Answers to Prayers

     I saw a quote in our church building and it really stuck out to me and it was something that I never really thought of before. This post is mainly going to be the quote I read but I feel like it is really good and worth sharing on my blog. The quote has to do with receiving answers to prayers and I hope it might open a new perspective when waiting for an answer from God because I know it has for me.

    The quote is by Elder Richard G. Scott, one of the Twelve Apostles and he says the following,
     " It is vitally important to recognize that the Lord also responds a third way to prayer by withholding an answer when the prayer is offered.
     Why would He do that?
     " He is our perfect Father. He loves us beyond our capacity to understand. He knows what is best for us. He sees the end from the beginning. He wants us to act to gain needed experience.
     "When He answers yes it is to give us confidence.
     "When He answers no it is to prevent error.
     "When He withholds an answer, it is to have us grow through faith in Him, obedience to His commandments, and a willingness to act on truth. We are expected to assume accountability by acting on a decision that is consistent with His teachings without prior confirmation. We are not to sit passively waiting or to murmur because the Lord has not spoken. We are to act."

     I know oft times we say that God always answers our prayers, which is true. I never thought that Him withholding an answer from me was in fact, an answer to prayer. Sure that may sound contradicting a little bit but I really believe it is true. We must not sit around and wait for an answer to come, we must keep going forward with faith and act, then the rest of the answer will come when the Lord sees that we are ready.

Overcoming Temptation

     Recently I have been reading from the book Teachings of the Presidents of the Church. These books are about the life and teachings of the Latter-day Prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Prophet I have been reading about it President David O. Mckay. He was a Prophet for about 20 years from 1951-1970 and many people loved Pres. McKay. I have learned a lot from the small parts that I read and I wanted to share a few things from His teachings specifically regarding Overcoming Temptation. 

     We all go through different trials and tests in life. That's a part of mortality. Along with that, because Satan rebelled and was cast out of Heaven, he wants to destroy God's plan which gives us an opportunity to return to live with God. Therefore, Satan tempts us to choose evil and make mistakes so we won't be able to return to God's presence. However, even though we all fall short and sin, we can conquer Satan and his temptations.

     Jesus Christ Himself was tempted of the Devil, found in Matthew 4, yet Christ never gave in to the temptations Satan tried to throw at Him. Because Christ overcame temptation, "he is able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2: 18). That is one thing we must remember, Christ can help us overcome the temptations we face in life.

Pres. McKay tells us, "Every temptation that comes to you and me comes in one of three forms:

1. A temptation of the appetite or passion;
   
2. A yielding to pride, fashion, or vanity;
   
3. A desire for worldly riches or power and dominion over lands or earthly possessions of men." 
   
   
   He then gives some wise counsel, "You cannot tamper with the Evil One. Resist temptation, resist the Devil and he will flee from you. [See James 4:7.]"  Just say NO when the temptation comes!

One final quote that I loved from Pres. McKay and which gives me hope and courage to resist says the following

"Your weakest point will be the point at which the Devil tries to tempt you, will try to win you, and if you have made it weak before you have undertaken to serve the Lord, he will add to that weakness. Resist him and you will gain in strength. He will tempt you in another point. Resist him and he becomes weaker and you become stronger, until you can say, no matter what your surroundings may be, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Luke 4:8)."

I truly believe that the more we resist temptation, the more strength we will have when another temptation arrives. I am confident that the Lord will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to handle. God knows how much we can take and He knows we can resist Satan if we trust in Him enough to try and resist. Whatever you may be facing in this life, there is always hope through our Savior Jesus Christ. Just read your scriptures, pray, and do your best to keep the commandments and you will be able to resist any temptation that comes your way!

Resurrection, Judgement, Immortality

     When Jesus Christ comes again at His Second Coming, then comes the resurrection of mankind. At death, our bodies and our spirits were separated. At the resurrection, our bodies and spirits will be reunited. All people, whether good or bad in this life will have the opportunity to be resurrected. Resurrection is a free gift our Savior gave us, and it is He who makes it possible. 

   "Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death" (Alma 11:42).

Oh and did I mention that when our bodies and spirits are reunited at the resurrection, that they will never be separated again? Yeah, we will be immortal!!

"The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time..." (Alma 11:43). How awesome will that be to have perfect immortal bodies when we are resurrected?! Immortality is a free gift given to us. Everyone will have their picture perfect body that we all want. 

     When pondering the being immortal thought, I thought about Barbie and Ken and their "perfect bodies" and that got me to thinking how much more perfect our bodies will be when we are resurrected!  Just blew my mind! However, because we will have perfect, immortal bodies, that does not guarantee us a spot in God's house. We must first be judged according to our works done in the mortal body.

 

After we are resurrected, we will be brought before the judgement bar of God, to be judged. 

"...and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now...

"...and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father...to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil" (Alma 11: 43-44).

When we are brought before Christ and God, we will know and remember EVERYTHING  we did while on earth; good and bad. We will then be judged and placed in one of 3 places, also known as the Kingdoms of Heaven.

     I would like to testify that I truly believe and have faith in the resurrection. I testify that we will all one day be resurrected and receive a perfect immortal body of flesh and bones, becoming even more like our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that we will be judged according to our works and if we follow the Savior and His true Gospel, then we will be received into God's Kingdom to dwell with Him there.

Agency and The Fall of Adam and Eve

     Most of us probably know the story of Adam and Eve but their story is very important to us because their story determined our mortal existence. After Jesus Christ and God the Father created the physical earth, they created man and woman. We learn from Genesis that the names of these humans are Adam and Eve. We also learn that we were created in the image of God. Therefore, each of us here on this earth have some attributes that our Father in Heaven possesses. I think that is pretty amazing! 

     God placed man in the most beautiful of Gardens; the Garden of Eden. Here, Adam and Eve lived in a perfect place where they could walk and talk with God and Jesus Christ. In the Garden, Adam and Eve were innocent, meaning they did not know right from wrong. They didn't have any opposition. This meant that they could not experience joy or pain because they didn't know which was which. They were just kind of there not progressing at all.

     

     One of the greatest gifts God has given us, is our agency. Agency is the right we have to choose and act for ourselves, whether we choose good or evil. God gave Adam and Eve their agency. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were commanded to take care of the garden and to multiply and replenish the earth. He also suggested them to not partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For so by doing, they would become mortal and would eventually die. If Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, then they would know the difference between good and evil. They could experience pain, but also, they could experience joy.

     Eventually as we all know, God allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve and they used their agency and partook of the forbidden fruit and were therefore kicked out of the Garden of Eden. This was part of God's Plan. This event of Adam and Eve being kicked out of the Garden of Eden in called The Fall. Because of the Fall, we are all subject to disease, pain, sadness and suffering and we will all eventually die; so we are all subject to physical death. Also, we are all out of God's physical presence which is called spiritual death. When we sin and make mistakes, we distance ourselves from God even further. On the bright side, because Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, the rest of God's spirit children will have the opportunity to come to earth and gain a mortal body which is what we all wanted to gain in the Pre-Mortal council in Heaven. Also, we also can gain experience to learn and grow and progress to become more and more like our Father in Heaven. We can experience joy and happiness to lead us back Home. So there are some negatives that come from the effects of the Fall, but overall it was a good thing Adam and Eve fell so God's plan could continue.

 

After Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. They repented of their sins and received forgiveness and continued of the path of righteousness. They began to have children and taught them the ways of the Lord. I am so grateful for Adam and Eve and for what they did to allow each of us to come to earth so we could all gain a body and to gain experience that help us learn and grow. I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who has given each of us the gift of Agency to act for ourselves and to choose that which we desire. I hope and pray we will use our agency for good and choose to exercise good works! (That was a brief story of Adam and Eve there is more to it if you want to learn more visit LDS.org and search Adam and Eve.) Also some scripture references to look up that tell more about the story of Adam and Eve visit here:

Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 2

Bible: Genesis 3

Up next in the Plan of Salvation:

Our Earth Life: The Purpose of Life, Why are we here?

Pre-Earth Life: Where We Came From

There are many people in today's world who have questions about well, just life in general. One of those questions being "Where did we come from?" Sure it does sound obvious or maybe even a little silly but that is a real concern that people have and there is an answer to that question. Which is why I have chosen to address this topic.

The Plan of Salvation: The Plan of Salvation is in a nutshell what the word implies. It is a plan that our Father in Heaven provided for us to follow so we could have the opportunity to live with Him again someday with Jesus Christ our families. The scriptures also call this the Plan of Happiness or the Plan of Redemption. The Plan of Salvation answers the basic questions of life; "Where did I come from?" "Why am I here?" and "Where am I going after I die?" This plan was presented to all of us by our loving Father in Heaven before the world was even created.

Pre-Earth Life: The Council in Heaven

  So before we all came to this earth, we lived with God and Jesus Christ and with everyone who has come to this earth. We are all children of God, He is our Father in Heaven, literally. We dwelt with Him and our families as spirit bodies. We all noticed that God had a body of flesh and bones and He was perfect. We wanted to become like our Heavenly Father but we couldn't unless we received a physical body and experienced mortal or earthly life. So our loving Heavenly Father presented this Plan of Salvation to all of us. He said He would have a world created where we could experience joy, peace, pain, sorrows, afflictions that would all help us learn and grow and become like Him. But, God said He needed someone to be a Mediator to fulfill this plan. We needed a Mediator because God knew if we came to earth, we would sin and make mistakes which would not allow us to return to His presence. So He needed a Savior to come down and set an example for all of us to follow who would be willing to suffer and die for all of our sins so we could correct our mistakes and live worthy to make it back to Heavenly Father's presence. With that, Jesus Christ stepped up and said He would be the Mediator and Savior of the world. Jesus Christ loved His Father and His children so much that He was willing to offer Himself as a sacrifice so we all could have the opportunity to return to live with Heavenly Father again. Jesus Christ said He would do all this, and whatever glory that was given would go all to His Father and not to Himself.

On the other hand, Lucifer, stood up as well and said that everyone should be forced to do what's right so everyone would make it back to Heavenly Father. But Lucifer wanted all the glory instead of God having all the glory. Now, our Heavenly Father didn't want it to be that way because He wanted all of us to have our free agency or the right to choose whether we would follow His plan. He wanted us to prove we loved Him and wanted to make it back to live with Him. And so, that is how Lucifer became Satan and the Devil because He rebelled against Heavenly Father's plan and so he was kicked out of Heaven, unable to receive a body or the opportunity to experience life. Somehow, Lucifer was able to persuade one third of the hosts of Heaven to leave with him. That was a sad day when one third of all our brothers and sisters were cast out of Heaven, never to be able to receive any blessings our Heavenly Father bestows upon us when we obey. That time was what the scriptures refer to as the "War in Heaven". Not a battle of swords and shields, more so of words and debate. 

As we all know, God's plan succeeded and He and Jesus Christ created the world and all that are in it so we all could have the place to gain a body, experience life and make choices that will help us become closer to Heavenly Father and hopefully in the end to live and dwell with Him when that time comes. All of us who are on the earth now, who have ever lived on the earth, and who will ever live on the earth in the future all chose to follow Heavenly Father's plan. We just forgot it all when we were born so we could exercise our agency and choose the right path God has laid out before us. Thankfully we have the scriptures and words of modern prophets that teach us about this plan and where we came from so we can know what we need to do to make it back to our Heavenly Home. I know that we were all with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ before this world was created and that we all made the right choice in the beginning to come to earth. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has truths that were lost concerning this plan and if we read and pray about the Book of Mormon, we will know if the true Church of Jesus Christ is restored on the earth again.

For more information on the Plan of Salvation visit Mormon.org.

Receiving an Answer to Prayer

     I recently read the story of the Book of Mormon Prophet, Enos, who received an answer to his prayer and a forgiveness of his sins because of his faith in Jesus Christ. I love Enos's experience and it has helped me gain a stronger testimony of the power of prayer and also of the mercy of our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. 

     Enos begins his account telling us about a "wrestle" he had before God. Which wrestle was a struggle Enos had to explain his real deepest desires of his heart to God in prayer. Enos was out hunting wild beasts and he had remembered the teachings of his father Jacob, who was the previous prophet, and he prayed very hard and earnestly for his own soul. He struggled to express his feelings to God and he was seeking for a remission or forgiveness of his sins. Enos prayed all day and into the night when he heard a voice from heaven saying "Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed" (Enos 1:5).

     After Enos was told his sins were forgiven, he gives a inspiring response and question. He asks "how is it done? (Enos 1:6). Now that to me shows how sincere Enos was in calling upon God and truly wanting his sins to be forgiven because he wanted to know how. What a great example if I say so myself. The Lord goes on to tell him that it is because of his faith in Jesus Christ that has made him whole. What a blessing it is to know that if we have faith, we can receive answers to our prayers, even forgiveness of our sins.

     An Apostle of the Lord Elder Robert D. Hales explains the process Enos went through that helped him to have an increase of faith and prepared him to receive the answer to his prayer. This 5 step process Enos went through can also apply in our lives to help us prepare to receive an answer to our prayers.

     " First, Enos heard the gospel truths from his father, just as you are hearing them in your families.

     "Second, he let his father's teaching about 'eternal life, and the joy of the saints'[Enos 1:3] sink deep into his heart.

      "Third, he was filled with a desire to know for himself whether these teachings were true and where he himself stood before his Maker.

      "Fourth, Enos obeyed the commandments of God, which enabled him to be receptive to the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.

      "Fifth, Enos records, 'I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens' [Enos 1:4]. It wasn't easy. Faith did not come quickly. In fact, Enos characterized his experience in prayer as a 'wrestle which [he] had before God' [Enos 1:2]. But faith did come. By the power of the Holy Ghost, he did receive a witness for himself.

    "We cannot find Enos-like faith without our own wrestle before God in prayer. I testify that the reward is worth the effort....I promise that if you do these things sincerely and unceasingly, the words of Christ spoke to His disciples will be fulfilled in your life: 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' [Matthew 7:7]" (in Conference Report, Oct. 2004, 73-74; or Ensign, Nov. 2004, 72).

     I would like to add my personal witness that I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers. He answers our prayers according to our faith and to our willingness to act upon the answer we receive. I know that if we follow the steps that Enos took in preparing himself to receive an answer, then God will grant us what we best need according to the desires of our hearts. I am so grateful for the power of prayer and the role it has played in my life. I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have a Father in Heaven whom I could go to for strength and support and comfort. God hears and answers our prayers, we just need to be willing to do something about it and watch and listen for the answer.



   

Furnace of Affliction

    

There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon that I have come to love and that has helped me get through life's trials and look forward with an eye of faith. The scripture come from the 1st Book Of Nephi, Chapter 20 verse 10 and it reads, "For behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." The term refine in the dictionary means, " to bring to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities". A furnace is, as stated in the dictionary, "a place characterized by intense heat".
     If anyone know anything about metals, you know that it requires very intense heat to refine or to remove the impurities out of the metal to make them pure and next to perfect. The metals go through a process in the furnace where the intense heat cleanses and purifies each metal.
     In the gospel, each person goes through a process where the Lord refines us and makes become more pure. One of the ways He does that is by allowing us to have affliction and trials in our lives. These afflictions that come upon us are not there to punish us or to weaken our faith, rather to shape us into the best people we can become. An Apostle of the Lord, Elder Dallin H. Oaks observed that like intense heat refines metal and removes impurities, likewise affliction can refine and purify each of us, he says this, "Most of us experience some measure of what the scriptures call 'the furnace of affliction' (Isaiah 48:10; 1 Nephi 20:10). Some are submerged in service to a disadvantaged family member. Others suffer the death of a loved one or the loss or postponement of a righteous goal like marriage or childbearing. Still others struggle with personal impairments or with feelings of rejection, inadequacy, or depression. Through the justice and mercy of a loving Father in Heaven, the refinement and sanctification possible through such experiences can help us achieve what God desires us to become."
     Along with Elder Oaks I believe that the troubles and trials we all face in life can help shape us into who God wants us to become.  I know its not easy to go through trials and difficulties and I don't think they are meant to be. But I do know that if we push through our trials with patience and faith, continue in scripture study and prayer, knowing that everything will turn out okay in the end, then we can truly become pure and sanctified. Our afflictions can truly refine and purify us.