The Brother of Jared

The Brother of Jared was a great example of following the Lord.  Of course he had his struggles, but he worked through them just as we all must.

After leaving the Tower of Babel, the Brother of Jared and his family were led to the place Moriancumer, by the sea.  Four years passed and the Lord chastened him for three hours because he "remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord."  He repented and then was commanded to build eight barges so they could reach the promised land.  The Brother of Jared did what he was asked to do and then was asked to make holes in the tops and bottoms of all the barges.

"And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did so, according as the Lord had commanded."

He then enquired of the Lord how they would have light on their journey.  The Lord asked him to come up with a way and he got to work making 16 smooth and clear stones for the Lord to touch.  He went up to Mount Sherem where the Lord touched the stones with His finger.  The Lord then said:

"Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger."

The Brother of Jared had such a great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that he was able to see the antemortal Messiah.  He could not be kept from within the veil and it was then shown unto him all of the inhabitants of the earth.

"And when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth."

I believe that it was because of the Brother of Jared's willingness to serve and obey the Lord that he was able to see all of the things he did. If we are faithful with the things that we have been entrusted with we will be blessed with more opportunities.  The Lord then waits to see what we do with those things and blesses us some more.  Eventually, if we are faithful, we will receive all that the Father has and inherit a fullness of joy.  May we all continue and progress on our journey to become like our Heavenly Father.

"Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ... In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters."  Ether 2-3

The Pump

I remember watching this old video in seminary and not really knowing what it was about other than a man that was pretty unfortunate with his choices.  Consider these questions after you have watched the video:  

Q:  How does this man’s experience show the need for self-mastery?
A:  Because he lacked self-mastery, he satisfied his immediate desire instead of preparing for the future.

Q:  How would his experience have been different if he had exercised self-mastery?
A:  If he had primed the pump before taking a drink, he would have had all the water he needed.

Q:  How is this man’s decision comparable to spiritual decisions each of us must make?
A:  Up to you, yes you have to do some thinking...  (=

"There is a man in a hot desert who sees a fountain at the top of the hill. With great effort, he climbs the hill and receives the life-giving water. What saved him?Was it the climb (his works) or the water (Grace)?"

This story, while effective in teaching the necessity of both grace and works doesn't fairly illustrate the interaction between the two or the extent to which the Savior goes to enable us. The water may be at the top of the hill, but that's not where Christ is. He comes down to the bottom and brings the water to us. That's how we can make the climb to the top--which he stills requires because He knows it will strengthen us and be for our best good. Christ is not waiting at the finish line; He is finishing our faith (see Hebrews 12:1-2). Grace is not the prize at the end of the climb. It is the enabling power throughout (see "Grace," Bible Dictionary, 697).  Resource: Adapted from Brad Wilcox's The Continuous Atonement

Some scriptures to consider:

-Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"

-Alma 22:14 "And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth;"

Job

Job was a righteous man who suffered tremendous affliction yet remained faithful to his belief in God.

"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:45)

Although the book is about Job’s suffering, it does not entirely answer the question of why Job (or any other person) might suffer pain and the loss of his family and goods. The book clarifies that having afflictions does not necessarily mean that a person has sinned. The Lord may use affliction for experience, discipline, and instruction as well as for punishment (D&C 122).

The book can be divided into four parts. Chapters 1–2 are a prologue to the story. Chapters 3–31 relate a series of discussions between Job and three friends. Chapters 32–37 contain the speeches of Elihu, a fourth friend, who condemns Job for reasons other than the reasons of the first three friends. Chapters 38–42 conclude the book with a reassurance to Job that his course in life was a good one from the beginning.

The book of Job teaches that if a person has a correct knowledge of God and is living a life that is acceptable to God, he will be better able to endure the trials that come upon him. Job’s unfailing faith is characterized by such exclamations as, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). Job is also mentioned in Ezekiel 14:14; James 5:11; Doctrine and Covenants 121:10.

Even when we are living a righteous life, we suffer trials and tempations.  Job was a great example of this and endured well through all of his trials.  Whatever tests or trials we go through we need to continue to have faith that God loves us and wants the best for us.  Even though we might not like to hear this in our time of need, we need to stay close to God.  Remember to "build your foundation... upon the rock of our Redeemer...whereon if men build they cannot fall." (Helaman 5:12)

How to Move a Mountain

How to Move a Mountain

(Cherie Call)

When I was young I heard the stories
About the people who could make the mountains flee
And every now and then, someone would tell me
I could do the same if I believed
So one summer night, I looked out my window
And I closed my eyes and listened to the wind blow

And I tried to move a mountain
I wished for it to crumble at my feet
I tried one thing after another
but I couldn't shake a leaf

 

I never knew that the mountain
Had a lesson it would teach
Cause as tall as I got, I still lived in its shadow
I watched it tower over me
Till one summer day, I thought I heard it call me
So I closed my eyes and then changed into my blue jeans

And I learned how to move a mountain
It was harder than I dreamed it would be
But I set one foot down past the other
Till the mountain was under me

 

And I felt like I could see forever
When the truth hit my senses suddenly
This mountain wasn't nearly the first one that I'd moved
God had seen my victory
Every time I put my weaknesses behind me
And I close my eyes and let His mercy find me

I know how to move a mountain
I have to fall down on my knees
Then I get back on my feet and head on upward
Till I make it to the peak
And the mountain's under me

 

I love the messages that this song has behind it.  It wasn't really about moving the mountain at all, but moving ourselves above it.  It's all about our perspective and how we view our lives.  Are we going to just going to sit around and hope that something happens in our lives, or are we actually going to DO something about it?

 

Ether 12:30  "For the brother of Jared said unto the mountain Zerin, Remove—and it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved; wherefore thou workest after men have faith."

Listen to the song: "How to Move a Mountain"

 

Faith and Love

The other day I was thinking about faith & love and how similar they are.  Both love and faith don't necessarily look like anything, but you can definitely see them around us.  I like to explain faith by comparing it to wind.  You can't really see it, but you can see the effects of it and feel it.  This is true with faith and love; we can see the effects of it, and also feel it. 

Both faith and love are action words; we can't just say we have faith or love if we don't do anything about it.  We build and show our faith and love by words and actions.  James, the brother of the Lord(Gal. 1:19), writes about how we can't have faith without actions:

James 2:26 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

He goes on to say that the same is true of the body and spirit.  If the body doesn't have a spirit, then it is dead.  This tells us that we need to exercise our faith and love daily in order to sustain and build them.
Faith and love are basic necessities in our lives.  Without them we have no foundation.  Our love and faith should be centered in Jesus Christ and His Atonement.  Once we have a firm foundation in Christ we are able to go through life with confidence and hope.  Our lives have more joy and purpose and less despair and shallowness.  It is my prayer that we all continue to increase in our love and faith by showing them through words and actions.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and I write these things in the His name, Amen.  

James 2:14-26
Faith
Love
Faith is a hope in things which are not seen, which are true. 
Love is a deep devotion and affection for something or someone.

Lego

While I was growing up every year we would take out all of the Legos during General Conference and build all of the sets that had been dismantled over the year.  This was a pretty epic undertaking and the whole floor would usually be covered in the hundreds of sets of Legos that we had.  While we endeavored in this huge project, we needed three basic things to assemble each set.  We obviously needed the instructions to each set, all of the pieces to that set, and the ability to not become distracted.  These things relate to what we need on our journey through life back to our heavenly home.

Instructions

How could I know how to build the Lego if I didn't have the instructions for the set?  In this life we have been given instructions for us.  Scriptures provide a lot of direction in our lives.  Through them we are able to build our testimonies of Christ and better live His gospel.  “But these [things] are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:31.)  The scriptures should be of the greatest importance in our lives. Our spiritual survival during the stresses of our society and the temptations of our time is greatly dependent upon the strength that we will receive from searching the scriptures and listening to the words of the prophets, seers, and revelators.

All the Pieces

This was one of the biggest problems we had while assembling the Legos.  You couldn't continue to the next step if you didn't have the right piece.  It's the same with our gospel progression.  We start out with a desire to believe, and then continue on to faith.  We will want to exercise our faith and turn from sin.  Once we have repented we will want to make promises with God and we do this by being baptized by one holding the proper authority.  Baptism is incomplete without receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.  After we make these promises, is that all?  Nope, we have to continue on in our progression and endure to the end.  We constantly build our faith, repent, renew our promises with God, and continue to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  As we do this we become complete(Matt. 5:48), just like our Lego set.

Don't get Distracted

Along the way to completing the Lego set, we might become distracted.  There might be a nice shiny piece that we want to add, or an idea to change it a little.  I know that I would always want to start another project before I finished the one I was working on.  We can't allow ourselves to become distracted from our goal of following the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Just like in Lehi's vision, we need to hold to the rod of iron and keep on the straight and narrow path.  By doing this we will inherit the greatest gift of all, eternal life.

Each of us must strive to (1)follow the instructions given to us, (2)find 'peace' in life by having all the pieces of the gospel, and (3)not get distracted on the way.  By doing these simple things, I testify that we will find happiness not only in this life, but in the life to come as well.

Faith

Whenever I think about scriptures on faith I always think about Hebrews 11 and Alma 32.  Both of these passages provide us with the basic principle of faith.  Alma 32:21 says that faith is "not to have a perfect knowledge of things," but to "hope for things which are not seen, which are true."  At first, this idea of hoping for things we can't see is pretty abstract and hard to understand.  But I like how Alma further explains this and compares the idea of faith to a seed so even a child can understand it.  The LDS Children's song book provides a great song on faith that explains it well:

Faith
Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day.
Faith is knowing the Lord will hear my prayers each time I pray.

 Faith is like a little seed: If planted, it will grow.
Faith is a swelling within my heart. When I do right, I know.

Faith is trust in God above; In Christ, who showed the way.
Faith is strengthened; I feel it grow Whenever I obey.

Hebrews 11 states that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement is central to our beliefs as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I've never seen Christ, but I have a deep faith that He lives and loves me.  I know that following His teachings will bring us greater happiness in this life and in the life to come.  May we all continue to live His teachings and "choose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Hebrews 11:25