Mosiah 4

I like how this chapter talks about love and service, without regard to the servee's merit, level of righteousness, faith, etc. 

It brings me comfort about how I treat homosexuals. 

Repentance and peace of conscience

Mosiah 4 wraps up repentance pretty well in just the first few verses. First I my view myself in the state rhat I am--guilty, human, imperfect, unable to clear myself of my own wrongdoings. Then I must tell God about it and ask for mercy and for the Atonement to cleanse me. And then exercise faith that He can and He will. And with having faith, I must remember that Jesus Christ created the earth and the heaven, and that He will "come down unto the children of men," or come and help me. 

Peace of conscience. What a valuable thing. Priceless. And it only comes through faith in Jesus. It can't come from anything else. 

Power

Power comes from God (Jacob 4:6-7). It is onto to help us. It is so that we can have it if we have faith. It is so that we can bring glory to God (Alma 8). God doesn't have power over us. Only we have power over ourselves and the agency to choose to change or hearts. So no one can have power over anyone else. Besides material and physical power...big of which are amazingly abused by humankind. 

"The Savior uses his power to redeem and empower us." Ensign, Sept 2015, pg 7

What the truth does for you

Sets you free (John 8:32)

Physically free and spiritually free

You know Christ better (John 8:32-35)

Chases darkness from you (D&C 50:25)

Know he truth of all things, so you know what isn't true too (Moroni 10:5)

Faith Hope Charity

When I am humble, I can be blessed with faith and hope. And then if I am a true follower of Christ, I will be blessed with charity, the pure love of Christ. 

I feel charity sometimes:

•Sometimes when I am in public and see people I don't know, I feel a love for them because they are my brother or sister. And I want to share the good news with them.

•I feel so much love and patience for Beth and Quinn.

•I feel a lot of love for Josh right now and his good sides. 

The Sacrament is like Baptism

Moroni 6 is goods I read it this time replacing baptism with sacrament. It made me want to take the sacrament more seriously, to think about Jesus and to have already repented and to have a contrite spirit and broken heart when I do.

Anger--Is it ok?

I'm learning a little bit about anger. I feel like I am mistaken in my understanding of it, like I have a misconception of what it is. And how to handle it and if it is ok to experience it. Honestly I think it is. Of course it's how we handle it that causes the spirit to leave or creates the need to repent. 

In April 2015 Ensign there is an article about weakness and it discusses anger. It says anger is a weakness. All these years I've seen it as a sin, but then it's been very difficult to "repent" of. It's because I don't need to repent of a weakness. Instead, I need to apply Ether 12:27 and seek the grace of the Atonement to help me overcome it. I shouldn't force myself to feel guilty about feeling angry about something. It is still a weakness at that point, not a sin. When I don't take care of it, or when I disobey the Spirit in how I handle it, then it becomes a sin and therefore something I need to repent of. 

What to do to overcome weakness:

•Ponder and pray to understand if the is a sin or a weakness and then what should be done about it. 

•Tackle one at a time. 

•Plan what to do, supports when things are hard, what action to take, how to study it, etc. 

•Be patient! "Patience is a manifestation of our faith in the Lord, gratitude for His confidence in us, and trust in His promises."

•Realize that weaknesses aren't sins and don't keep us from being clean and worthy of the Spirit. 

Ask myself, who am I going to give his weakness to? Satan or God? If Satan, it becomes a sin; if God, it becomes a strength, (although He may not eliminate it). 

I am inherently good. 

Hope

Hope is a gift (Alma 58:10-11). It's also a commandment to have hope (2 Nephi 31:20). Hope comes from faith. Faith comes first. Hope leads to active belief that something will happen. Having hope helps us do good things (Ether 12:4). Hope leads to peace in this life. Hope is an anchor. Maybe part of "working out our salvation" is to have hope. Hope that we will make it back to Him. Hope is the opposite of doubt. We are saved by hope (Romans 8:24-25), which makes me think having hope is part of working out our salvation. Hope is patiently waiting, rather than seeing.