A man who is irresponsible about his past, is acting irresponsible in the present, creating irresponsibility for his future.
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Latter-day Saint Help SiteArchive
Archive for February, 2008
Thomas S. Monson is offically the new LDS President, as of February 4th, 2008. The news item is under the announcements menu above.
The prophet spoke of being a good example, the General Authorities spoke of the same thing. The power of example is a powerful influence to people. It touches their hearts and minds, something far more influential than material or flesh things. It is the same method that provides a person with power against evil and against corruption. It provides faith a conduit by which to proliferate. Example is that power which Jesus Christ and the Father use to express themselves. Example is what allows a person to be diligent, brave, determined, enduring, patient, tempered and all other good things of the spirit.
Prayer does work and when done properly it works very well. The workings of prayer are rather simple, but despite this simplicity, so many fail to understand how prayer works, and many find that prayer works only sometimes and they are accepting of that. The scriptures tell us that we are to pray often and diligently. This is not an idle direction from God neither is it contingent on personal preference.
A person who prays rightly and often will find that his/her state of mind and heart will abide in the first commandment. Their faith will receive support and direction, for all faith that is not focused into proper works is a dead faith, but rather than getting into the doctrinal support and reason for proper and frequent prayer, I wish to write here a personal aspect of proper prayer.
Are you a convert? Entering the Church for the first time, finding it different or hard to adjust? Do you feel that maybe this is not where you want to be, because it feels different or odd? Allow me to pose a different question. When you began a brand new job, in a new place or even a new department or office, did you feel out of place, odd, thinking that maybe it may not work out or that things are not to your liking?
These feelings are normal and speak of the period of adjustment. They do not speak about whether it is wrong or bad. With anything new and unfamiliar comes a period of adjustment. The tendency of some people is to withdraw and move back into what is familiar, which is always what and where they were before. The feeling of comfort is a confusing feeling at times. People get comfortable in unpleasant environments where they believe they can do little about. This is called complacency and is confused with comfort. Here we see people wanting no change in order to avoid the discomfort of change.
To have the ability to sense or feel sin is an important skill in maintaining faith and a single mind to the Lord. The ability to feel sin has nothing to do with seeking sin, it has to do with the ability to discern sin when all logic seems to fail or fall short.
To feel sin is to detect sin or sinful things by their nature and presence. To be able to feel and perceive jointly.
Ponder for the moment this example, a person whose prime interest in life is money. This person studies it, practices it, goes to school to gain more knowledge about it. This person focuses his/her life primarily to gain wealth and status. With this interest and prime focus, this person seeks the “wisdom” that prevails in the practice and life of money and develops him/herself in their life to “live” the focus. (Have you heard of the teaching that to succeed you must live it, eat it and sleep it, daily?)
As you ponder further, ask yourself this question – “How would such a person perceive life and how would such a person practice and choose in life?”
Prayer does work and when done properly it works very well. The workings of prayer are rather simple, but despite this simplicity, so many fail to understand how prayer works and many find that prayer works only sometimes if at all. The scriptures tell us that we are to pray often and diligently. This is not an idle direction from God neither is it contingent on personal preference. A person who prays rightly and often will find that his/her state of mind and heart will abide in the first commandment. Their faith will receive support and direction.
All faith that is not focused into proper works is a dead faith, but rather than getting into the doctrinal support and reason for proper and frequent prayer, I wish to write here a personal aspect of proper prayer.
Prayer has worked well for me, despite experiences where it appeared at times that what help I had asked for seemed to never come.
One of the challenges of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is whether a particular doctrine or practice is believable or acceptable. I have read and heard so many claims by ex-Mormons of how they were fooled or blinded to some of the doctrines or activities of the Church.
Some of the common complaints surround tithing, lack of answers to prayers, Adam-God Theory, Blacks previously refused the priesthood, men oriented church, and so on. When I looked at these claims or complaints and the stories behind them I see that they are just personal, which means that their issues are specific to them. For some things the Church has done, such as restrict Black men from the priesthood, are true, but making personal issue out of these things certainly does not gain the ear of the Lord neither does it gain any help or witness from the Holy Ghost. Why is this? It is because making personal issue is the act of contention which is the spirit of contention and such is not of God.
The Author: MWarbinek
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