Butterflies

Sometimes the only way to know what would Jesus do is to ask Him.

Like a butterfly, a person can go from a worm like creature that crawls to a beautiful winged creature that flys. The secret to this extreme makeover of man is that it happens, that mighty transformation happens, on the inside.

God is the gardener here and sometimes, out of pure love, He gives us an extreme makeover. Be willing to submit to His pruning and your blessings will be eternal.

A selfish person simple cannot yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and put off the natural man or woman because it goes against his or her very nature.  But that is just the point. Putting off the natural man and becoming a saint is the divine process of changing our very nature.  Like learning a new language it will be obvious and awkward at first and many mistakes will be made, but over time with the right amount of endurance, practice, and humility, the new language will come.

There is a mindless, restless, discontented craving that exists in a casino where practically lifeless, empty, unhappy people go to squander what little left they have on the chance that next time things will be different.  And it rarely is.  Now consider this scripture. Do not spend money on that which is of no worth nor your labor on that which cannot satisfy. 2 Nephi 9:51

The world is like a big casino: are you gambling your life away?  "By their fruits ye shall know them" 3 Nephi 14:20.

Double Edged Sword

Try the pleasing word of God, it is quick and powerful, sharper than a two edged sword--in fact even more powerful than the sword!

But be careful with the double edged blade. Its cuts are painful when we don’t live up to our covenants. Then we are under the tempters power and he desires that we are miserable like unto himself.

Eventually we may even become numb to his misery. Like the hiker, lost and exposed to the elements, we stop fighting and just want to sleep. What we don’t realize is that we are lost in a forest and what we are really fighting off is death.

The coma that comes before the death may seem tranquil. We may even feel a sense of freedom, fun and relaxation, and even for decades of our lives, for some comas last a long time.  But those in a coma, and on life support, may tragically never wake up. They may be so far gone and so far past feeling, that their chances of coming out of a coma are very slim.

But sleep feels so good. Just let me close my eyes for one minute I am so cold and so tired. Just let me rest and nap for a second then I will try to build a snow cave, or a camp fire or call for help.

Awake and shake off the sin. Arise from the dust and be men. Awake from those awful chains of hell before hell consumes you. Rise up O men of God!

"Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word" Alma 5:7.

The hypothermia that is setting in is the mist of darkness before the coma and before you freeze to death. At that point in your spiritual survival you aren’t thinking correctly, you are disoriented. You are hallucinating and making critical mistakes. Find the sense to listen and follow the still small voice, one last time, or you will lose that compass of direction entirely.

There is a rain of relief that comes after a spiritual drought and emotional starvation.  Humility is reached when we realize that the famine was our fault not His. Humility is reached when we don’t have to lie to anyone about anything, especially to ourselves.  The wicked take the truth to be hard, not because God is trying to be mean. His chastisement is really a loving fire alarm, trying to warn us that the upcoming problem is more painful and harder than the warning signs.  Don't punish the messenger. Don't punish the smoke detectors by yanking them out of the ceiling. They are going off because they are trying to tell you something.  Even if that something is just that your spiritual batteries are low or your spiritual batteries are dead and you're going to need those batteries for what lies ahead.  Rejoice in Christ, rejoice in the truth.  Don’t be like the wicked who take the truth to be hard, but be like the righteous that receiveth it with
gladness!

Unforgettables

Are there some unforgettable things that have happened in your life that have left such a lasting impact on your life that your life has literally been changed because of it?

Sadly some of these unforgettables leave a horrible, negative impact, like crime, war, death. Even if the sting fades over the years, there is no denying that they happened.

But what about the wonderful and positive unforgettables in our lives? Even their memories may fade a little with time, but the positive impacts are very real and undeniable.

Whether they are once-in-a-lifetime experiences or daily occurrences, these very real and unforgettable things really do happen to us.

Now you can come to know the truth of Joseph Smiths unforgettables. You can come to know the truth of Joseph Smiths unforgettables as you experience some of your own. The truth you seek is tied to the person you are. When your life becomes a fountain of integrity, you will drink from the eternal and living waters freely, and you will come to know, like any real and unforgettable moment in your life, the undeniable reality of Jesus Christ, his life his gospel and his atoning sacrifice.

As surely as any wonderful thing that has ever happened to you, you can know that Christ lives. that Noah built an ark, that Jonah met a whale, that Moses walked in the valley of a parted sea, that Daniel survived a den of lions, and Joseph Smith had a most sacred and unforgettable experience in a sacred grove.

Remember the truth you seek is up to you--where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. The fountain of youth may not exist, but the fountain of truth does. Come drink of living water and never thurst. But your cup must be clean. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord”.  The Lord will not put new wine in old bottles.

May it be said of you: he hath clean hands and a pure heart.

He Knows How The Story Ends

One of the great truths, central to the atonement, is the perfect foreknowledge of God.  We know from scriptures that God knows the end from the beginning.  He knows how the story ends. He knows what we will do, when and where we will sin.  

We cannot begin to fathom the pain Christ suffered as he atoned for the sins of the world.  Although we cannot comprehend his suffering, it is possible, in some small degree, to appreciate some of the process.  This process included the revelation of all sins from God to Christ.  How awful and shocking and horrifying, to the sinless Son of God, it must have to been to behold every last sin of every last one of us. Christ didn't remember our sins, he experienced them firsthand.

Christ paid the ultimate price for all sins, including the trillions of sins that would occur after his sacrifice in Gethsemane.  How was it possible for God or Christ to know what sins would occur in the future?  Because God the Eternal Father is an all-knowing God, He has a complete knowledge of all things, even things yet to come. He was perfectly able to include all the sins, past, present, and future, in the bitter cup, leaving out no sinner and leaving no sin unaccounted for.  

Christ not only experienced the overwhelming shock and sorrow of all the sins of mankind, but also endured the eternal punishment affixed to those sins.  Again his all knowing Father, author of the perfect plan,  unleashed the full fury of justice to meet its demands.

We can show reverence to the Savior for His sacred atonement without sensationalizing his suffering, but instead recognizing the infinite power of God to account for and atone for all of our sins.