means I felt the Spirit. When we recognize that the Spirit can be felt in this way, not just a burning in the bosom, it becomes more clear that we feel the Spirit often.

Have a good day.

LaDon