Reasons I Serve

I've noticed something awfully embarrassing. Recently, I have pursued some friendships, and when I see that the individual isn't currently interested in learning the gospel, I feel lest invested in the friendship.

Why do I serve?
Sometimes it truly is because I see someone is in need and I genuinely want to help them because they are a person. But only sometimes. Other times I skip over an opportunity to serve because it is inconvenient or time-consuming. But that shouldn't be so.

I want to look at the Savior's example of service. Why did He serve? And emulate that.

1. This should always be the first reason: out of pure love of Christ. Because I feel charity and want to show them charity because they are my brothers and sisters and we have the same Heavenly Father. Because through me they will learn to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for them.
2. To open up opportunities to share the gospel and bring people closer to Christ.

The reason number 1 should be number 1 is because in the case the number 2 fails, number 1 will always be intact, no matter what. And number 1 will always supersede. Sometimes someone isn't ready for the gospel yet, and that doesn't mean my service is in vain in light of number 2; hopefully they will remember the service in the future when they are closer to receiving the gospel.... But even if they never accept the gospel in this life, number 1, again, is always intact. It's also important to keep in mind that number 2 isn't selfish. Like PMG says on page 169: "In every way you serve, you should do so because you love your brothers and sisters and therefore hope, pray, and earnestly desire to teach them the restored gospel." So my desire to serve someone in order to help them have a softer heart and be more prepared to listen o the message of the gospel isn't selfish. What is selfish is if they don't accept the message and I lose my desire to serve them because of that. In those cases, I must simply focus on number 1.

I'm now going to read Luke 6 and see what motives of service of Christ I can pick out.

• Lend to and love your enemies, hoping nothing in return. (Luke 6:35)

Jaredite boat ride and life

Ether 6 is so much like life. In v 3, The Lord gave them light for their journey across the water, that it wouldn't be in darkness. Then in v 4 they prepared themselves and eventually commended themselves into The Lord. In v 5, The Lord sent forth winds to carry them toward the promised land (trials to help us progress toward eternity). Sometimes they were tossed on the waves or buried in the depths. And it was The Lord who sent the winds forth. So The Lord will send us things that will continually allow us to grow; but He doesn't necessarily send dangerous whales or sea monsters to break us. He allows experiences to shape us and propel us. 

In v 7, they prayed when they had trials or were buried too deep. And when they did, The Lord brought them out of he danger. In v 8 the wind did NEVER cease to blow toward the promised land. Heavenly Father will never forsake or abandon us. In v 9 they show is an example of singing praises and thanking th lord all day long. And v 12 is like paradise. D 

Faith

Ether 3:9. Why did the b of Jared get to see Christ? It was because of how much faith he showed on preparing the stones, preparing a solution to his problem, and then asking The Lord to consecrate it, in a way. 

That must have been such a powerful experience for the b of Jared..to see the Savior and see that He was on the same image. Lots of people don't know that.  Lots. What a blessing it is to know Who and what we are praying to. 

Back to faith, when we exercise faith, and are clean from our sins, we can receive lots of tevelation and know basically anything we need or want. The Lord makes this really explicit in Ether 3:26 (if he would believe in him that he could show into him all things) and Ether 4:7 (In that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith The Lord...then will I manifest unto them the things which the b of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations). He wants us to know that we can get any answer, any piece if guidance when we are worthy and have faith. It's like he is saying, this didnt just happen to the b of Jared, but it can happen to you. 

Christ repeats this idea in a different way later in the chapter. He says that knowledge is only hidden by our unbelief. "Behold when he shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in yor awful state of wickedness...then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from you" be shown unto you. 

Answers to prayers

1. Ether 2:14-15. Unsummoned calls for repentance. The Lord shows up unsummoned. He came to the b of Jared and talked with him, chastened him. He probably did this because the b of Jared was unaware he had done something wrong: forsaken prayer. Answers like these are because Heavenly Father loves us. They usually are calls to repentance. 

2. Ether 2:16. Loving guidance following forgiveness. The Lord sees we have repented and are humble. Then He helps us know what to do next (go to work and build, in this and most cases). 

3. Ether 2:18. Specific answers to our specific questions. Answers to our questions. Which come after we have been obedient and after we have prayed for our specific needs. He gives a specific answer. 

4. Ether 2:22-25. Vague or no answer. Gives us back the question we asked. In this way, He might be allowing us to think and figure things out with our own devices. 

My Spirit will not always strive with man

Ether 2:15 is so good and the footnotes are too. It's important we realize that we have to work hard for the Spirit to stay with us. It's a constant effort and it involves lots of prayer and dependence on The Lord, even when things are going well.

Prayer and miracles

In Ether 1, all anyone has to do was pray in order for their language to not be corrupted. They should have known that. Jared knew that, and he told his brother to pray and ask God to not confound their language. And That's what happened. Brother of Jared also prayed for their friend and families to have the same blessing. And that worked too! So, if that's all that needed to happen, why didn't everyone pray? 

Well, the point of the story is that everyone was wicked. So wickedness means they weren't sincerely reliant in Heavenly Father. They were reliant on themselves, or their interpretation of who God was.

I need to turn to Heavenly Father in faith and trust and pray for myself and my loved ones. It works! 

Also, the brother's prayers were specific. Verse 38 is cool...they prayed about their future and what they should do about it and they asked for a blessing to be led to the promised land. 

"And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me." v 43

Miracles

I'm trying to figure out miracles. I'm studying in the search feature of the LDS app and readings in Jesus the Christ. One thing i have found is that faith cannot be based on miracles. This idea makes me feel good because recently I have felt less .. faith in miracles, though not less faith in God (I don't think). But maybe that's okay, not expecting or needing miracles in order for more faith to be secure.

I'm still not sure, though. I feel like I want to have more faith in miracles and I want to expect them and notice them in my life. I want a refreshed faith in miracles. 

Another idea is spiritual miracles versus physical. I believe in the first one with all my heart. It's the second one that sometimes I have doubts about and I'm wondering these days if that is a bad sign . 

How to Influence People.. And why

I like Richard G. Scott's words on how to influence people and more so WHY we need to do that: we need to show them what it feels like to be loved so they can believe that there is a Heavenly Father who loves them. So, I should love Caleb and show him that love so that he can believe and recognize God's love for him.

 How can each of us become such a significant influence? We must be sure to sincerely love those we want to help in righteousness so they can begin to develop confidence in God’s love. For so many in the world, the first challenge in accepting the gospel is to develop faith in a Father in Heaven, who loves them perfectly. It is easier to develop that faith when they have friends or family members who love them in a similar way.

“I Have Given You an Example”

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/05/saturday-afternoon-session/i-have-given-you-an-example?lang=eng

"Without calling upon the being who created them"

The whole of Mormon is about how awful life gets when God isn't in it. The Nephites and Lamanites both fought and struggled continuously, relying in themselves. The scene was an awful one, full of carnage and hopelessness. 

Mormon 5:2 "[They] did struggle for their lives without calling upon that Being who created them."

I love how that is worded. How often I struggle with something without calling upon my Creator! The One who knows and loves me perfectly! The One who made me and understands my future and wants me to succeed. I need to call on Him more. 

Right now I need to be more grateful for our apartment and our car. I have gotten in a bad cycle of eventually disliking tings without too much good reason. I need to choose to be grateful for them. It's hard though. So I can trust more in Heavenly Father and Jesus to help me! 

The Continuous Atonement

I want to learn more about thre Atonement so I can rely on it more readily. So I started reading Brad Wilcox's The Continuous Atonement. Today in it I learned that the Atonement really is continuous, that there are no limits to how often we can repent. Also, if we repent and then make the same mistake, it's true that we didn't truly "forsake" the sin, like D and C 58 says. But we got closer to forsaking it. 

There is always hope in Christ. And His Atonement is real and continuous. 

Heavenly Assistance on my Mortal Journey

"Our 1 personal faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and our 2 devotion to God will greatly influence the outcome of our challenges."

Bishop Dean M. Davies 

I believe this to be true. There is no challenge too great for Heavenly Father and Jesus to help me with, through, out of. 

"We can have confidence that the Lord knows at all times what is in our best interest and that where there is faith, and on accordance with his will, miracles can occur."

The miracle I need right now is havin a happy heart about having a baby. And the having faith as we have her and go through the process of raising her and helping her live. Heavenly Father is fully capable to assist me in doing this. This experience really is a blessing. It's teaching me to be humble and rely on The Lord and believe in Him and trust in Him ... Something that will certainly help me as a mother.