Helaman 4

I am reading in the first part of Helaman now. It is amazing how fast the people of Nephi go from righteousness to wickedness and back again.

11Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.

12And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites—

13And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.

The part that got my attention as I read were some of the things the Nephites were doing that was wicked and were calling down the wrath of God on them. Many of the things are not surprising. They are what you would expect from people making wicked choices, but there were two listed that I thought were interesting: making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation. Hmmm.... Denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation- why would you want to do that? These things tell me that the people weren't praying or reading their scriptures. These are things that help us to remember God in our lives. The sad part is that because they denied the spirit of prophecy and revelation, they were not given help and they were left to their own strength. When that happens, things don't go so well.

It is also interesting to think about our actions toward God. Do we give Him the reverence He deserves? Are there things that we do in our lives that could look like mocking things that are sacred?

Here are more scriptures in the same chapter:

23And because of their iniquity the church had begun to dwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did stare them in the face.

24And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—

Changing the subject a little, it is important to remember that at this time, though many in the church are acting very wickedly, there is a small core that are staying close to the Lord and trying very hard to keep the commandments and get the others to repent. That would be a hard job. It is hard to be good when nobody around you is being good and persecuting you for being good.

Quiet Time

Since I am such a proponent of quiet reflective time, I thought I will use this post as a place to collect quotes about quiet time to read scriptures, pray, write in journal, and reflect/ponder/think.

We improve our relationship with our Heavenly Father by learning of Him, by communing with Him, by repenting of our sins, and by actively following Jesus Christ, for “no man cometh unto the Father, but by [Christ].”10 To strengthen our relationship with God, we need some meaningful time alone with Him. Quietly focusing on daily personal prayer and scripture study, always aiming to be worthy of a current temple recommend—these will be some wise investments of our time and efforts to draw closer to our Heavenly Father. Let us heed the invitation in Psalms: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Of Things That Matter Most, November 2010 Ensign

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

Elder Neil L. Andersen, "Never Leave Him", November 2010 Ensign, quoted the prophet from the May 2009 Ensign:
President Monson has promised, “Your testimony, when constantly nourished, will keep you safe.

Elder Andersen the adds to that promise by saying:

We push our spiritual roots deep, feasting daily on the words of Christ in the scriptures. We trust in the words of living prophets, placed before us to show us the way. We pray and pray and listen to the quiet voice of the Holy Ghost that leads us along and speaks peace to our soul. Whatever challenges arise, we never, never leave Him.

Reading glasses, an analogy.....

I was just trying to read the small print on some baking instructions for something I want to make for dinner today. It is hard to read but I just didn't feel like taking the time to track down some reading glasses. I finally decided to just go grab some. I was able to read the directions clearly and I was on to the next task. I have had this same experience and tried to read the instructions when I was making a cake and put in way too much water. It didn't turn out too well. If I would have just taken a minute to go grab my glasses, it would have prevented the mistake I made. It made me stop and think a bit....

Using those reading glasses is like taking the time to ask for the Spirit and then waiting for feelings of inspiration. It really isn't that hard to have the Spirit but sometimes we are just lazy and don't feel like going through the process. Whether we utilize the help of the Spirit is up to us and and we have to do the task whether we get help or not. So why don't we just go ahead and use the help available to us?

Be strong and of a good courage....

I am really going to miss the YM/YW scripture theme for this year:

Joshua 1:9
Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest.

I am excited for the theme for the new year, which is the 13th article of faith, but this scripture in Joshua has been great. It is an important scripture and it has given me much encouragement throughout the year.

Be Still My Soul

One of my favorite things in the whole world is hymns! I love to hear great hymns and read the words to great hymns. They speak to my spirit.

I have been thinking about the words to this particular hymn. Though there are lots of verses, I am only including the first two. They are good to remember that our Heavenly Father guides and directs our lives and will always be there for us.


Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Thought from Elder Holland

Here's a thought from Elder Holland's October Gen. Conference talk:

In whatever country you live, however young or inadequate you feel, or however aged or limited you see yourself as being, I testify you are individually loved of God, you are central to the meaning of His work, and you are cherished and prayed for by the presiding officers of His Church. The personal value, the sacred splendor of every one of you, is the very reason there is a plan for salvation and exaltation. Contrary to the parlance of the day, this is about you. No, don’t turn and look at your neighbor. I am talking to you!

Thanks Elder Holland!

Have a good day! :)

Scriptures online changes- very cool!

As I have mentioned before, I read the scriptures online quite a bit. When I opened them this morning, I see that they have changed a bit. I knew they were re-doing LDS.org but I didn't know that included the scriptures site, too.

If you have read the conference talks online, you see that they have quite a few study aids to help you. If you log in, you can even put in your own notes as you read the talks. Now I see that they have done the same thing with the scriptures! How great! Before, I was adding my notes to a separate word document. Now they will be all together. You can mark your scriptures and take notes just like you would your regular hard copy of your scriptures.

Do we live in a great age of technology or what??!!
To take notes, etc. you need to create an account. You need your membership number, which is listed on your temple recommend or the membership record you usually get at tithing settlement. I think it will also want your confirmation date, which is on the same membership record. If they didn't hand it out at tithing settlement, you can still ask your ward clerk for a copy.

The church's website gets better and better! What a fantastic resource!
Here is the link to the scriptures: http://lds.org/scriptures?lang=eng

And if you want more, here is a link to the gen. conf. talks: http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2010/10?lang=eng