Mormon Direction

We all know of what God said about faith and what diminishes it. The most common thing is sin, or to be wicked, to abide in Satan’s rule or influence and so forth, but what many people do not realize is there are other things that also diminishes faith, such as the act of remaining in fear or fear based thoughts, choices and actions. Allow me to explain.

Everyone has shortcomings, personal faults that affect their life. God gave us shortcomings so that we may be made humble by them (Ether 12:27), but also by them, through faith and enduring, God can help us make these weaknesses into a strength when these shortcomings or faults are overcome in the right way (2 Nephi 3:13 / 2 Corinthians 12:10 / Hebrews 11:34).

What many do not realize is that by these inward personal faults, a person can easily diminish his or her faith instead of increasing it and this is all by their own doing, in how they use free will and choice and the manner of beliefs they carry and choose to live. This speaks of two sides, the good and the bad.

When a person chooses to overcome their shortcomings or personal faults, this is the good side, but only if they choose the help of the Holy Spirit and that person allows the Spirit to humble them. Then that person’s faith is increased, made deeper and more rooted and he or she gains an inner spiritual strength that withstands negative spiritual influences. This is a process that takes time if a person perseveres, abides in the Spirit, journals, prays, repents, remains obedient, that person will overcome their fault, made stronger and faith surer.

When a person chooses not to overcome their shortcomings or personal faults, ignores the Holy Spirit, whether or not they pray, chooses to forsake humbleness as part of the process, gives in to their faults or justifies them in any way to keep them, ignore them or both, that person’s faith is diminished, and the scriptures say so.

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I spoke of self-esteem and a relation with God ( see “Self-Esteem and Faith” ). Now I wish to speak of what self-esteem means to me and what works.

The world provides a lot of advice about boosting self-esteem, but the main problem with worldly advice that it does not work well for the faithful, those who abide with God and want to keep themselves spiritually healthy. When I spoke of self-esteem and a relationship with God, I spoke against worldly opinions, ideas and thoughts because they work contrary to gospel principles and faith. I understood what self-esteem meant in regards to faith and from that I understood what it meant to myself in life, both spiritually and temporally

Not long ago, I thought I had good self-esteem, until the Lord led me to see I did not. When I spoke of self-esteem to another, I was also seeing myself and when the Lord turned the light bulb on, I realized that my self-esteem was not what it should have been. In this I realized that God does care about self-esteem and he does teach that low or lower self-esteem is bad for faith because it hampers the person from actually giving their best to God. Sure, God loves us either way, but God loves to see that we perceive ourselves rightly and his love cannot work for us when we allow ourselves or give excuse to lower our self-esteem. Simply, when we reject ourselves, we reject God also because we are in his image and the rejection is of his own image. It is the same as a loving parent feeling rejected when their son or daughter, who are born in their image, rejects themselves. Thus, God loves us to learn to love ourselves in the right way.

What then can we do to raise self-esteem and include our faith in it?

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When someone looks at the world of Christianity, there are diverse beliefs about God and the scriptures. It is no different in regard to the range of beliefs about how God answers prayers. I could write a book about it, but my purpose here is to address only a concern about how prayers are answered.

It can be hard for a floundering member of this Church when he/she doubts the doctrines taught by the apostles and prophet, then go out, investigate and compare the doctrines and beliefs of other Christian denominations, especially in terms of how God answers prayers, leading themselves to think that another church or another Christian denomination or group knows more about prayers and God. This usually happens through accounts given by other Christians of how their prayers were answered.

I have heard and read personal accounts of prayers answered from a range of people, both in and out of this Church. I have heard accounts of the results from prayers that range from the mundane to the impressive. From all of that, I heard other Christians claim that God’s Spirit is therefore always within them, as they explain about their answered prayers, believing wholeheartedly that God is working in their life and guiding them. With all the differing accounts, especially from people outside the Church, how can a member discern if what was said is true and prevent getting pulled into the deluge of false claims about God and his Holy Spirit?

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Not long ago, I was in conversation with a fellow who quit the Seventh Day Adventist church because he was against it’s membership in the World Counsel of churches (WCC). He claimed that he believes in Jesus Christ, yet he quit his chosen church which preached salvation by the Bible. This saying that he quit what he believed was his chosen church and his means of salvation because of his personal disagreement with his church. 

Our conversation began about the false traditions of other Christians where he spoke of his short findings about the WCC, but when he asked me if I belonged to a church and I told him, his tune quickly changed, hypocrisy and ignorance began to rear it’s ugly head. 

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Isaiah spoke of this as the method of God of how he teaches us by his Spirit, but did you know that this is also the way he brings us to overcome our problems and shortcomings? After all, what do you think would be the way that God uses to brings us affliction, trial or tribulation?

Within the Book of Mormon, it teaches us that God gave us weaknesses so that we may be made humble ( Ether 12:27, 28, 35, 37 ). God also said that he will show our weakness to show that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto God and through weakness we can be made strong, but what God shows from these weaknesses are things that are not easily perceived. This means that no matter how hard you may try identify your own weaknesses, you will not be able to find how they are constructed and integrated into your mind and heart. To see into the heart, to know what lays there affecting you life, God is required. 

Do you believe that you can still do this on your own?

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I am sure that some members have faced some confusion between the meaning of “walking by the Spirit” (Gal. 5: 16, 25) and obeying the laws of God, when faced with the claims by other Christians that faith is the only thing required and there is no law, or that we are not under the law because Jesus nailed that to the cross.  This can contribute to some confusion to those who are converts to the Church because for some or many, the influence from the world is still a factor in their lives and most other Christians are of the world. So is there understanding and resolution to these dilemmas?

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Then, whistle while you work.

The toil and chores of daily worldly life can be taxing, such that it wears on you and seems to drain or sap your energy and enthusiasm. The toil and chores are not just house work or yard work, it refers to the ups and downs of life, your trials and sufferings, frustrations, angers, upsets, burdens and of course, even issues (don’t have issues, then your not paying attention).

So many members just do not know that these daily life toils and chores will have an affect upon faith and belief. So much so that a person can become disillusioned with the Church or people in it because of personal matters of life they struggle with.

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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.

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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.

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Wonder what must be done to develop a relationship with God, even his Son and Saviour Jesus Christ? Having trouble with this development such that you may feel or believe that it is not possible or is an impossible task because everything about it seems insurmountable? Another troubling question some may ask is “How can mere mortals, especially those who believe themselves to be completely inadequate to succeed in this task?”

Hopeless? …as it may seem to be.

Have I painted the right picture of how many have felt or believed, maybe even experienced? I hope so, because that is the first step toward a successful relationship with the Father in heaven.
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