Sunday, November 20, 2011
(95) Helaman 5:47 “Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world.” When we have faith in Christ, we can have peace.
(96) Helaman 10:4 “Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.” How often do we think about our own lives instead of thinking about God’s will for our lives?”
(97) Helaman 10:5 “And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless the forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.” There are some pretty amazing promises given to us here if we seek God’s will with “unwearyingness,” suck as being blessed FOREVER and being mighty in all things.
(98) Helaman 12:1 “And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.” This is something that I have seen in my own life, especially here in Taiwan. It is amazing the blessings you can see when you do put all your trust in God, and when you are looking for those blessings.
(99) Helaman 12:15 “ And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun.” I think that similarly we can say that it is the world that moves and not the Son. It is pretty easy to see the shift in values of the world throughout history, yet what the Lord expects of us and what he wants for us stays the same. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not move away from us, but sometimes we move away from him.
(100) Helaman 15:6 “Yea, I say unto you, that the more part of them are… striving with unwearied diligence that they may bring the remainder of their brethren to the knowledge of the truth.” What I learned from this is that we should never tire of being persistently righteous.
(101) Helaman 15:9 “And ye know also that they have buried their weapons of war, and they fear to take them up lest by any means they should sin, yea, he can see that they fear to sin –for behold they will suffer themselves that they be trodden down and slain by their enemies, and will not lift their swords against them, and this because of their faith in Christ.” I think that this (burying our “weapons of war… [for] fear to take them up lest by any means [we] should sin”) is a very important principle for us to apply to our own lives. I feel like we can also see how faith in Christ makes us afraid to sin and gives us more desire to live righteously.
(102) 3 Nephi 4:33 “And their hearts were swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction.” Can you imagine so much joy and gratitude? Maybe you have experienced it before, but I hope that it is something that all of us will be able to have in our lives.
(103) 3 Nephi 6:14 “And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord.” This is how we need to be (firm, steadfast, and immovable in our faith in Christ), especially as the world would have us depart from our conversion.
(104) 3 Nephi 7:19-20 “And in the name of Jesus did he cast out devils and unclean spirits; and even his brother did he raise from the dead, after he had been stoned and suffered death by the people. And the people saw it, and did witness of it, and were angry with him because of his power, and he did also do many more miracles, in the sight of the people, in the name of Jesus.” Can you imagine being angry with someone for performing a miracle? I think the devil would have to have complete hold over a person’s heart for them to be so hard.
(105) 3 Nephi 11:7 “Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name —hear ye him.” To glorify is to reveal or make clearer the glory of God. What is God’s glory? It is his work, which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. I feel like there is a great deal that we can learn from this verse.
(106) 3 Nephi 11:11 “And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.” Glorified or revealed the work of the Father. Work=purpose?
(107) 3 Nephi 15:19 “But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you.” This makes me wonder how many things are kept form us because of our iniquity?
(108) 3 Nephi 16:2 “For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them.” One of the brothers in the high council in the Taichung North Stake gave a talk in our branch. His talk was about scripture study and coming to know the Lord. It was a very powerful talk, and even though the majority of it was given in Chinese, it still put me in tears. Anyway, something he said really struck me, something which I feel, is relevant to this verse: though none of us have actually seen God the Father or his son Jesus Christ, by studying the scriptures constantly, we can hear God’s voice. That is what he said, and I think it is true. So while we have not yet seen God the Father or Jesus Christ with our physical eyes, through the scriptures they can and will manifest themselves to us and we will hear his voice and see the marks in his hands, his feet, and sides.
(109) 3 Nephi 18:10 “And when the Disciples had done this, Jesus said unto them: Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments, and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have command you.” Part of the purpose of the sacrament is to show that we are willing to keep all the commandments and to do everything that God has asked us to do.
(110) 3 Nephi 18:12 “And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock. “ We will also be blessed for parting of the sacrament.
Labels: Book of Mormon, Religion, Svithe
