Formula for Sanctification

Helaman 3:35 tells us how the righteous Nephites not only withstood persecution, but were purified during that time.  I'm going to attempt to analyze and "liken" each phrase.

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft  (Why should I restrict my fasting to once a month on Fast Sunday?), and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility (Strong humility almost seems like an oxymoron until we understand it thoroughly.  There can be great strength in humility, which I'm missing out on.),  and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ (Faith in Christ is a commandment, but also a blessing, a result of obedience and prayer.  I can't give myself faith.  The Lord gives it to me when I earn it.), unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation (I want my soul to be filled with joy and consolation!  Consolation for trials being experienced as well as for past sins repented of and joy in the Gospel, in the Lord, in life, in love.), yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts (According to what I learned at Education Week, sanctification and the purifying of our hearts comes through the Atonement.  We are purified and sanctified--made saints-- as we repent and obey the commandments and become more like Him), which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. (The simplest and most difficult of all things He asks me to do.  I need to give up my own will, my own choices and wants and selfish desires and learn to want what He wants, what He chooses.)


There.  That was fun.

Trust in the Lord

We have lots of choices in this life, and one of the biggest is where to put our trust.  There are voices beckoning to us from every source with all sorts of ideas and opinions.  What do we believe?  Who do we trust?

Helaman was leading the young Ammonites in battling against the Lamanites, and although they had been blessed and preserved in miraculous ways, things weren't going well at the moment.  Food was scarce, their armies were small in comparison to the hordes of Lamanites, and they didn't seem to be getting any support from the leaders of the Nephite nation.  But Helaman says in Alma 58:37 But, behold, it mattereth not—we trust God will ^adeliver us, notwithstanding the weakness of our armies, yea, and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies.

This army might have put their trust in the arm of flesh -- their own strength, their weapons, their strategies.  But when food ran out and their forces were severely outnumbered, they needed help that could only come from the Lord. 

There are some beautiful scriptures concerning trusting in the Lord.  One of my favorites is Proverbs 3:5-6

  ^aTrust in the Lord with all thine ^bheart; and lean not unto thine ^cown ^dunderstanding.

  6 In all thy ways ^aacknowledge him, and he shall ^bdirect thy ^cpaths. 

 

Some other scriptures show that trusting in the Lord will help us be happy, made safe, be lifted and supported and not be confounded and bring about our salvation and the arm of mercy,  Trusting in the Lord can be difficult when things look dark, but can give us much-needed comfort and hope.  We know that the Lord loves us and that everything He does is for our good.  

 

Some people assume that God just wants us to be happy and successful all the time.  They rail at Him when bad things happen and assume that if there is pain or war or they don't get everything they want, there must not be a God.  They're more like 2-year olds who think they all the toys belong to them.  But God is an all-wise parent who knows that giving kids everything they want will only spoil them.  He knows that we need some trials and disappointments and learning experiences and discipline for us to grow to our full potential.  He wants for us not just temporary pleasure and happiness, but eventual and full joy and fulfillment.  

So, yes, we can trust in Him to give us not what we want, but what we need.  And even when times are rough, He is there to give us support and love and succor.

 

With All Your Heart

Jeremiah 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

The Lord is not hiding from us.  Even though Judah was extremely wicked in the time of Jeremiah, the Lord promises that when the people call upon Him during their captivity, He will hearken unto them.  But they have to search with all their hearts.

Sometimes we expect easy answers, utter casual prayers, take shortcuts in our scripture study, and then wonder why the Lord doesn't answer.  I'm not sure exactly sure what is involved in searching with all my heart, but it's something I need to do if I expect to find the Lord and be found of Him.

The Lord Will Tell Us

Alma 48:15  And this was their faith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger;

So as long as the people stayed faithful to the commandments of the Lord, He instructed them on how to deal with their enemies - whether to flee or prepare for war.

Since my life (happily) does not involve war, I'm wondering how to liken this scripture to my life.  There are times this scripture can give us good guidance in our modern struggles.  Sometimes the Lord will tell us to flee a situation, or stay and battle against evil.  Each situation is different, and each person may be instructed differently, and the only way we can know for ourselves is by inspiration from the Lord.

And I Have Loved You--

I bore my testimony on Fast Sunday and said something like the following:

Sometimes when I think about Christ's Atonement, I like to tell myself that my sins that the Savior paid for are not very large in comparison with the sins of rapists or serial killers, of Hitler or Stalin.  Surely my little sins of pride and selfishness and criticism wouldn't have caused the Savior the agony that he had to go through for other, more serious crimes.

And then I have to stop and have a talk with myself.  Because by allowing myself to hold on to those sins, by protecting them and forgiving myself so easily for them, I am interfering with my eternal progression.  I am stalled at a certain level with no hope of becoming more like Christ.

Since that Sunday, I've thought more about the subject, and realized that holding on to my sins is even more serious than I realized that day.  Those sins are actually very serious, as shown by reading Alma's sermon to the people of Zarahemla. 
Alma 5:27  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?  That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?
28  Behold, are ye stripped of pride?  I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God.  Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.
29  Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy?  I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.
30  And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?
31  Wo unto such an one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved!
32  Yea, even wo unto all ye workers of iniquity; repent, repent, for the Lord God hath spoken it!

Alma is very plain here that the sins of pride, envy, mocking (criticizing) others are extremely serious and need to be repented of.  And the Education Week presentation of Brother Goodman makes it clear that repentance is an important part of making the Atonement active in my life.

Then I ran across this scripture in my reading: 
Doctrine and Covenants 95:1  VERILY, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you—

Because He loves me, He will chastise me and show me what I need to do to repent.  He will even prepare a way for me to be delivered from temptation if I will do my part and do my best to repent of those things that I've been keeping back from Him.   That's really important.

Can I Be Like Moroni?

In Alma 48:11-13, Mormon lists some of the qualities of Moroni that make him great.  I would like to try to develop some of those qualities, which are:

1. Strong and mighty. -  I may not every physically be very imposing, but hopefully I can be spiritually strong and mighty.
2. Perfect understanding - I am researching the term "understanding" and plan to spend a later  post examining the meaning.
3. Did not delight in bloodshed - I think I have that one licked.  Even a little fake blood on TV is upsetting to me.
4. His soul did joy in the liberty and freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery - My soul also rejoices in the freedoms we have, especially after seeing and reading and hearing about others in the world and through history who have been denied those freedoms.
5. Heart did swell with thanksgiving to God for his privileges and blessings - I do try to remember the source of all those freedoms, and my many blessings and privileges.  It is humbling and almost frightening to consider the many blessings I have in comparison to many others.
6. Did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people - Here I really start to fall down.  I do want to do more for the welfare of others, but always feel I could do more.  As for the safety, I need to try to so those things that are available to me in the way of protecting our freedoms and supporting responsible public servants.
7. Firm in the faith of Christ - I work every day to improve my faith of Christ by doing those things which strengthen that faith.  These include study, prayer, fasting, worship at church and in the temple, service.  I hope I always demonstrate those qualities in my life.
8. Sworn an oath to defend his people, rights, country, religion - I will defend my country and religion in whatever things the Lord reveals that He would have me do.

Moroni

Moroni was a strong and mighty man.  The Nephites seemed to especially admire big, strong men.  But a strong man could also be a wicked man and lead the people astray.  Moroni was not one of those men.  He was strong in faith and mighty in valor as well as body.

 Alma 48:11  And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery; 
12  Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people. 
13  Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.


We learn here that Moroni wanted to defend the things he believed in, but unlike many soldiers, he did not "delight in bloodshed."

. . . this was the faith of Moroni, and his heart did glory in it; not in the shedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving his people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting iniquity. 17  Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.
18  Behold, he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah, yea, and also Alma and his sons, for they were all men of God.
19  Now behold, Helaman and his brethren were no less serviceable unto the people than was Moroni; for they did preach the word of God, and they did baptize unto repentance all men whosoever would hearken unto their words. 

Mormon gives very high praise to Moroni here.  He even named his son after him, thousands of years later.  But I like that he says that Helaman and his brethren were no less serviceable.  I may never be a captain Moroni, but I would like to be no less serviceable to the Lord and my fellow men and women.

Moroni Prepares for War

While Amalickiah was preparing for war in his evil ways, Moroni was also preparing.  The scripture outlines his physical preparations in fortifying the land, but even before that, Mormon describes Moroni's spiritual preparation. 

Alma 48:7 Now it came to pass that while Amalickiah had thus been obtaining power by fraud and deceit, Moroni, on the other hand, had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God. 

This should be such a strong reminder for us, that before the physical preparations for conflict or trials or challenges, we need to make spiritual preparations.  Before we put on our physical armor we need to put on the armor of God.  Before we prepare our arguments, before we ready the Power Point, before we pack our suitcase, before we prepare to go meet the adversary, we need to immerse ourselves in the scriptures, spend time on our knees, ponder in the temple, partake of the sacrament.  We need to do as Moroni did and prepare our minds to be faithful unto the Lord our God.