Jesus said that the peace He gives isn't the same kind of peace the world gives.
His Peace: quiet, full, warm, eternal, loving, clear, motivating
World's peace: getting out of difficult situations by leaving or avoiding; not relying on God but isntead relying on self and man;
What I want looks different from what the world wants for me. I have to remember that. I have to be resilient and not supple.
Jesus prayed for Peter, and Jesus can pray for me.
New Testament
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.
This scripture was in a footnote in DC 108, which talks to Lyman something about his calling. There are a few things in there, secret gems for people who struggle, it seems to me. One is that he was "Therefore, let your soul be at arest concerning your spiritual standing." Who knows what Lyman was going through, but apparently he needed some peace. I feel like that's what I need today.
And then later in the section, there's a message for him to strengthen his brethren, which leads to the footnote in Luke above. First have faith, then strenghten thy brethren. And if that first part (faith) is hard, maybe we can focus on the having our souls be at rest and trying to think about Jesus praying for me and helping me have peace.
3 Nephi 19: 22 Father, thou hast given them the Holy Ghost because they believe in ame; and thou seest that they believe in me because thou hearest them, and they pray unto me; and they pray unto me because I am with them.
This reminds me of the sacramental prayers and my baptismal covenants...how if I remember Him, His spirit will be with me. This scripture is talking about people who were receiving the gift of the HG; but I think the principles apply to me, someone who's been confirmed and just wants the Spirit as a companion.
So, believing in Christ is one way that I can get the HG to be with me. How do I show that I believe, like these people showed they believe? This is how I show I believe:
DC 101 says all things will work together for my good if
Christofferson's "Hear Him" article on the Church's website had some good reminders.
One thing is when I'm writing in my scripture journal or just pondering in general, I can and should ask, "Is there more? Have I captured it all?"
Another thing I thought of is how when I get feelings that might be promptings...like not going to the farmers market on Saturday...I can pull over, quietly pray, ponder over it, and ask God for help in knowing what to do. That way I'll hopefully get better at recognizing the Spirit. I feel like I can kind of tell when it's the Spirit warning me. It's a dark feeling that won't go away. It came and went with one thing, though: law school. And from that I learned how closely I must stay to the Spirit in order to ward off that feeling. I do always have a little wonder if I wasn't supposed to do it. If I'm not supposed to be in law school. And that's just sickening to me. Like right now, I'm reading the scriptures, and that's usually when the feeling goes away, but it's not really going away today. Maybe I'll pray.
Update: a few days after this post I was praying in the car and felt this: "Why am I trusting in stuff I've heard from people about the Spirit? about how the Spirit communicates? about how the Spirit communicates with them? God has told me in the way I need to know. He's given me the revelation I need to know." I feel that he's told me I need to be diligent in staying close to him, or I just have no chance.
Last thing i loved is he said we can ask for the spiritual gift of faith to get better at this all.
