Come Follow Me- Daily Dose (Lynzi H)

In a world where faith is challenged and tested on all sides, ALMOST converted isn't enough. We have to be willing to dive in and be committed to Christ.

When the Lord tells us to "Be of good cheer," I think sometimes it is easy to misinterpret that command as Him telling us to cheer up. But the true meaning of "Be of good cheer" is an invitation to experience the hope that comes as we feel Him near, and the core and lasting joy that we develop as we follow Him.  

Today we talk about God's desire to provide for us daily and how He desires us to bless and take care of others.

When Isaiah teaches us that the Lord wants to prepare for us a feast of fat things, it is an opportunity for us to reflect on what we feast on. Do we feast upon the things that will nourish and build our souls, or are we content to feast upon that which will never satisfy. 

I love the last sentence of this verse! "For I am able to make your holy, and your sins are forgiven you." Do we sometimes underestimate or underappreciate all that the Lord is able to do for us by virtue of His grace? His atonement isn't just about helping us to return to God's presence clean, we were clean before we left! His atonement, His grace is able to return us clean yes, but also holy, more like Him!

Today we talk about how to gain courage to put God first, as well as some cool types and symbols of Christ in this story.

Hales- https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/13hales?lang=eng&adobe_mc_ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.churchofjesuschrist.org%2Fstudy%2Fgeneral-conference%2F2019%2F04%2F13hales%3Flang%3Deng&adobe_mc_sdid=SDID%3D2380BA4809ED89FF-417B59E900D8EAB5%7CMCORGID%3D66C5485451E56AAE0A490D45%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1647838641

Packer- https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2012/10/the-atonement?lang=eng&adobe_mc_ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.churchofjesuschrist.org%2Fstudy%2Fgeneral-conference%2F2012%2F10%2Fthe-atonement%3Flang%3Deng&adobe_mc_sdid=SDID%3D33293DFDFCD3A6A0-2B1E46F8158FC85D%7CMCORGID%3D66C5485451E56AAE0A490D45%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1647838599

Stevenson- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2012/10/be-valiant-in-courage-strength-and-activity?lang=eng

The heart of the father of King Lamoni was changed all because he witnessed the unconditional love that Ammon had for Lamoni. Imagine how lives could be changed as we all learned to love the way Christ loves.

Today we see how faith plays into grace.

King Benjamin tells his people that an angel came to him to declare that which would "fill them with joy." What was it? What is the doctrine that, when understood will fill us with joy? We will look into that today! 

Sometimes when thinking about the first vision we imagine Joseph having a question, immediately praying and receiving the vision. We do ourselves a disservice when we skip over the time he spent wrestling with his questions.

When we better understand who Christ is, and what He wants for us, we gain confidence to approach is mercy boldly.

Christ asked his disciples, "What seekest thou," essentially He was asking, "what do you want?" The beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ is we know what we want, we know where we ultimately want to be, we know that we want to dwell where He is. And as we've seen multiple times so far this year, the answer to do that is to SEEK Him! 

The Lord promised the saints that He would give them His law when they were gathered in Ohio. In section 42 He does. Often times we tend to confuse the Law of Consecration with the United Order. They are indeed tied together but they aren't the same thing. That is important to recognize because while we aren't currently asked to live the United Order, we have covenanted and are asked to live the Law of Consecration. So what exactly is it, and how do we begin?

Today we talk about the necessity to ask God to increase our abilities. The need that we have to be strengthened and changed by Him. 

Prophets help us see Jesus Christ more clearly as they point us to Him.

Amulek says that he knows that Christ will come because God said it! I LOVE THAT FAITH. That isn't just believing in God, that is BELIEVING HIM!

Today we see how all the fear and loneliness we may feel can be relieved as we remember Christ. 

Today the Lord gives us warnings about types of apostacy that we will face in the latter-days.

Today we learn about how God can teach up and lift us up, even in the hard times.

It's intriguing to me the Lord's command to let the wheat and the tares grow together. If we are going to live in a wheat and tares world we better become some strong wheat! By focusing our efforts on strengthening our roots, the strength of the tares diminishes from our lives! 

True conversion leads us to want to DO something. Lasting conversion will lead to us continuing in that action.

Faith to see the miracles.

I love the opportunity we have in the Psalms to witness the true nature of the Lord as a loving and merciful God. 

Today we talk about the promises to the redeemed. Notice the promise is to the redeemed...not to the perfect. 

Today we learn what the Lord can do for us through His titles of Redeemer and Deliverer. 

Who are the Aarons that God has sent into your life?

God obeys His laws, or He would cease to be God. Abinadi teaches that the Savior stands between us, and all our sins and mistakes, and the law of justice, and by so doing he frees us from suffering the demands of the law. So what is our part? We will talk about it today.

Our modern day Liahona

The Savior teaches us about true compassion, and shows us how we need to look for the hungry and find ways to feed them. 

In this chapter Nephi wants to teach his people how to obtain revelation for themselves but they don't seem to understand. Today we will look at the 1st of 2 ways he teaches them to obtain revelation, with the promise that if they seek, and do these things, Christ can teach them ALL things! 

Today, as we being our study of the 10 commandments, remember what the Savior taught us about the law. There are higher and holier ways to live the 10 commandments. While we believe in and live the 10 commandments, we would do well to ask ourselves, "is there a higher and holier way to live this law?"

Benson- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1988/04/the-great-commandment-love-the-lord?lang=eng

Today we see that God sends prophets to cry repentance because of His abundant LOVE that He has for His children. 

The conditions of the hearts of men and women are a sign of the times.

Here, Zeezrom asks Amulek to give up something of infinite worth, for something of little importance. When we see it in the scriptures it seems so silly that anyone would do that, yet often times in little ways we choose to sacrifice the things of the Spirit for that of little worth.

The Lord invites the children of Israel to have a special experience with Him, but asks them to sanctify themselves in preparation for all that the Lord wanted to give them. In our lives the Lord wants us to have powerful manifestations of His power and love as well, but He likewise expects something from us. 

Finishing out the book of Helaman

Today we talk about the glorious doctrines of the second coming, the resurrection and the millennium. 

What can the submissiveness and condescension of Jesus Christ teach us about obtaining happiness in this life? We will talk about it today! 

Today we learn more about who Nephi was by studying his final testimony.

God doesn't just want our rote obedience, he wants our discipleship written upon our hearts.

Today we talk about the power that the word of God had on Josiah and on the people of Judah, and what the power of the word can do for you and I. 

Today we see a latter-day prophecy and our work in it.

Christ is LIGHT

I think Oliver Cowdery is one of the most important people in early church history. Think of all he did. Think of all the revelation that he was a key part of! Today we will talk a little bit about how Oliver Cowdery came into Joseph Smith life, and ne of the first things that God asked of him.

As I studied section 4 again today I thought it was interesting that our desire makes us called to the work, but our Christlike attributes qualify us for the work. It reminded me of the difference between being ordained to the priesthood vs the POWER of the priesthood. However, God doesn't want us to wait until we have received some level of perfection before jumping into His service. Rather, He wants to raise our level of perfection THROUGH His service. 

Today we talk about defending our testimonies at all cost and learning to hear the voice of the Shepherd.

God invites us to make covenants with Him for the purpose of blessing and strengthening us. Covenants allow us to enter into a special relationship with God and to seal our hearts to Him. 

Christofferson- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2009/04/the-power-of-covenants?lang=eng

What is the "Better Cause" that inspires you to stay on the covenant path?

Spiritual strength through unity.

Today we look at this iconic verse and find hope that God doesn't expect us to do it alone.

Jacob teaches us the attributes of a good leader, and the dangers of "Somewhat."

Section 20 outlines all the duties of the different offices of the church, but in reading them there are 2 very important things to understand. 1st, according to verse 38, yes these duties are given to the offices of the priesthood, much of these things are thins expected of ALL members of the church. And second, although doing things out of duty is good, building the God's kingdom and His people because we love Him is the highest reason of all. 

Today we learn from Uzzah and the danger of looking outside of our stewardships to "steady the ark."

Today we talk about Jesus Christ being the greatest evidence we have of the absolute love that our Father in Heaven has for us. 

Here, Mormon sets a perfect example of the Savior and our Father in Heaven. Mormon has a up close and personal view of the wickedness of his people, but despite that wickedness, Mormon's heart is filled with love for them. I feel like sometimes when we are less than we want to be, we impose limits on the love that Heavenly Father has for us. The scriptures are filled with witnesses that no matter how far we are from Him He is always near to us, and always loves us with a perfect love. 

The Thessalonians teach us, through powerful examples, about member missionary work!

Today we discuss the counterfeits of Satan in his efforts to deceive us and loose our focus on Christ. 

After teaching about the importance of nourishing the seed he makes a disclaimer, DON"T STOP WORKING! We don't live in a world that allows us the luxury of ever stopping our efforts to build our faith!

This chapter tells me so much about the priorities of the Lord. The 1st thing He did with the people at Bountiful was to invite them to have a personal experience with Him. The very second thing He did was to reestablish covenants so that we could obtain the promised blessings of God. Everything that the Savior does revolves around loving, teaching and saving US!

Today we go over the timeline of the book of Mosiah (it can get a little bit confusing) And we talk about the God of deliverance!

What we do matters, the way we live matters.

I think sometimes I limit what I am willing to let the Savior do for me in my life. I try to fix or solve or heal things on my own and only reach out when I have exhausted other options. Why do I do that? Here in these verses the Savior invites ALL with ANY affliction to be brought to Him. He doesn't say, "only these types of struggles," or "your affliction has to be this bad for me to intervene."  He invites ALL with ANY affliction, and He wants to heal us of all our afflictions too!

Here as God and the adversary speak, the adversary bets that if Jobs blessings were taken away, that Job would no longer love God. It leads me to question myself, "Why do I love God? Why do I trust Him?" Is that love and trust based on my blessings or does it go deeper. It is my belief that a love of God based in a knowledge of who He is will endure our hard times when we need Him the most.  

As we come to the Living Water, and really come to know Him, there can be, within us a source of living water as the Spirit testifies to our souls of the reality of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever done something hard, and not known why until later? Here in the book of Omni, nearly 300 years after the fact, we see so clearly why it was so important that Nephi and his brothers get the brass plates.

Today we talk about Samson, and the desires that his parents had to raise him up to the Lord. Even though Samson used his agency to make some really bad choices there are promises made to righteous parents. 

Heavenly Father asks us all to do hard things, we all get discouraged, we all feel like failures at times. But we can take heart and trust in the Lord, knowing that if He commanded us...then He will find a way.

GIDEON!!!! That amazing, rock solid disciple of Jesus Christ shows us what it means to be a defender of truth.

The Lord teaches us beautiful lessons about marriage as He joins Adam and Eve together. 

The scripture says that where much is given much is required, but I have found in my life that the opposite is also true, maybe even more often. That Heavenly Father requires something of us, and as we do our best we are often amazed as we watch His tremendous blessings poured out on us!

Here, as the Lord is teaching the saints new laws and principles, He also takes a moment to teach them another vitally important principle. He teaches them about revelation. He teaches them that they can know and have a testimony of this law for themselves. The Lord wants us to know and understand that He is the source of knowledge and truth, and that as we approach Him, He will reveal all things to us. 

Often times the paths to promised blessings pass through the pits of trial and despair. But take heart! God is the master gardener!

The word ATONEMENT translates into Arabic as a warm embrace. Are we doing all things to draw near enough to the Savior to feel His warm embrace regularly in our lives?

Alma gave a special invitation to the members on behalf of those who didn't yet know God, and it would be so powerful for us in our day as well!

The Savior gives His apostles certain responsibilities, and not surprising, they are the same responsibilities the 12 have in our day, and he teaches us that we are safe to trust Him, even when we can't see the end from the beginning.  

Today we examine how justice and mercy come together in God's perfect plan.

The Savior asks us to cast our net as wide as we possibly can, to gather in everyone we can, and he will worry about the rest. 

This chapter is hard to read. It is hard to see the wicked actions of the people, its hard to see them ripening for destruction. But this chapter can teach us so much about how to avoid the tricks of the adversary.

Yesterday we talked about the importance of teaching our children. Today we talk about why each of those things are so important for kids to understand if they are going to stay close to their Father in Heaven. 

Paul warns us about listening to false teachers who preach anything other than Christ and His gospel.

What can the parable of the vineyard teach us about raising kids? Today we will find out!

What's in a name? Actually quite a lot...depending of the name you choose to bear. Today we will talk about what it means to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, and 3 things we can do to bear that name well. 

More on the missionary efforts among the Laminites

Today we talk about the thorn in the children of Israel's side and why the Lord chose not to remove it, as well as Deborah, who she is and what we can come to know about her as we dig into the Hebrew! Spoiler alert, IT'S AWESOME!

Alma reassures his son of the blessings promised to those who will be faithful...but sometimes those blessings look differently than we expect.

Today we talk about the blessing of Nephi and how that is the same blessing God want's to give each of us.

The Lord is teaching the early saints how to become true disciples, and it goes way beyond sitting in the chapel on Sundays. He says in verse 5 that it isn't enough just to receive the law, we have to be willing to live it. That is discipleship. That is conversion.

Today we learn how even in the darkest of times, we can find hope in and because of Jesus Christ.

Today we talk about the innkeeper and we discuss how we can be more intentional about making room for Christ each day. 

The Amlicites marked themselves with red on their heads, now, I know they are the bad guys in this story...but I think we can learn a lot about making ourselves distinct and different from the world by how we are.

The gospel offers a "voice of gladness" to all those who have lived and who ever will live on the earth. Because of the restoration of the priesthood and the temple ordinances God's mercy is available to ALL.

Eyring

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2017/04/gathering-the-family-of-god?lang=eng

Moroni 9 is kind of a hard chapter to read. It is filled with all the difficult things that Mormon encountered as he tried to preach to the wicked people of his day. However, amid all the hard things, Mormon teaches us a really important lesson in verse 6. In our callings both in the church and in our families, one of the most difficult things we can go through is when our efforts and teachings are rejected. But here, Mormon emphasized that, despite the outcome,  whether our efforts are received or not, it is our responsibility to labor diligently and do all we can do. Our calling, our responsibility is to do our part, not to make sure that others do theirs. 

The people of the day teach us that even in difficult times there is joy to be found!

Try out the word of God, see what it can do for you.

In 3 very different ways, we get the chance to see the divine attribute of being "quick to observe" in action. May we make every effort to see the needs of those around us and spring to action to bless the lives of others. 

From the depth of a prison, Jeremiah praises God and speaks of His power and love. In a moment when Jeremiah could have questioned if God was aware of Him or wonder why He wasn't intervening. Jeremiah testified of Him.

In our world of instant answers, we can't go to sources like Google for spiritual truth. When seeking an understanding of the spiritual, we need to learn Spirit to spirit.