Alma 13

In this chapter Alma talks about the holy Order of God, the high priesthood, and Melchizedek. Here are a few facts about the man they name the high priesthood after:
1. Melchizedek lived about 2000 B.C. (BD)
2. He was righteous even from his youth and received divine protection (JST, Genesis 14:26-40)
3. The Church in ancient days called the holy priesthood after his name (D&C 107:2-4)
4. Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek (D&C 84:14)

In the last part of the chapter I saw how important it is for us to love all of our brothers and sisters unconditionally. In verses 27-31 Alma talks about how he had "anxiety even unto pain" because he ws concerned about the people.

Also, in verse 29 it talks about "...having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."

I probably won't be posting very often the next 2 weeks. My family is getting in town today and they are staying in Provo, so I will be down there most everyday. I will see how good my scripture study is without having the blog to keep me responsible :) It will be a good test.

More about the Fall...

I just finished Alma 12 today. There was a lot about Adam and Eve and the Fall that was interesting to me...I'll let you do the reading to find your own interesting points...verses 21-37 specifically.

More about Alma 12:7-11

I noticed there was a section in my manual for the scriptures I talked about yesterday. This talks more about knowing the mysteries of God by being faithful and believing, rather than talking about gaining knowledge. Here is some of the quotations:

"Men receive assurance and knowledge due to their faithfulness and adherence to the commandments of Jesus Christ. Those who reject their Redeemer and refuse to keep His commandments cannot know and comprehend these eternal truths...They cannot understand them because they are a 'fallen' man, and without the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit, they are as the Lord expressed it, 'carnal, sensual, and devilish.'"

It goes on to talk about why the Lord spoke in parables, which we all know was so those that were not ready for the true meaning of the analogies would not be accountable for them.

Temporal and Spiritual Knowledge

Alma 12:10 "...he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him it is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full."

I had cross referenced D&C 130:18-19

"Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."

I have been wondering about this lately...with my limited amount of time to study, I am sometimes torn between reading to increase my temporal knowledge and reading the scriptures. I searched "knowledge" on lds.org for some answers. The first 24 articles about knowledge were spiritually related, here is what #25 said (New Era > February 1972 Q&A's):

“Is religious education more important than academic education?”

"...we cannot neglect our academic learning if we are to follow the counsel of the Lord...The academic knowledge we gain will benefit us in our temporal pursuits but the knowledge we gain of spiritual and eternal truths will prepare us to live happily in this life and throughout eternity in the kingdom of God. Our eventual goal is to gain all knowledge necessary to be like our Eternal Father. We can move in that direction only if we devote our energies and abilities to gaining knowledge of God and his laws and incorporating into our lives eternal truth wherever it is found."

So, from this I am feeling that I should use most the time I have gaining spiritual knowledge, but when I can I should also try to gain more temporal knowledge, especially that will benefit me and my family in this life.

Participate in Sincere Prayer

I am embarrassed to say that, yes, I am an end-of-the-month visiting teacher. And, that I procrastinated until today to read the Visiting Teaching Message from the Ensign. It isn't that I don't like to do visiting teaching, because I really do, especially since the girls I visit I consider good friends. But, I just don't make it a huge priority until I really need to do it to make it count :)

Sincere Prayer:

I LOVED the quote in here from Bruce R. McConkie:

"Prayer changes our lives. Through it we draw near to the Lord, and he reaches out his finger and touches us, so we never again are the same. Prayer is a great tower of strength, a pillar of unending righteousness, a mighty force that moves mountains and saves souls."

I LOVE this quote! I know that my life has been changed many times because of prayer. I would not be where I am right now if it weren't for the power of prayer. I am SO grateful that we are able to pray to our Heavenly Father and that he can answer our prayers!

James E. Faust lists five things that prayer entails:

1. acknowledgment that God is our father, that Jesus is our redeemer

2. confession of sin

3. recognition that we need help

4. opportunity to express thanksgiving and gratitude

5. privilege to ask for blessings

A Little Bit About Satan

Alma 12:3-4

He uses lying and "craftiness"...very "subtle plans" to deceive people...

Alma 12:5-6:

He uses "snares" to "catch" the people, "that he might bring you into subjection unto him, that he might encircle you about with his chains, that he might chain you down to everlasting destruction, according to the power of his captivity"

In my footnotes I had written "Discouragement is the tool of the Devil"

I cross referenced Moses 4:

Satan's Goals: Verses 3-4
-sought to destroy the agency of man
-wanted all the power
-deceive and blind men
-lead them captive at his will

Lesson

I've been looking over my lesson...I'm a little nervous about it so I hope if any of you are there you will comment and answer some of the questions I ask!!! Tomorrow I won't be writing because I am photographing a wedding and will be gone most of the day...Also Father's Day will be a crazy day so Happy Father's Day - and good luck to all the Mother's who are trying to do something special for their husbands! I hope it's a good day for everyone!

"Restored to Its Proper Frame"

Alma 11:42-44 talks about resurrection and the state of our bodies after. In my manual there is a long quote from Joseph Fielding Smith about this.

"Deformity will be removed; defects will be eliminated, and men and women shall attain to the perfection of their spirits, to the perfection that God designed in the beginning. It is his purpose that men and women, his children, born to become heirs of God, and joint heirs of Jesus Christ, shall be made perfect, physically as well and spiritually, through obedience to the law by which he has provided the means that perfection shall come to all his children..."

My mom and I were talking about gaining knowledge in this life...we were wondering if maybe after you are resurrected gaining knowledge is easier? Anyone have any insight on this?

Forgiving Others Cont.

After 3 days of stressing about his lesson and hours of preparation later...I think I finally put it all together and feel good about it.

Here is a quick summary for those of you that won't be there on Sunday:

This chapter focuses on 3 main topics:
1. Exercise the principle of mercy and forgive our brothers and sisters
Mercy: compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, enemy, or other person in one's power
Points to make: Our frame of mind has a lot to do with taking offense, truth is the cure to our negative emotions, selflessness helps us forgive and not take offense in the first place.

2. Forgiving restores unity of feeling
Points to make: The effects of kindness and tenderness, no one is perfect, avoid gossip.

3. By showing long-suffering, patience, and mercy to the repentant, we can help bring them into "the liberty of God's dear children"
Points to make: It does not show weakness to forgive quickly, follow Christ's example.

Forgiving Others Cont.

So, I've been reading some conference talks and rereading the Joseph Smith manual...I found a couple more quotes that I think I will use out of the manual and Gordon B Hinckley wrote an excellent talk on forgiving that I definitely want to use. I think that what I am trying to get across is that forgiving isn't just important when in comes to the big things (people backstabbing or turning against you.) There are many little everyday things that we need to be forgiving of. These little things can completely change our outlook on life and on others if we are forgiving. I am going to use the book "Bonds That Make us Free" written by a member to show examples of the little things. I am excited about it, now it is just a matter of organizing the discussion and coming up with some good open-ended questions.

Forgiving Others

I am still working on this lesson...I haven't really found very many quotes from the manual I want to use...

Usually I like all of the quotes from the Joseph Smith teachings manual, but this lesson's quotes I haven't been that excited about.

Would it be bad to base my lesson off of other conference talks?

Anyone's opinions on this would be helpful!

Working on Next Weeks Lesson

This weekend I have been studying from "Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith" for my lesson in Relief Society next week.

We are on Chapter 34: The Power of Forgiving.

Does anyone have any insights or ideas about this topic?

Anything at all will help me in my preparation!

Heritage Park

Today Cindy (my mom-in-law) took me and Allie to Heritage Park (This is the Place Memorial) and we walked through the Pioneer Village and such...It was really neat! You can really feel the spirit there and it really opens your eyes to the way people lived back then. We walked into most of the homes (which were mostly replicated) and talked to the people reinacting to learn more about the early settlers of Salt Lake Valley down to just past Nephi.

The best house we went into was the house of ancestors of Marjorie Hinkley's (Cindy knew this because she knows a lot about church and family history.) There was a cute old lady sitting inside that told us to come in and she would tell us more about the house. She was excited to tell us that her father was born inside the house and that her family had helped rebuild it after they transported the remains from a town outside of Nephi. So of course we asked her if she was related to Marjorie Hinckley and she is her sister! She goes up to the park just on Fridays to tell people about the house and because she loves being there. She was so sweet and told us some of the stories of the family that traveled to the Valley.

At the front of the park is where the big statue is there is a scripture from Isaiah that is also found in Nephi 12:2 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it..."

I always wondered if that was talking about the Salt Lake Temple, and I think that it is...this, in a way, confirmed it for me. When I read that and thought about the pioneers and all they went through to get to Utah and build the temple I just wondered what they would think if they saw Utah right now. Would they be excited and happy about how many people are here now and how the church has grown? Would they see all the wickedness here and wonder how it got so bad? I just wonder, and I hope that they can see all the good and growth that has come from the sacrifices they made. I have a real appreciation for the early members of the church, and I hope that I am living my life the way they hoped their future generation would.

Alma 8

Okay, so I am finally sitting down to write about what I'm reading... Chapter 8 is pretty cool - you should read it if you haven't in a while. :) It is basically introducing Alma and Amulek to talk about their experiences preaching the gospel together from chapters 9-14.

Verse 11 talks about the people rejecting Alma because of his "foolish traditions." I thought that was interesting, especially because we see people use that excuse a lot even now. "America isn't a Christian nation" stated by our current president illustrates the point that people see our Christian values as foolish traditions of our forefathers.

In verse 15 an angel is talking to Alma and says, "thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivest thy first message from Him." If we are keeping the commandments we DO have great cause to rejoice. Look at all of the examples of people that have endured great tribulations in the scriptures and in our LDS history. Where are they now? With our Heavenly Father...all of us should rejoice if we are keeping the commandments and working toward our goal of returning to our Father in Heaven.

In verse 18 Alma follows the angel's instructions and "speedily" returned to the city. Not casually, or even the same pace he left...speedily. When I go to general conference and get direction from the Lord's prophets I usually resolve to change little things in my life. We should come home from conference and speedily change those things we need to, as little as they are. Then Alma goes into the city another way...we should try sharing the gospel with different approaches.

Finally, the last 2 verses of the chapter (31-32) talks about the power of God, which will be illustrated in the next couple chapters...they will be good ones!

Alma 8

I have been reading out of chapter 8...I will update on that chapter tomorrow...

Alma 7

I have decided that on the weekends I will read, but just wait to post my readings on Monday...

This weekend I finished up chapter 5 and 6...In chapter 7 there are a couple points that I thought were interesting in my manual.

Alma 7:10: This verse has been one of the favorites for anti-mormon literature. It says that Jesus will be born in the land of Jerusalem. In my manual it talks a lot about the wording. Alma had no intention of declaring that Jesus would be born in the city of Jerusalem. He simply said he would be born "at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers." Here Jerusalem is not the city, it is the land. Christ was born about six miles from Jerusalem in the village of Bethlehem. So, technically it WAS in the land of Jerusalem. This makes sense to me, as I always tell people I am from Seattle, when I am actually from Maple Valley (but no one knows where that is) :)

The second point in this chapter is Alma 7:23-24 which lists requirements of a true follower of Christ.

1. Humble

2. Submissive

3. Gentle

4. Easy to be entreated

5. Full of Patience

6. Long-suffering

7. Temperate in all things

8. Diligent

9. Keep commandments

10. Asking for what we need (spiritual & temporal)

11. Returning thanks for those things

12. Faith

13. Hope

14. Charity

15. Good works

The Hard Questions

These questions were ones that I got a little worried about...things I need to work on.

1. Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? (Could I ever feel ready to die and meet my maker? Daily repentance for small sins and sins of omission, including keeping a constant prayer in my heart are ways to feel more prepared.)

2. Are ye stripped of pride? (Does everyone have a hard time letting people serve them? It is almost uncomfortable for me...)

3. Are ye stripped of envy? (Of course I always look at people and wish I had things, including a house, nice clothes, a boat, etc. that they have. Instead I need to just be happy for them and remember that I am so so so so blessed for what I have.)

4. Do ye mock your brothers and sisters?

5. Will ye persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches? (refer back to question 3 and you will see where I need to repent)

6. Will ye persist in supposing that ye are better than one another?

7. Will ye persist in turning your backs upon the poor and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them?

More Questions to Ask Ourselves From Alma 5

Do we put all of our trust in God?

Have we received His image in our countenances?

Can we see ourselves being saved at the last day, with clean hands and a pure heart?

Alma 5:16
"I say unto you, can you imagine yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying to you in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?"

Doesn't that sound like the best thing ever? To hear the Lord say that to you when all is said and done?

Hard Time

My mother-in-law sent me this video...its really short and made me cry - I hope you'll take a minute to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz41YxNiHEg

Questions We Need to Ask

Alma, seeing the people become more and more wicked, took himself out of his position as a ruler and went to preach among the people to try to bring them back to Christ. In chapter 5 he asks the people 42 questions that we should ask ourselves. Here are a few:

Have I spiritually been born of God?

Do I set an example of Christ?

Have I lost the desire to go against God's will?

Do I remember that Christ paid for my sins?

Do I look forward with an eye of faith, and have faith that I will be resurrected?

More questions to ponder tomorrow...

Money

So, today has just been one of those days...I'm sure a lot of you, especially the young moms I know, get stressed and frustrated about money. The next six years were starting to look really depressing to me today, with finances just being so super tight and life seeming harder than usual, and I went through most of the day feeling this way; hopeless. Then, after running around all day, I finally got to sit down for a minute and read. I started reading where I left off last - Alma 4:5 and then I started on the next verse...

"the people began to wax proud, because of their exceeding riches...Now this was the cause of much affliction to Alma, yea, and to many of the people whom Alma consecrated to be teachers, and priests, and elders over the church; yea many of them were sorely grieved for the wickedness which they saw had begun to be among their people..."

I almost laughed! In my margins I had written:

wealth=pride=unrighteousness

Set my heart upon God

This is what money will do

I encourage any of you discouraged about money right now (because I know there are a lot of people that are) to read Alma 4:6-9 and you might as well read the rest of the chapter to see how it progresses. :) The Lord really knows us, doesn't He?

Random Reading

Well, this weekend I read some really good articles in the Ensign. There is one in there for young moms that I really needed to read...

Today I am reading from Alma. Chapters 3 and 4...There are lots of little insights I am seeing:

Chapter 3 talks a lot about the Lord's curse on the Lamanites (the dark skin) and that's pretty interesting to read.

3:26-27 Talks about the wages we earn from who we follow - Satan or the Lord.

4:4 The growth of the church